Be faithful ( Acts 20 v31)

 A lady came to me and asked me were in the Bible would one  find the beatitudes.I was surprised at her not knowing this, I consider her a mature Christian.It  makes me think how little some Christians know about the Bible,and how little understanding they have of this wonderful book. In Hosea 4 v 6 we read,'My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge,because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you, as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God , I will also ignor your children'.The blame rests on priests who failed to instruct the people in God's ways. They themselves had turned from God and His word,ignoring His commandments,there was a deliberateness in what they failed to do.Verse seven reads,' the more priests there were the more they sinned.'They exchanged the glory of God for that which was disgraceful,verses 8-13 shows how far they had turned from God.And of course the people suffered,ignorant of God's word and His  ways.The calling to be a minister brings with it a tremendous responsibility,and accountability,it is by no means a light thing to enter into.These priests were soul mrderers, yes, it is as serious as that,the prophet Ezekiel was given a stern warning by God that if he failed to warn the people as to their sinful ways,their blood would be on his hands.(Ez 3 v16-21) Im my first church ,there was a little rug in my pulpit,with these words on it,' Preach the word'.and that is all I have ever  tried to do.

You alone ( Matthew 1 v 21)

 A man asked a very important question,'What must I do to be saved?' (Acts16 v 30),JWs,believe  door knocking witnessing will do the trick. Moslems are required to follow the  ,'Pillars of Islam,'Faith in Alllah,prayer,charity,fasting,and pilgrimage to Mecca(if possible).Many people believe that if they are reasonably good people God will accept them.Does this answer the question,'what must I do to be saved?' no it doesn't ,the answer to the question is this,'Believe in the Lord Jesus,and you will be saved',(Acts 16 v31) Yes faith in Jesus alone can save you,nothing else,it is only through His death on the cross is it possible to be saved.because it is only through His death on the cross that can deal with sin.In Hebrews 9 v22 we read,' that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.'(CP  Lev 8 v15/17 v11) As one writer puts it,'According  to the Bible, forgivenes of sins, is tied to the concept of blood sacrifice'.Christ death on Calvary was a sacrifice for our sins,He alone paid the price for our sins to be forgiven when we put our faith in Him. Matt Redman wrote a song here is what it says.

                                                  'Who,oh Lord, could save themselves

                                                   Their  own soul could heal?

                                                   Our  Shame was deper than the sea,

                                                   Your grace is deeper still

                 You alone can rescue ,you alone can save,You alone can lift us from the grave,

                 You came down to find us,lead us out of death,to you alone belongs the highest praise.

                                                   You ,oh Lord,hath made a way,

                                                    For when our hearts were far away.

                                                    Your love went further still,

                                                    Yes,your love goes further still'

                                                     

Providence ( Romans 8 v28 )

The providence of God is very important, on a world level ,but also on a personal level,it is not easily understood when we are going through difficulties or trials.that's where trust come in and we see beyond the difficulties,to our great loving heavenly Father, that love should inspire trust in all of us.He does not leave us in our trials,for He has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us( Hebrews 13 v5)So He is with us in our trials and difficulties,the natural person will not see that,and as believers we may not see it, so easy to fall into a state of unbelief,and we may have to confess,I believe help me to overcome my unbelief(Mark 9 v24). There are times when we go for something important and our way is blocked and we become very frustrated,instead of realizing it is God holding us back (Acts 16 v 7)He opens doors and He closes doors,that is something we should praise God for.Looking back on my life I rejoice that He stopped me  often,from going to certain places,let us remember He knows what's best for us,and of course His will is the all important thing.God's way is perfect in His providentlal dealings with us His children.Do not pass judgement on God's ways,don't speak  unadvisedly and as it where bring a charge against God,like Israel did in the wilderness (Exodus 16 )

                                                        'Blind unbelief is sure to err,

                                                        And scan His works in vain;

                                                        God is His own interpreter,

                                                        And Hw will make it plain.'

                                                              William Cowper.

A yellow butterfly ( Psalm 31 v 15 )

 I saw a yellow butterfly in my garden,you may say so what? well I mention this is because I usually only see white butterflies,I tried to get a photo of if,but I was unsuccessful.What I did next was to get on the internet to find out about it,and I read that it's a symbol of joy,happiness,good fortune,a new beginning,and can even be seen as a spiritual messenger.Well you could have knocked me down with a feather, when I read all those things.I just wanted to know it's name,and look what I  got,it's better than a chinese fortune cookie.The thing is this,sad to say many people take what is said about the yellow butterfly serious. This  reminds me how superstitious people are,from knocking over the salt celler,or a lucky nunber ,or a black cat crossing their path,and so we could go on, but we won't.The word of God teaches wonderful truths,as regards good fortune,King David said this as regards God,'Wealth and honour  come from you;'  1 Ghron-  icles 1 v12 and in Psalm 75 v 6-7 we read ,'For promotion cometh neither  from the east, nor from the west,nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth one down,and setteth up another.'It is our sovereign God to whom we should look as regards all our affairs,instead of reading the stars,we should be looking to the  one who made the stars, God.

                                                       ' Luck should never be in the 

                                                         Christians vocabulary'

                                                        

                                                  

Such Love ( Isaiah 53 v 10)

 1John 4 v10 reads ,'In this is love, not that we loved God,but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins''The opening words, tells us the kind of love God showed to us let these words sink into our minds,before we came to Christ we did not love God,we may have prayed to him ,attended a church,considered ourselves Christians .Like all of those who are unsaved we did not love God,we loved many things,our families,wives,husbands,sport ,money,and a mulitude of other things,but we did not love God.  Loving God means He must be first in our lives, we must see ourselves as He sees us,in our natural state it is impossible for us to love Him.Too many things get in our way,we wanted to walk the broad road,that leads to destruction,the narrow way was  not for us.We walked with our backs turned to Him,our will was not His .Next we are told,'but that He loved us',yes in our  unsaved state He loved us,amazing,yet it is true,but consider how much he loved us. He,' sent His Son to be  the propitiation for our sins'.There are those who don't like the word propitiation it is found in Roman 2 v17/3v 25,and it means that God had to be appeased by the sacrifice of his Son on Calvary,and in doing that,it meant that we could escape the punishment we deserved ,this happens when we place our faith in Jesus.The verse tells us why God did this,the answer is very simple, yet very profound, He loved us.

                                                       'For God so loved the world,

                                                        that He gave His only begotten

                                                        Son,thay whosoever believeth 

                                                         in Him should not perish but

                                                         have everlasting life'

                                                                     John 3 v16

                                                         

They did not forsake God( Hebrews 11 v 24- 27)

There are four brave men ,men of faith mentioned in the book of Daniel they are known as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego,they were part of the exiles taken from Israel by the Babylonians.They were also part of those chosen to be assimlated into that culture.Daniel was also involved ,the four of them  excelled in this program of assimilation, but they never took on the religion of Babylion.We see how Danilel took a stand in chap one when he would not partake of the food presented to him.He speaks of the God of  heaven  in chap 2 v28  ,and as we read the history of these four men we see how they may to some extent have been assimilated to some extent  in Babylion culture ,but they never forsook God, the threat of death did not weaken their faith. There is a saying ,'when in Rome do as the Romans do',that might be true to some extent,but like those four ,we must remain faithful to God  and His ways,even though it may mean,being  ostracize,being picked on,persecuted ,suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, many dear Chistians  today are experiencing all these things and more,in standing for the Lord Jesus Christ whom they love.

Heaven ( 1 Corinthians 2 v 9 )

There are very powerful telescopes ,yet no telescope can help one to see  heaven,if one could build a rocket that could go endlessly into speed,could one reach heaven?, no.The apostle  Paul  had a vision in which he was caught up into paradise.and the apostle John had a God given revelation of heaven. There are people who profess to have a experience of going to heaven,all I would say about such people, that  heaven is not a tourist destination.It is interesting that the apostle Paul never elaborated on his vision ( 2 Corinthians 12 v 4) So I am very sceptical as regards those heavenly tourist,it appears to me  that it is a way of cashing in from the sale of a book they have written. In Hebrews 11v 16, we read of the saints of old who longed for a better country -a heavenly one,and indeed all Christians should have that aspiration.We are foreigners and strangers on earth but by faith we believe in a place called heaven where God dwells,and  where all God's children will dwell.Yes it is a question of faith  in the eternal,all the unsaved has is what  they  can see or touch,and all that is temporal,and will soon be seen no more.I often wonder what heaven will be like, 1 Corinthians 2 v 9 ,tells us,'No eye has seen,no ear has heard,and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him'. Someone commenting on these words  writes,'These words tell us that the joys and glories of heaven,and the blessings God has in store for us,are so extraodinary that they cannot be conceived or understood by human minds or senses'.As for where heaven is,we will just have to wait and see.