The road may be rough.( 1 Peter 5 v10)

Jesus says to everyone who trusts Him.'follow Me',you will be travelling on the road less travelled,it will be narrow,and at times challenging,but it will also be rewarding.There is no guarantee given to any of Christ followers that it won't be a bumpy ride,but there is one guarantee given, Christ will be with us,and that will make all the difference. The important thing is we must keep our eyes on Jesus,for if we don't do that,we will get into great difficulties,like Peter when walking on the sea (Matthew 14 v22-23), he ended up nearly drowning,because he took his eyes off Jesus.There are so many things that can distract us,the list is long ,how can we overcome them?,I will leave you with a poem by Mrs. Charles Cowman,

                                         ''The road is too rough,'' I said; ''It is uphill all the way;

                                           No flowers,but thorns instead; and the skies overhead are grey.''

                                           But one took my hand at the entrance dim,

                                           And sweet is the road that I walk with Him.

                                           ''The cross is to great'' I cried- More than the back can bear,

                                           So rough and heavy and wide, And nobody near to care.''

                                           And One stooped softly and touched my hand;

                                           ''I know. I care. And I understand''

                                            Then why do we fret and cry; Cross-bearers all we go;

                                             But the road ends by and by in the dearest place we know,

                                             And every step in the journey we may take in the Lord's

                                                                          own company.

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Finished ( Jonah 2 v 9)

 There are people who believe in Christ,His diety , incarnation,that He was sinless, that He died on the cross,His resurrection ,ascension,and His coming again.So what's the problem? ,one would  think there is no problem,and yet there is,then what is the problem?,the add on's.Lets consider Chist death on the cross, they think that His death on the cross is not enough to save,we must do our part,it means that Christ is almost a Saviour,it means that salvation is a partnership,a joint accomplishment, this is not what the Bible teaches. In Hebrews 7 v 25 we read,'Therefore He is able to save completely those who to come to God through Him'.John Owen points out that saving us to the uttermost (Completely)  means that Christ ''will not bring about part of our salvation,and leaves what remains to ourselves and to others.Christ does not leave us to ourselves,but brings about our whole salvation, from its beginning at regeneration to its  culmination in our glorification''

                                       'Not the labour of my hands, can fulfil Thy laws demands;

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

                                       All for tears could forever flow, all for sin could not atone;

                                       Thou must save , and Thou alone. (A M.Toplady)

                                       

No add on's ( 1 Corinthians 12 v13)

I come from Northern Ireland,not all Protestants hate Roman Catholics and vice versa,I never hated Catholics ,and I never was brought up to hate Catholics.I recently asked a young man was he a Christian,and he replied,'I am a baptised Roman Catholic',I could have replied,'I'm a baptised Protestant' If that was I was depending on I most definitely would not be a Christian. In John 3 v5 our Saviour said to Nicodemus ,'No one can enter the Kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit'.There are those who take this to mean baptisim,but it has nothing to do with water  baptisim,the whole context of the our Saviours talk was about the Spirit,water is just mentioned once.If we go to what  John the baptists said in John 1 v 33,'The one who sent me to baptise with water  told me''The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptise you with the Holy Spirit''.We cannot have add on's in relation to being saved,be it baptism or any thing else, The scripture continually stresses that it is faith and faith alone that saves us,John 3 v16,/ Acts 16 v 31. In  Ephesians 2 v 8-9. we read ,'For it is by grace you have been saved,through faith,and this is not of yourselves,it is the gift of God.Not of works, so that no one can boast'.Baptisim comes after salvation ,it is a declaration that you are saved ,and have died to the old life, and now are going to live in newness of life in Christ.

Show me a sign. ( Hebrews 4 v16)

In v 17 of Psalm 86  we read David asking God,''Give me a sign of your goodness'',is it  right to ask God for a sign?.  Gideon did  Judges 6 v 17,and God give him what he asked,The miracles that Jesus performed were in fact signs,they pointed to convince men who He was. (John 14 v11) Often the miracles did convince people who He was,and to believe in Jesus.The same applies to the miracles the apostles performed Acts 5 v 12-14.but there is no guarantee,that people who see miracle signs or experience them will turn to Christ,consider all that our Saviour did and instead of trusting Christ they crucified Him. Do these signs happen now?, yes the times of miracles is not passed ,a friend of mine told me of two people he prayed for and they were healed,they never turned to Christ.Yet the challenge is not everyone gets healed, for whatever reason,and that reason is in God's hands. We focus an awful lot on healing,but Christ miraculously fed thousands with a few loaves and fishes. I'm sure many can testify how God has provided for them,again a friend of mine,spoke to his wife and how they needed another car,and shortly after a friend whom he had not seen for a long time phoned and said that he had a car to give him. What is wonderful how many experience terrible suffering,and yet still trust the Lord,how do we account for that,it is a miracle of Grace. Everyone who is a Christian is a miracle sign of the grace of God,it changes their standing,they become children of God,their sins are forgiven,the power of sin is broken in their lives,their destination is not hell, but heaven,of course all comes into being when we trust Jesus as our Saviour.

                                                               'Amazing Grace'

Stop stumbling. ( Acts 4 v12 )

 When in Athens Paul came into contact with Epicurean and Stoic philosophers,one may ask what good comes out of philosophy? Epicurean believed that the universe  was self -creating  and self-destroying,it began by a  chance combination of atoms.of course chance can not do anything.Modern day thinking on the universe and how it began,is similar to Epicurism,it just all happenened which is impossible. The center of Philosophy was Athens the great thinkers came from there and yet Athens was full of idols one writer says it was smothered or swamped by idols and as John Stott says it was a veritable forest of idols.,and just in case they missed a god they had an altar to a'unknown god'.Spititual blindness was the name of the day for they knew not God they fumbled about in the darkness.Blinded by the god of this world,and their own darkened nature,the wisdom of man will never lead anyone to a knowledge of the only one, and true God. And as for the Gospel it is foolishness to them, but that foolishness is in fact the wisdom of God.Paul writes, that the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. ( 1 Corinthians 1 v18/23)But to us who are being saved it is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1 v16) all mankind need a saviour,that Saviour is none other than Jesus Christ.

                                                    'Stop stumbling about in the darkness and turn to 

                                                     Jesus, the Light of the world'

We are to blame.( Romans 3 v10 - 18)

 It may not be obivious but God is still there,yes He is,and he is aware of everything that is going on ,He knows every persons  thoughts,there is nothing hidden from our sovereign God .As one looks at this world it appears as if so much is out of control,if that is so how is He sovereign?.In Romans 11 v 33 we read 'How impossible it is for us to understand His  decisions and His ways'!.Humanity may know  a lot of things,but when it comes to God and His ways,we are very limited,His ways are past finding  out,as one commentator says,'we will never figure out God fully ,or His ways. Habakkuk the prophet struggled as regards His ways,twice he asks ,'Why?' 1v 13,like Habakkuk we have all wondered why,as we look at so much evil,and pain in the world.We must bear in mind that we are all part of  this fallen human race,that means that at some leval we are acting contrary to God's will.It is no use crying and blaming God,when Adam sinned he blamed his wife and then she blamed the serpent,who are we to blame God?, as regards the mess the world is in.In spite of our rebellion against our holy God,He is merciful and forgiving, and He has gone to great lengths to bring us back to Himself,for in spite of our sinfulness He loves us, an Easter hymn comes to mind, written by Cecil F. Alexander.

                                    'There is a green hill far away,outside a city wall,

                                    Where the dear Lord was crucifed,who died to save us all.

                                    We may not know,we cannot tell,what pain He had to bear;

                                    But we believe it was us for us He hung and suffered there.

                                    He died that we may be forgiven,He died to make us good,

                                    That we might go at last to heaven ,Saved by His precious blood.

                                    There was no other good enough topay the price of sin;

                                     He only could unlock the gate,of heaven and let us in.

                                     O dearly,dearly has He loved!and we must Him too,

                                      And trust in His redeeming blood and try His works to do.'

                                      

                                   

                                     

                                               

Beware of Novelty. ( Ephesians 4 v11 - 16 )

Someone I know who is not a Christian has been going round different churches with his partner and daughter I believe he is seeking to grasp what Christianty is about,I have witnessed to him,and have given him a Bible. He has never attended any church and is completly ignorant as regards spiritual things.He told me of one church he attended,he said it was like a cult, and said he was not going back there but thankfully he will continue to look for a church that will preach the word. While we don't want a dead lifeless church the word of God is vital in helping the church grow spiritually,we all need to be instructed in the things of  God,instructed as to walking in the paths of righteousness.there is no substitute for sound Biblical teaching.John Stott wrote the following,' The refomers were accused by the Roman Catholic Church of teaching novelties.But they denied it.'We teach no new thing',Luther claimed.'but we repeat  and establish old things, which the apostles and all godly teachers have taught  before us'. Or as Lancelot Andrews was to say a century later, 'we are renovators not innovators'.

                                                           'Preach the Word'