Be discerning. ( Acts 20 v 25 -31)

 In ancient Rome when people were being tried for a crime they didn't have lawyers to defend themselves ,they had orators ,and one of the greatest of them was Cicero.By their elegance of speech rather than by evidence they sought to sway the senate ,even though they were guilty.Think of Hitler people were captivated by what he said,even though what he said was lies.Lets now consider,those we could call men of the cloth in other words Christian ministers,I think of two,who will remain nameless ,one  captivated people by what he wrote the other by his speech.Both of them were found wanting in relation to truth they both denied the divinty of Christ and threw doubt on the virgin birth.One of them denied Christ's  resurrection,and basically preached a social gospel,never mentioning the true gospel,that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners I was fooled by both of them as were many,and indeed many people still are,even though they are both dead. Most of them would be offended and angry if I said their names,I write this as a warning to all believers,be on your guard no matter how eloquent the preacher  may be,if they don't speak the truth as regards  Christ and all the truths concerning Him, it may be time that you changed your church.

Hallowed be Thy name. ( 1Samuel 2 v30)

I would to share some thoughts by another Puritan Thomas Watson,from his book on the Lords prayer. He is writing on Romans 14 v 8,which reads ,'If we live,we live to the Lord,and if we die,we die to the Lord,' It  will be great comfort to us when we die if we have hallowed God's name in our life; (Hallowed to honour  or to dedicate ) if  we have loved Him with our hearts,praised Him with our lips,and honoured Him with our lives(Eph 1 v6) At the hour of death,all your eartly comforts will vanish, and thinking of riches or pleasures you have enjoyed will not give you one ounce of comfort. Ah , but to have a conscience  witnessing that you have hallowed God's name, what a sweet peace and satisfaction this will give! How sweet will death be when they who have spent their lives honouring God, shall receive their reward! Abraham honoured God  by his faith, Moses by his meekness,David by his zeal,and Paul for his love of Christ'

                                                       ' I give you all the honour

                                                        And praise that's due Your name,

                                                        For you are the King of glory,

                                                        The Creator of all things'

                                                              Words Carl Tuttle

God's will. ( Romans 12 v1-2)

I would like share a few thoughts by Thomas Watson a Puritian. Writing on Ephesians 6 v6 ,'Doing the will of God from the heart,'The manner in which we do God's will is as important as the thing itself. Many do God's will by halves.They pick and choose .....it was a hard service for Abraham to sacrifice his son,and though he surely did not feel present joy, he obeyed,because God commanded it. The command, not comfort, is the ground of duty.Secondly, we obey sincerely when we do God's will with a pure eye for His  glory.The Pharisees obeyed for vain glory. He that does God's will rightly desires God's honour to be lifted up in all the world rather than his own glory.A gracious soul makes God his focus and obeys his commands with a pure motive of lifting up His glory'.

              

                                                   'I delight to do Your will, O my God.'

                                                                   ' Psalm 40 v 8.'

Total forgivness ( Isaiah 1 v18)

 I'm sure we have all stained our clothes,and we have tried everything to remove it,but to no avail, we may be annoyed,and despose of the  stained clothes.But let us consider another  type of stain, that we cannot remove ourselves,the stain of sin.We all carry that stain because we sin,a lot of people would not agree with that,but there are none of us lily white. Let us look at a wonderful  verse from Isaiah 1 v18,which reads,'Come now , and let us reason together.Says the Lord,''Though  your sins are like scarlet  ,They shall be as white snow;  Though they are red like crimson,They shall be as wool'.These words use the imagery of  scarlet and crimson,to emphasise the most extreme sinful state,but it goes on to tell us that we can know complete forgivness because Christ shed His blood  on the cross,that means that we can be cleansed from all our sins .1 John 1 v 7 tells us that the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin'. Alex Nifong wrote the following,

                                                          'I hear Thy welcome voice

                                                          That calls me, Lord to Thee,

                                                           For cleansing in Thy precious blood

                                                           That flowed from Calvary.

                                                                 I am coming , Lord!

                                                                 Coming now to Thee!

                                                         Wash me, cleanse me,in the blood   

                                                                That flowed from Calvary  '

                                                           

                                                       

                                                       

                                                       

                                                 

A watchman. ( Ezekiel 3 v16 - 19)

 Ezekiel was with the Judean exiles in Babylon,he was a priest,but also a prophet, the people in exile needed a prophet,a prophet is someone whom God will speak through.There were false prophets in those days and  there are many false prophets in these days,the prophets in the Bible were unique,for the words they proclaimed,were the actual words of God.What was their role? in Ezekiel 3 v 17 ,God speaks to him, this is what He said,''Son of man,I have appointed you as a watchman for Israel,'' it wasn't a self appointed role it was a divine appointment,It is important that whatever role God appoints us to,we keep within that,and be faithful. he was to speak what God told him to speak,and he had speak it immediately to the people. We may not be prophets,but God has given those who minister the responsibility to speak God's.,without fear or favour.The unsaved have to be warned as regards sin and its consequences,we must not shy away from that,if we do ,we will be held accountable.Ezekiel is given a very strong warning as to his responsibility,he is told, 'If you do not warn them,they will die in their sins.....and I will hold you responsible for their deaths'. There is given is to all Christians a degree of responsibility,to be witnesses for Jesus,but those who are called to minister will as James 3 v 1 tells us , they will be judged more strictly.

He is faithful ( John 21 v15 ff)

In one of my commentaries I read,'God himself needs to be reminded to act to save his people'. I must say  I found those words very strange .We must remind ourselves that God does not forget anything,especially in relation to His chidren. We must not take God for granted,assuming that we do not need to call on Him,in fact we do. because God is sovereign it does not mean that we leave God out our lives,we are to act in a responible way,we must not be selective in seeking God's help, we must acknowledge God in all our way's.  (Proverbs 3 v 6) We must lean heavy on our God ,and seek Him contiually,this will please God, He does not need to be reminded,but He desires that we his children would remember, that we are always depending on Him,and He is not to be shut out.We must not be like Samson who sought to fight his enemies,not realising  that God had temporary withdrawn from him .God does not need to be reminded ,but He does remind  His children to stay close to Him,and to be obedient to Him,alas we forget so soon and wander away from Him. Yes we do wander away in our foolishnes,but thankfully He will not forsake us.God will take action, the hymn writer describes it like this,'When I would wander from the path astray,then He will draw me back into the way'. Yes we might be unfaithful ,but He remains faithful.2 Timothy 2 v13.

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'.