Love (1 John 4 v 8)

The Beatles sang a song with the words ,'All you need is love', it was a world wide hit with six hundred million records sold . But love without truth ,or love without morality ,or love where God is excluded?  The  world loves many things,gods who are not god's,  People love their country, their pets,their cars, their families ,and so we could go telling what people love, and yet do not love God.One has not to be carried away by a wave of sentimentality,God loved the world by giving His Son,their response was they nailed Him to a cross.Of course many non Christians do loving things,and we applaud them for that,but they do not love the Son of God. We cannot cut God out of the picture, multitudes, do,as if to say He doesn't matter, He should take first but He is left out in the cold.Ask them this question would they be prepared to die for God,  The apostle of of love John wrote the following,'This  is love; not that we loved God,but that He loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our Sins.

                           'Such love!Such grace!Makes the pieces  come falling into place,

                           Breaks through the darkness, turns on the light,

                           Making blindness give way to sight, your love has conquered,

                            Has set us free to become all You've called us to be,

                            Healing the wounded,making us stand,bringing  peace and a sword in your hand.

                            And no power in the universe can separate us from the love of God.

                            We're Yours forever with nothing to fear,

                             Willing slaves to the love that brought us here.'  ( Words Dave Bryant)

Be discerning ( 1 Corinthians 16 v 13)

 I have just read an article in a news paper on a man called Bear Grylls's he has written a book that has become very popular.Im interested in a number of things he said.As a Christian we must be discerning,and judge all things which by God's word.This unchanging revelation must be our guide,take one of this mans statement about Jesus  he speaks about Jesus being on the wild side and being a 'savage warrior' .That is not what He was,he never was out of control and as for being a savage warrior,nothing could be further  from the truth,He was meek and lowly of heart  Matthew 11 v29,As regards politics He never involved Himself once in politics, He said his kingdom was not of this world, John 18 v36. Then this man said something which I have heard people say to me many times,'you don't need to go to church.'he appears very ignorant as to what the church is ,it is,not a building,the church is the people of God,In Ephesians 5 v25 we read,'Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for it'.The church is all Christians, they are our family, he writes that he doesn't go very much to church saying that God is not found there.Here again he is equating the church with a building, instead of God's  people,and has not read what Jesus said, in Matthew 18 v20,'For where two or three gather in my name,there I am with them'.As regards sexuality,he clearly thinks that Jesus had no problems with peoples sexuality, but he did for he told the women caught in  adultery,'go and leave your life of sin' John 8 53ff. Because Jesus didn't mention many different sins it is clear  that there are moral boundaries that God has set up ,and if we Igor them ,we are sinning,

No boasting ( James 4 v 13 -16)

 Proverbs 27 v 1 reads,'Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring',so wrote Solomon. Who are the boasters?,they include everyone.Unfortunately, even Christians do it,yes we do. we all seem to ignore the obvious,the uncertainty of life,yet we rush on in our blindness, confident that we do not need to acknowledge God in all our ways to direct our paths Proverbs 3 v6.The poet Robbie Burns wrote,'' The best plans of mice and men go awry'' (amiss)As the Titanic was sailing on its maiden voyage, someone said that it was ''Practically unsinkable''.The fact is life holds no certainties,ignoring that  brings dire consequence, Charles Bridges wrote as regards our eternal destiny,and our neglect of our souls, ,'Heaven and  Hell are no trifles.Tomorrow   presumed upon today neglected,ruins all. Standing on the brink of a precipice,how precious the moment  for prayer,ere the door of mercy is closed for ever!  We can make our plans ,but make them prayerfully, acknowledging our dependence on our God and so glorify Him.

                                                              'Run not before Him'

There is a cost' ( Matthew 16 v24- 25)

 There are many examples of what it cost to follow Jesus,I mention a married couple who were members of the church that I attended in Belfast,their names were Fred and Ina Orr,he was known as Freddy. They were very gifted people,I was not at the church when they attended,later on I did meet Freddy,and was blessed through his ministry.They both felt the call of God on their lives,and ended up being accepted by the 'Acre Gospel Mission',to go to Brazil. When travelling to their destination in Brazil, Ina became unwell and died, Fred became unwell also but survived,He was advised by a doctor to go home,but he stayed,and for the rest of his life he served God there.Yes there is a cost in following Jesus,everyday I pray for many people,who are suffering greatly  because they are followers of our dear Saviour.

                                              'Remember it is the way of the cross

                                                               that leads home'

Remember ( Psalm 119 v11) Dec 28th

                                        I want to highlight three things we should remember

                                                                               1

 Remember what Paul said in Philippians 3 v13 ,'But one thing I do :Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead.And Paul lived that out in his life,and so should we.We cannot change our  failures,our past hurts, and disappointments, we have all have them,let us not become a slave to them,I believe the essence of what Paul is saying is don't dwell on them,put them  behind you, if we don't it will hinder our present efforts,and our future progress.

                                                                              2

Remember what David said,' I was young and now I am old,Yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread'.I remember saying to a person,'The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want'(Ps 23v1),he laughed at me,but it is true.The God of David ,is my God,and he is your God, 'our Saviour said 'do not worry 'Mt 6 v25,and then He repeats it again ,'v31 'So do not worry', He is telling us that our heavenly Father will care for us.

                                                                              3

Remember what our Saviour said,' I am the light of the world.Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness,but will have the light of life.'This is a dark world and there is much darkness all around us,remember Jesus will be with us ,He will be the light in our  darkness,his presence will be with us,and His word shall also be with us,let that word be a lamp for our feet,and a light on our path.(Psalm 119v105)

                                                                              

You are not listening ( Matthew 7 v 24-29)2

 Why did Israel  get into so much trouble? what does God say was the problem? 'But you have not listened to me',(  Judges 6 v6)yes God did speak to them,but they did not listen.It's like what a wife say's to her husband',you don't listen to me.' We may laugh at that,and identify with it ,likewise when a parent speaks to their children,we can identify with that if you are parenting,and they do not take it seriously , they don't listen. How much more should we listen to God when we read His word,or hear his word ,if we did, them we would avoid so many things that would harm us. Let us ask us ourselves the question, am I listening to God ? am I obeying what He says?,Are you in trouble,could it be that God is saying,the reason you are in trouble is because you did not listen to me.Be humble enough and ask forgiveness,put it right with God, now.

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Offending God's holiness ( 1 Peter 1 v 14-16)

 In Leviticus 10 v 10 Aaron is instructed that he and his sons must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean'. These words were spoken after Aaron's sons had disobeyed God 10 v 1-2 ', fire came from the presence of the Lord and consumed them\, and they died before the Lord'You can imagine that many liberals will cry out against what God did ,and they will say that's the  God of the OT,they appear to forget that Christians believe in  only one God, Malachi 3 v 6  tells us 'For I am the Lord I change not'. James 1 v 17  speaks of the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows' And in Hebrews 13 v 8 we read,'Jesus Christ is the same yesterday,today,and forever'.these words affirms His diety.The verses in Lev 10 v10 tells us that  God is not neutral as  regards sin,and there are many passages in the NT  show this.The sons of Aaron  disobeyed God (Exodus 30 v 9 )When anyone disobeys God they are sinning,even if you are a Child of God. Aaron's sons offended God's holiness,the reason why they were possible drunk (cp Lev 10 v9) Drunkenness has caused a lot of misery,drinking alcohol is not a sin (1 Timothy 5 v23) but being a slave to it is  ( 1Corinthians 6 v 9 -10)