A miraculous birth.( Luke 1 v 37)

When Mary was told she was going to have a baby ,she asked the question,''But how can this happen? I am a virgin.'' The virgin birth is something that many people find hard to believe.William Barclay does his best  to undermind it,likewise Malcolm Muggeridge they both squirm trying to make it a a normal birth. Both ignor what Mary said,'I am a virgin.'Luke 1 v 34', if we do  not accept what Mary said, we are calling Mary a liar,also they are calling Luke a liar,yet he was a doctor,as one person comments,'It would have been just as hard for him to believe in a virgin birth as it is for us,yet he reports it as fact'Not only that they are denying what Isaiah declared,'Behold a virgin shall conceive,and bear a son,and they shall call his his name Immanuel. Isaiah 7 v14. the whole context  would rule out  'a young woman ',it was a sign,  a miraculous sign, and it is confimed by what Mary said.To deney the virgin birth we are denying the word of God,the word of God is full of miraculous signs, it had to be a virgin birth,if Joseph had been his father ,his fallen nature would have been passed unto Jesus,'Romans 5v 12'. One writer comments,  'Christians  and Jews, who worship God as the Creator of the universe, should have no doubts  that God has the power to create  a child in a virgin's womb'.

This holy God, ( Colossians 1 v 21-22)

 In 1 Samuel  6 v 20 ,we read, Who can stand in the presence of the Lord,this holy God?.' These  words were spoken  at the time the when the ark of the Lord had  returned from the land of the Philistines,it stayed in Beth Shemesh.During its time there  some of the inhabitants looked into the ark and perished for  in Numbers 4 v20 we are told people were not allowed to touch or look at the holy things that  would go into the sanctuary,only the Levites were allowed to carry  the ark. It is a reminder to us all that God is holy,. the  holiness of God refers to the absolute moral purity of God  and the absolute moral  distance  between God and His human creatures'.In Exodus 33 v23 ,God told Moses that he could not see His  face and live . God is spirit, and does not have a phyisical body,but He relates to us in a way that we can understand and communicate with  Him.In our sinful condition our sins are a barrier between us and God, which means we are locked out from a Holy God,and can never go to heaven,and for all eternity we  will be in hell.But through faith in Christ and His atoning death,all that is changed

                                                   'A mind at perfect peace with God:

                                                   Oh, what a word is this!

                                                   A sinner reconciled through blood:

                                                   This,this indeed is peace.

                                                   So near,so very near to God,

                                                   I cannot nearer be;

                                                   For in the person of His Son,

                                                    I am as near as He. ( Words  Catesby Paget)

 

Don't be fooled by a false gospel. ( Galatians 1v 6-12)

 Habakkuk the prophet was crying unto God  as regards awful wickedness  that was abounding,and it appeared  to him that God was not doing anything about it.(1 v1-4).Then God does speak,He is going to do something that was unbelievable,God was going to raise up a cruel violent,nation ,who  would conquer Judah, and all that would involve, that nation was Babylon .This was not the answer that Habakkuk wanted,why would God use such a wicked idolatrous people to inflict such pain upon His people?.As a minister who has preached God's from the pulpit,personal witnessing,and through my writings, I have to tell people  what they don't want to hear,that is part of my responsibility. .On YouTube I see those who speak to mega gatherings of people,they are speaking a gospel which is not a gospel.it is called the prosperity gospel.it promises financial prosperity and physical health.Many thousands and thousands of people,flock to their gathering,and many millions follow these charlatans on TV.These mulitude don't want to hear the true gospel ,they don't want to hear of a Saviour,who came to save sinners,a Saviour who came to save sinners from going to hell ,and  says to all who trust Him ,deney yourselves and take up your cross and follw me.

                                               

Three things ( 1 John 2 v 15 -17) 2

 Lets consider further what John in his epistle wrote ,as regards not loving the world and indeed anything in the world (1 John 2 v15ff) So what is John saying? first of all he is not rubbishing the world, the hymn  writer wrote ,Of the beauty of the earth',there are many things that are beautiful. It is C.H.Dodd who says  John is speaking in a moral sense,he writes,Our author means human society in so far as it is organized on wrong principles,and characterized by base desires,false values,and egoism'.So John goes on to highlight three things that fallen humanity manifests,'The lust of the flesh/ The lust of the eyes/ The pride of life'. The lust of the flesh includes many things, one writer puts it like this,'a gratification of  worldly,earthly, and material desires'.The lust of the eyes,so much enters through the eye gate that in snares us, it takes just one look,lust is as good a word as any to describe mankinds fallen humanity. Then last but not least ,the pride of life,it manifest itself in so many ways,from  sport ,money ,power,oneself,These three things are not just occasional things,but lives that are given over to them. Verse 17 tells us two things,'The world and its desires will pass away,and then what? John tells us,'that whoever does the will of God lives for ever'.

Stranger in paradise ( Colossians 3 v1 - 2) 1

 There's an old song which had the following words in it,'Take my hand I'm a stranger in paradise',it's not a spiritual song,but I see a spiritual application in these words.I believe padadise and heaven are the same place.The dying thief was  assured that very day he would be with Jesus in paradise,although Jesus had not acended into heaven He was there in His diety.In 2 Corinthians 12 v4, Paul declares' that he was caught up into paradise',again I believe that is heaven he is talking about.The fact is, all true believers will go to paradise/heaven ,when we leave this mortal coil.and we will not  be strangers in paradise.But as regards this world the saints of old confessed,that they were strangers and pilgrims on earth (Hebrews 11v13). While we are on this planet earth we will never be at ease,because it is a fallen planet,the earths values are not the child of God's values,in a sense everything has been affected by sin,we must always be on our guard .It is James who writes,'Friendship with the world is enmity with God (4 V4),in John 2 v15-17 we read,'Love not the world neither the things that are in the world,If any man love the world,the love of the Father is not in them' We will consider this further next time

Peter the failure ( Matthew 14 v 22 ff)

The  traffic was flowing  along nicely I looked down at my dashboard ,and when I look up the car in front of me had braked suddenly,but I managed to stop. When you are driving you must keep your eye on the traffick in front of you.I often get annoyed when watching a movie,when a person who is driving, takes his eyes of the road ,and talks to people.I'm just so grateful that I braked in time, but it could have been so different , likewise taking our eyes off the Lord can have an affect on us.Consider Peter who walked on water  (MT 14  v29)  everything was fine,  he was doing what was humanly speaking impossible,but with Christ all things are possible, after all Jesus invited him to do that, unfortionately faith give way to fear,and he began to sink. Well did Jesus let him drown? no, He reached out to him and saved him,and they both got into the boat.It is so easy for any of us to let faith give way to fear,when we do let us remember Christ will not forsake us,He remains faithful.He didn't give up  on Peter, ,and He won't give up on you.

24 / 7 ( Micah 6 v 8)

Micah the prophet brought a message of judgment against Samaria and Jerusalem,judgment was coming,the wealthy powerful people were exploiting the poor and vunerable (2 v 1-2 ).There were false prophets, (2 v6ff/ 3 v5ff) and the rulers were destroying God's people (3 v 1ff), there are other things we could say as regards what the books about,it would be a profitable study,David Priors book  in ,'The Bible speaks today' series,would be helpful,it also covers Joel and Habakkuk) I just want to consider 3 v9 -11,whch highlights the blind  hypocrisy of the rulers,here is a summary,they despised justice,were violent,wicked,would accept bribes and were motivated by money'. Inspite of that,they looked to the Lord for support,and said,'Is not the Lord among us? No disaster will come upon us'.' It reminds me of song that Patsy Cline sang,here is a verse from it.

                                          'I go to church on a Sunday,the vows that I make,

                                        I break them on Monday,the rest of the week, I live

                                    as I please,then come Sunday morning,I pray on my knees' 

It is sad that there are people who have, as one person says,'A Sundays-only faith'.Chistianity is a 24/7 faith,that means in our home ,our work life,and every aspect of our lives