Weakness (2 Timothy 4 v 16-17) 1

 The book  of Judges is about Israels failure to follow God, followed by God punishing them, then rescuing them when they called on Him. One writer  describes their turning to Him as mere remorse,not repentance.He nevertheless did rescue them, until the next time. He raised up individuals who were called Judges who would rescue them,one of the Judges was called Gideon (Chap 6 -7),for seven years they were being oppressed by two nations,they were in dire straits ,and then they called on God to rescue them, imagine it took seven years of oppression before they turned to God,he is very patient with his people,and with you and me. Now let's think about Gideon,he was to learn a number of lessons , one ,being weak is not a disadvantage, in v15 he says ,how can I save Israel?  My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family. The Lord answered,''I will be with you'' God does not leave us in our weakness no,He will be with us,today and all our tomorrows, when we go to work,when we go shopping or whatever,He will be with us, simply because He dwells within us,by His Spirit.

Don't be like Ephraim ( Deuteronomy 8 v 1 -5)

 I have just watched an old movie about people considered a coward,in the end he proved he wasn't ,and he succeeded ,and he showed that he was a very brave man. In the movie, the man had received four white feathers from four different people, indicating they believed he was a coward.There is stigma attached to being coward,the army take a very dim view as regards a soldier being a coward.There was a time when those acted cowardly would be shot. There are cowards mentioned in the Bible  ,we read the following in Psalm 78 v 9-12 it reads ,'The men of Ephraim,though armed  with bows,turned back on the day of the battle; the reason,' They did not keep God's covenant and refused to live by the law,They forgot what He had done, and the wonders He had shown them'.These people were armed,yes they had the means to win,but alas they turned back, The English archers defeated the French in the battle of Agincourt so bows an arrows were very effective weapons. Reason why they ran away,'They did not keep God's covenant and refused to live by the law',Ephraim the leading tribe in Israel,had forsaken God,if we forsake God  there are sad consequences .They had forgot what God had done,the wonders that He had performed for them.. Spurgeon writes,'Ere we condemn them,let us repent of our own wicked  forgetfulness,and confess the many occasions upon which we also  have been unmindful of past favours'.                                             

Marriage ( Hebrews 13 v 4 )

 In these days marriage in our society marriage is being ignored by many, some  people just live together,even  Christians are doing this,I am sure they have their reasons, but whatever the reason marriage is what God desires , The first miracle was performed at a wedding CP John 2, and in John 4  Jesus spoke to a Samaritan woman, who had been married five times,and the person she was living with was not her husband v 17.There Jesus was making distinction between marriage and living together, The  Samaritans accepted the first five books in the Bible,and it is there we read where the Jews and the Samaritans based the divorcing of wives that Moses had given Deut 24 v 1,it reads that he could  simply,' give her a certificate  of divorce and send her away',thats all it took ,so simple,One can see how abusive that could be, simply by what was said as regards the Samaritan woman.It was seen by Jesus to be wrong ,and  he answered the religious peoples as to why  Moses had given this rule. Jesus answer was because of the hardness of their hearts. Mt 19 v 8.In a sense they were making a mockery of marriage ,treating women in a wrong way,and going against the sacredness of marriage as God intended it to be.

That final step ( 2 Corinthians 8 v 9)

That final step comes on the last moment of our walk to glory,but sometimes on that journey we  struggle,   so much so that we  can't go on to towards that final step .There are two things that should help us,one is keeping our eyes on Jesus ,and the next one is the joy of  heaven . (Hebrews  12 v 3)We cannot fully grasp what awaits us in heaven,so many things clouds our vision.Of course we walk by faith,but sometimes our faith is weak,our loving heavenly Father understands.So let me mention some things as regards heaven, there you will never feel tired, you will no longer be tempted to sin, imagine you will never think a wrong thought,be it sexual, covetousness ,anger,hate, or experience coldness of spirit, all the bad memories will be gone.There will be no evil people ,no more wicked dictators,no more depression,no more despair.Our minds will be free from all confusion,no more mental illness,no more darkness,for the Lord will be the light thereof. None of this could  have  come about if Christ had not come,by coming to this sinful world,he made it possible for sinners to be forgiven and that we at last could go to heaven.if we simply accept Him as our Saviour.

Just a carol. ( Luke 2 v 8- 14)

A friend sent me a Christmas card,with the words of a carol written by Charles Wesley, I have never heard it sung, so I like to share it with you.

                                                      1      'Let earth and heaven combine,

                                                             Angels and men agree,

                                                             To praise, in Songs divine,

                                                              The incarnate Deity;

                                                              Our God contracted to a span,

                                                               Incompressible made man

                                                     2        He laid His glory by,

                                                               And wrapped Him in our clay;

                                                                Unmarked by human eye,

                                                                The Latent Godhead lay;

                                                                 Infant of  Days, He here became,

                                                                  And bore the loved Immanuel's name.

                                                       3         Unsearchable  the  love

                                                                  That has the Saviour bought;

                                                                  That grace is far above

                                                                   Or  man's or angel's thought;

                                                                   Suffice for us,that God we know,

                                                                    Our God was manifest below.'

                   

                                                         

                                                

They won't fool Jesus.(Matthew 7 v 15 - 23)

 In  Titus 1 v 16,we read 'They claim to know God,but by their actions they deny Him',this again tells us clearly of the importance of showing the evidence of being a Christian.No matter what people say if  their lives are sinful ,it is obvious they are  not Christians. Our Saviour said in Matthew 7 v22-23,'Many will say to me on that day,''Lord,Lord,did we not prophesy in your name and in you name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly,''I never knew you.Away from me,you evildoers!'An extreme example of this is Judas  we read that he ,'he shared in the ministry Acts 1 v17,he fooled everyone but not the Lord.People can hide a lot of wrongful doings under a cloak of religiosity.Think of the atrocities have been perpetrated by very religious people, There are those who name Christ as their Saviour,claiming miracles,casting out so called demons.one day,yes one day,they will be shown for what they are,evildorers.Our Saviour said 'Watch out  for false prophets. They come to in sheep's clothing,but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognise them.( Matthew 7 v15-16)

Anger ( Ephesians 6 v 10)

One of the first things that happened after the fall, was a murder most foul,between two brothers(Gen 4),Cain  and Abel, the problem began when the two brothers brought offerings to God,Cains offering was rejected by God,  Abel's  offered was  accepted. It was God's choice ,it is His prerogative after all he is God,Cain should have accepted that but instead he became angry not with God but with his brother,God knew how he felt ,God sought to reassure him that if he did that which was right he would be accepted, and warned him of where his anger would lead,God told him to rule over his anger.Think of the many evil's that have come out of uncontrolled anger.There are scriptures warning about the danger and consequences of uncontrolled anger. Psalm  37 v8 tells us,'Refrain from anger,and forsake wrath', Ephesians 4 v27 ,tells us our anger gives the devil a foothold ,Cain destroyed his own brother,Remember what Peter tells us about our Lord,'When He was reviled,He did not revile in turn,when He suffered He did not threaten,but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly' ( 1 Peter 2 v23)