Freedom (Mark 5 v1-20)

In 722AD a bishop called Boniface was given the task of taking the gospel to the pagans east of the Rhine in central Germany. When he reached his destination  ,there stood a great oak,sacred to the  people there,they saw it as a fearsome god,whose hammer blows could split mountains.Boniface  chopped it down.Then ,with its timbers he built a church. The fact that nothing happened to  Boniface freed them from  the worship of that false god,and they turned to Christ,the Bible tells us that Israel worshipped god's who were not gods.The  world is full of so many god's who are not god's.God's that can do nothing for them,but enslave them,and take them to a lost eternity. In Colossians 2v 15 we read that Christ through His death on the cross and His resurrection ,triumphed over evil forces,defeating  them making a public spectacle of them.Turn from your false gods and turn to  Christ ,he can free you,from their power and bondage.

Giving (Deuteronomy 15 v10 ) 2

Last time we mentioned that we are not under a law of  tithing, so where does that leave us?.Our Saviour had much to say about money in Matthew 6 v 19ff He tells us not to be hoarders of money  and not to be slaves of money, money has not to be our master.He also speaks of the uncertainty of riches,and says we should lay up treasures in heaven. How do we do that? by being generous with it,and sometimes given sacrificially,like the poor widow women ,who give her all( Mark 12 v41-44/Luke 21 v1ff)Or like the Macedonian  churches in 2 Corinthians 8 who although poor give out of their extreme poverty, Paul adds but they first gave themselves to the Lord ,a reminder that God does not want or need your money,but He wants you,most of all.Those prosperity preachers don't want you they want your money,plain and simple as that.I remember someone said, this about money,'save some,spend some and give some.'  The Bible  tells us to give and it shall be given unto us,now we do not give to get,but God will honour our giving(1 Samuel 2 v30).When we give we should do it anonymously (Matthew 6 v3),whatever we do we should do , to the glory of God ( 1 Corinthians 10 v31)

Giving a tenth ( 2 Corinthians 9 v6-9) 1

Martin Luther said, three things happen as regards conversion,'Conversion  of the heart,conversion  of the soul,and conversion of the purse'.Lets  consider the latter ,for most of my Christian life,I went along with  tithing as was taught in the church I attended .But the question is this , as Christians  are we told to give a tenth of our earnings? are we under the law as regards tithing?Recently I listened to a minister on the importance  of Christians giving a tenth of  their money to support God's work. He used scripture in Malachi 3 v6-12,which  highlights that's God's people were breaking were Gods covenant by withholding tithes and offerings,declaring  they were robbing God.Again let me ask you the question  does this apply to us as Christians?,the answer is no. Most people mention one tithe,but in fact there were three tithes mention in the OT (Num 18v21-24/Deut 14v22-29)one could call them the law of the tithe. That minister who I heard preaching  never used any scripture from the NT in his preaching as regards tithing,because there is none.If we are not under the law of tithing  then how much should we give ?.1Corinthians 16 v2 reads ,'Set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income',we will consider  the  subject of giving next time.

The wrath of God ( Romans 1 v16)

 The wrath of God is something that many do not like ,they say we cannot reconcile the God who is love ( (1 John 4 v 8),with such a doctrine. If you  read the word of God you will see time after time God's wrath in action.,on a world scale Genesis 6-7.on cities Genesis Gen 19, on nations such as Egypt Gen 7-11.on individuals Leviticus 10'.But about the, New Testament?  Acts 5 /12v19-23.We have to acknowledge that we do read of God's wrath recorded  for us, but we do have it taught in many places Jesus spoke often of Gods Cp Matthew 10 v 28 /11 v20-24./24 v51/25 v41-46/ Luke 16 v19ff./John 3 v16/v36.We will move on to consider Romans 1 v 18'The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people,who suppress the truth by their wickedness'' Here the apostle clearly speaks of wrath,as being a fact and were it come from,'from heaven', directed against all the godless and wicked people.You may think that God's judgement is just towards the worst of sinners,until people trust Christ the wrath of God abides (3 v36)People who object to the wrath of God,minimise the seriousness of even one sin,one sin by Adam and Eve the moment they did that, sin and death entered this world.All have sinned and come short of the glory of God Romans 3 v36.The only escape from judgement is by trusting  Jesus to be your Saviour.

                                                          There's a way back to God 

                                                          From the dark paths of Sin,

                                                          There's a door that is open

                                                          and you may go in.

                                                          Calvarys cross is where you begin

                                                          When you come as a sinner

                                                                         To  Jesus.

                                                           

The wrath of man. { Isaiah 53 v 7)

 How great was our Saviours suffering?it involved two things,'the wrath of man and the wrath of God, let us consider the first one, Let us first look 'the wrath of man', It began with a man called Judas ,a supposed follower of  Christ who was becoming more and more disillusioned with Christ, their didn't appear to be any pay day coming.He was a man obessed with money and the devil entered into him,beware that you don't let sinful cravings take over your life ,the devil will take advantage and drive you to destruction.He knew how the religious leaders wanted rid of Jesus,oh yes they had their perverted reasons,they hated and envied Him.They were delighted when Judas came to them,and he received 30 piieces of silver (Lk 22ff) Judas took the money and waited for an opportunity to betray Jesus,eventualy it came,I would add Jesus knew what was coming,but He bravely and  courageously went forward to His destination.Remember no one forced him to die on the Cross,He said ,'No one takes it from me(His life) ,but I  lay it down of my own accord, I  have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again (Jn 10 v18) So let us move on to the garden  where Judas betrayed Him,He was then arrested and taken to be tried first by Annas,there he was slapped in the face (Jn 18 v22)this was followed by more abuse(Mt 26 v67). He was then taken to Caiaphas and then to Pilate to be tried,he sent him over to Herod and then He was returned to Pilate who in the end  gave into the demands of the Jews to crucify Him, He then was flogged,  He was then taken out to the soldiers He was mocked and beaten,and a crown of thorns put on His head, then he was taken to be crucified,To get the full graphic picture of the state his body, we turn to Isaiah's account in 52 v 14,we read,'Just as there were many who were appalled at Him,his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and His form marred beyond human likeness'

                                                        'Such was the wrath of man'.

An appointed time ( Habakkuk 3 v 16-19)

 The prophet Habakkuk was told by God what he was going to do,it was grave news,his country would be invaded,and it would be devastating.Nothing was to change, it had come to the point of no return,Judah had shown  no signs of repentance,they were not for turning from their evil ways.Having heard this Habakkuk  turns aside to wait on God ,he had complained to God and  he wanted a reply.So God replied to him,he is told to write the revelation down,and He says this,'The revelation awaits an appointed time,'(2 v 3) it would come into being in God's appointed time. God has His time table,and its often contrary to ours, we are all a bit like Habakkuk ,we have questions as to why God did not act in certain situations.There are many of  God's people who are suffering,many are  being lead like lambs to the slaughter,they are being called to be faithful even unto death (Revelation 2 v10) It will always be like that,but at the apponted time,all such suffering will cease when Christ comes back again. That is one aspect as regards God's appointed timing, but His appointed timing includes also, delivering,providing, saving,helping God's  people,just at the right time.

Awesomeness ( Romans 1 v 18 -20)

 One thing I miss is seeing the stars,I see just a few,light pollution hides them from me. Sometimes we catch a glimps of the awesomeness of the universe we live in on TV.God's ceation is truly wonderful. Sometimes a friend and I go to a bird sanctury and a man there said he had spotted a Peregrine Falcon,my friend who used to be bird watcher when he was young , so he is very knowledgeable told me that  the Peregrine Falcon is the fastest animal on earth,reaching speeds of 300 Km/h or over 200 mls per hour.It reaches that speed when diving on its prey,from a great height, it is the most  aerodynamic of all birds,I wonder who designed it?. So many people have lost the awe factor and the awesomeness of creation, and the awesomeness of their Creator,they know so much yet know so little

                                                        'All things bright and beautiful,

                                                        All creatures great and small,

                                                        All things wise and wonderful,

                                                       The Lord God made them all'

                                                            Words  Cecil F, Alexander