Lets make a difference ( Philemon v 8- 11)

 I support a  mission  called ,'Stand by Me',and I have a magazine telling a little of the history of that work,it is challenging and inspiring.And it all started because one man answered the call of God.It commenced in a garden shed ,small beginnings but it has grown wonderfully,they now work in eight countries,caring for dear children and young people,many thousands are being helped,and many of the young people have come to know Christ as their Saviour.The point is that mans response  made a differnce, and thats the challenge I bring to you, and to myself, We may not be able  to do what the founder of that mission did,but that does not mean we can't make a difference, we can,by witnessing by our giving not just by our money,but also by our time,and our actions,and our love .A friend of mine in Northern Ireland is in the last stages of Parkinson,61 yrs ago he befriended me,when I came back  to the Lord. I thank God for him and will be eternally grateful for what he did for me,he made a difference.

                                                         'Go on, make a difference

                                                          with God's help you can'

Why He came. ( Matthew 9 v 9 -13)

 In Matthew 9 v9-13,our Saviour called Matthew the tax collector to follow Him ,that must have got up the noses of the Pharisees ,you can imagine what they were thinkng,'imagine He called a tax collector'.If was not bad enough He went back to Matthews home for a meal,along with many tax collectors and sinners.So these so called religious people asked the disciples,'Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?',Jesus heard what they said ,and He said this,'It is not the healthy who need a doctor,but those who are ill'.this is true in a natural sense,if we are sick we do need a doctor.But Our Saviour wants them to  learn a spiritual lesson which I believe we all need to learn.let me put it this way we are all sin sick souls. and that is why He came,and we who are his followers, must never forget that.It wasn't that the Pharisees didn't need Him,they thought they didn't need Him,everybody needs Him,but like the Pharisees they think they don't need Him. There was a Pharisees and He wrote the following,'Here was a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance; Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,of who I am the worst',(1 Timothy 1 v 15)

                                                           'Are you a Pharisees?'

He keeps His word ( Romans 4 18- 22)

 I am sure that we all would agree, how important it is to keep ones word,just recently  I had a stressful experience when a professional medical person did not keep their word,they were going to phone me and tell me about a reply from a hospital, and they didn't do it.Even though when I phoned up and asked if I was going to receive the phone call that was promised? they said I would,but alas they didn't.I know that none of us our perfect but if possible we should always try to keep our word.Here is the good news God always keeps His word,When we are told that if we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved,He keeps His word and  saves  us,When He promises to provide for us He does just that, I have as many have,proved the reality of that, that He will supply all our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Phil4 v19)Those exceeding and great promises God gaves us ,He will keep,we can rest our all on them. I leave you to look up the following scriptures ....'Joshua 23 v14/ Titus 1 v2'.

                                              ' Standing on the Promises that cannot fail,

                                                When the howling storms of doubt and fear assil

                                                 By the living word of God I shall prevail,

                                                Standing on the promises of God'

                                                          'Words 'R.Kelso Carter'

Victory (Romans 8 v 37 - 39 )

 John the apostle wrote the following,'This is the victory that has overcome the world,even our faith' (1 John 5 v 4) David Jackson  writes the following,'And this faith is not escapism; on the contrary ,it is the only ultimate realism. For, as Howard Marshall reminds us,'It  rests four square on the fact that Jesus Christ has defeated death,and anybody  who can defeat death can defeat anything'.Yes and we who are His followers,can be more that conquerors through faith,yes the odds are against the church ,thousands are being slaughtered every year,but still the church marches on ,the church cannot be destroyed,as the one who  died  Jesus, could not be destroyed,yes He died ,but that was not the end ,for on the third day He rose from the  dead,and got the victory over sin,death,and Satan.outside of Christ there is no victory over sin.the reason Jesus came was to deal with sin,when we trust Him our sins are forgiven,and the power of sin is broken in our lives.The drunkard is no longer a drunkard ,he has been set free from that bondage,for whom Christ sets free is free indeed. (John 8 v 36) When we trust Jesus we get the victory over death, because He lives we will live,and will live eternally (John 11v 25)Last but not least He got the victory over Satan,yes there is a devil contrary to what people  think, he is the enemy of  God's creation,and especially His new creation. That means every Christian,he wants to destroy them,he wants them to give up, he wants to lure them away from Christ,but through Christ we can know the victory. Someone wrote the following,'The work of Christ is a work of power,because it put life into dead men; it is a work of grace, because it reached out to those who had no reason to expect the benefits of God'.

Why? ( Revelation 2 v 5)

There are denoinations that are slowly dying a death,it dosen't give me any joy to say that,I know were some ministers are looking after 3 or 4 churches, and each have few people attending .One has to ask the question why?,there must be a reason,is it the times we live in ?,yes it could be,for people are not connected to the church as were former generations.We  live in a secular society,religion is not in vogue,materialism is rampant, many people are just concerned about the here and now.The spread of evolution is accepted on questionable,sad to say,those who believe in creation are not given a voice.So coming back to the question as to why some denominations are dying a slow death. ? I think of a particular denomination and many of their  ministers and congregations have a pick and choose attitude to the Bible,as to the truths there in,and as to God's moral values.Often we here people say,oh that's what Paul says,the question is why highlight Paul?.Sin is never mentioned and so we could go on. So all this is leading to the demise and the end of these denoinations they are not only out of step with  God,they are opposing Him. There was a lady in 1 Samuel 4 v22 who lived at a time of spiritual decline in Israel she had a baby and she called him Ichabod, which means 'The glory of the Lord has departed from Isreal',

                                                             'When we depart from God

                                                              He will  depart from us'

Be warned ( 2 Thessalonians 2 v15 )

She got annoyed with me,why,I was only pointing out some important important Biblical truths ,we were  talking as regards a particular religious group,and how so many things they believe are contrary to the word of God. But the lady would have none of it,so the conversation stopped, and I like a gentleman left it at that.Let us turn to Exodus 25,and the building of the Tabernacle,Moses was instructed how it was to be built,and when he had finished telling Moses this,God said 'Be sure  that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.(v 40) Moses could not add to the instructions,or take away from the instructions,God forbid him to do so.At the end of the book of Revelation there is a severe warning given,it reads,'If anyone adds anything to what is written here,or if anyone removes any of the words from this book',they would come under severe judgement'.(v17-19)I believe this applies to all scripture and woe betide anyone who goes against this.The early church was plagued by people who wanted to add to the Gospel ,read Colossians 2 v16 -23/ 1 Timothy 1 v3 v7. To go beyond what scripture teaches both morally or theologically is forbidden ground,we must not be swayed by anything or anyone we must not compromise,be warned.

Free,free at last.( 1 Peter 1 v18-19)

In 2 Peter 2 v1-3 the apostle writes of the false teachers who were bringing destructive heresies into the church,even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them'.One commentator writes the following,'The word 'bought' comes straight  from  the public  slave auction. It is used twenty -five times in the New Testament for a simple commercial transaction'. People in those days knew what it meant to be a slave ,and as one reads history we see clearly the evils of it. It meant that one had no freedom, no rights,and ones life was controlled by one's master. Israel were slaves in Egypt for 400 years, and then God brought them out under the leadership of Moses.Pharaoh refused to let them go,so God sent 10 plagues on Egypt and it was the last one that did the trick,when a lamb was slain, and it's blood  was put on sides and tops of the door frames.It saved them from death,and brought them out of  Egypt,a free people.Now let us move forward to the NT and Jesus.Jesus declared that' everyone who sins is a slave to sin' (John 8 v 34) as we are all sinners it means that we are all slaves.So in order to rescue us from sinful slavery another lamb had to be slain ,but we are not talking about a literal sheep, no we are talking about Jesus  (John 1 v 29)who would be led as a lamb to the slaughter. (Isaiah 53 v7)  Through His sacrifice on the cross, our sins would be forgiven,and we sinners would be set free from sin's power the moment we trust Jesus as our Saviour.

                                                        'There is a fountain filled with blood ,

                                                         Drawn from Immanuel's veins;

                                                         And sinners plunged beneath that flood

                                                         Lose  all their guilty stains.'

                                                                  'Words William Cowper'