It does matter.[ 2 John ]

John Stott in his Tyndale commentary on the epistles of John writes,/ John has given us three things to test themselves, and others, doctrinal, moral,and social./ Consider the doctrinal, now many people say it does not matter what you believe as long as you are sincere,but it does matter,I am reading at present a history of Nazism ,their leader and followers acted out what they believed. Rudolf  Hess who was responsible for the murder of more than a million people ,felt to his last breath the reasons for the extermination of the Jews were right,that was what he believed.The person who killed all those young people in Norway acted out of what he believed. Now acting out of what we believe is seem in everyday events,why do you save,because you believe it is the sensible thing to do,likewise when you feel unwell you go to the doctors,again because you believe it is the sensible thing to do.Everybody has beliefs , but it is when those beliefs ,are and become harmful, and when our beliefs are contrary to the word of God.Much of what is written in the epistles is contending against error,who Christ is, and why He came,and what He said and did, are not to be undermined, or to be seen as just another religious leader and movement. Jesus declared that He was the way ,the truth,and the life,that no one can come unto the Father but by Him [ John 14 v6 ], make no mistake, believing this is vital.
A   prayer..../ Dear God ,guide us into truth and keep us believeing and walking in Your truth in Jesus Name/

Worry. [1 Peter 5 v7 ]

I must confess there are times that I worry,you would think after all these years,I wouldnt worry, I who have read the bible many times,preached  sermons and so on,  should not worry, is worry a sin?[,now  I am going to worry about that]. I am sure every Christian worries about something or other at times, I dont worry all the time, and by Gods grace ,I face my worries and trust in His word, that word continually reassures me that my loving heavenly Father is watching over me.Worry is a natural feeling,the only way forward is? ,ah, I know the answer,trust, yesterday I had to take two people for their regular blood test,they both are very unwell people and find it hard to wait, and so I prayed that they would be seen quickly,and they were.Yes I do worry about things but I do bring my worries to Jesus, and I find time and time again,He undertakes. Im struggling to remember  the words of a little chorus ,I think the words go like this,/All my anxieties all my cares bring to the mercy seat ,leave them there,never a burden that He cant bear, never a fiend like Jesus/, let us do that today. 
A  prayer....../ Dear God live is a continual challenge, help to face whatever problem or worry as it were on our knees,to daily cast our cares upon You in Jesus name Amen /

Take the meaning. [Romans 8 v26-27]

Continuing on our theme on prayer, yes we may not know always what to pray, now that is no reason to stop praying,we must pray we need to keep in touch with God. There are many times when God grants us faith to pray for a persons  healing or whatever,so pray,never stop praying, in prayer we acknowledge our continual dependance upon God.The apostle acknowledges his limatations in not knowing what to pray for, but he does not leave it there, he tells us that we have a helper, the Holy Spirit who helps us in our prayer life[ Romans 8 v26-27]. Yes He is our helper in our struggles to know what to pray, He  the Spirit is at work,dont get hung up with the words Paul the apostles uses ,as regards the Spirit  making intercession for the saints with groaning. The most important point is He the Spirit is helping us in our prayer life,in a way in which we need. I remember years ago reading about a man who was praying earnestly , he broke down weeping ,and all he could pray was the following words,/ Take the meaning,take the meaning/. You see thats what the Holy Spirit does He takes the meaning,and as the apostle writes,/He maketh intercession, for the saints according to the will of God/.
A   prayer...../Dear God help us in our ministry of prayer, there are so many times we are not sure how or what to pray for,grant us Your Spirits aid and guidance in Jesus name  Amen/

Not knowing[ Romans 8 v26 ]

Consider the words of Roman8 v26, were the apostle says,for we know not what we should pray for as we ought,now there are two  occasions in which ,the apostle found it difficult to know Gods will.cp Philippians 1 v23/ 2 Corinthians 12v 7-8/   W  Hendriksen in his commentary on Romans ,that Paul like us knew what to pray for in a general way,but not always what to pray for in any particular difficulty or situation. I have gone for situations in relation to Christian ministry,and have not been sure,that the position was for me,so I fell back upon the words of Psalm 47 v4 /He [God] shall choose our inheritance for us/ Healing is another aspect of prayer which I am never sure,it is not just a case of lack of faith,it is not just knowing what to pray. Two people I know of  have cancer, one is a young man in his twenties, the olther a man in his sixties,both are Christians ,what does one pray? ,oh yes I can pray that they may be given grace,peace, a conscious sense of the Lords presence, but for healing, I am not sure. I pray for many situations and people,for salvation, for God would have all men to be saved, I pray that God would supply peoples needs as He has  promised [Philippians 4 v19]. If Paul was humble enough to write that he was not sure what to pray for at times, then I need not feel guilty or condemned because I feel the same.
A  prayer..../Dear Heavenly Father we acknowledge our limatations even in prayer, help us to trust You with our not knowing,in Jesus name Amen /

Light or darkness. [John 1 v1 -14]

In our garden we have solar lights,but we noticed one lot was not giving out any light,,the fixture that powers those lights  had fallen over and was not able to recieve any sunlight. The bible speaks much about light and dakness the Psalmist David declares ,/The Lord is my light and my salvation,whom shall I fear.[Psalm 27v1 ] In Psalm 119v105,we read,/Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path/and in the New Testament we have Jesus spoken of as the true light[ John 1v9]as opposed  who  professed to be light and were not. During His ministry Jesus spoke of the importance of not walking in darkness .  W Barclay points out that Rabbis declared that the name of the Messiah is light, so it when Jesus declared,/ I am the light of the world,[John 8 v12 ],He in fact was declaring Himself to be the Messiah. In John 3 v19, we read, And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world, and men loved darknees rather than light, because their deeds were evil. In considering these things we see Jesus declaring Himself to be God,we also see that He was that long promised Messiah,who gives us an invitation to follow Him and in so doing , be brought out of our darkness, and experience life eternal. We need no longer stumble around in the darkness for whoever follows Jesus shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
A    prayer....../Dear God we praise You for Jesus the light of the world,that through Him we no longer walk not knowing the way to go,no longer  ensnared by Satan and our own dark hearts  ,thank you in His precious name  Amen/

Mankinds greatest problem. [Romans 3 v 10 -23 ]

I was preaching last Sunday ,and my first point was mankinds greastest problem ,the answer is sin, yes sin, modern man has left this out of the reckoning,but scripture declares it continually,and mans behaviour manifests it.  A survivor of  Auschwitz death camp, was asked,what he had learned, his answer was,/ I think Im only sure of one thing, nobody knows themselves/ ,he went on to say,/ The nice person you meet on the street, you ask ,where is North street? and he goes with you, and shows you,and is nice and kind.That same person in a different situation could be the worst sadist. Nobody knows themselves. Sometimes when somebody is really nice to me I find myself thinking, How will he be in Sobibor?[ or Auschwitz].Just recently Anders Breivik was found guilty of murdering all those dear young people, and also planting a bomb, that killed other people.  He smiled when he was told he was sane, and then apologised for not killing more people, yes he is sane ,but he is an insane sinner. The word of God gives a chilling summary of man condtion in Romans 3,and it sums it all up in v23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,the root of it all is declared in Jeremiah 17 v9, /the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked,/  and then it adds ,/who can know it?/,the words of that survivor fom Auschwitz ,have a biblical truth to them,/nobody knows themselves/. Only God knows the human heart, its potential for evil, and only God has the answer to our greatest need,read Isaiah 53, of the one who was wounded for our transgressions, even Jesus, only through his death on the cross can we be forgiven and changed.
A  prayer...../Dear God thank You that through Your dear  Son Jesus You and You alone have provided the answer ,to mans greatest  problem ,our sinful nature,Amen/

He has promised to do us good. [ Psalm 23 ]

Nelson,s signal read ,/England expects everyman will do his duty/,and when he was dying he said ,thank God I have done my duty. Nelson was loved greatly by his men, he was a great man,but,yes there is that but again,he was far from perfect. Great men are far from perfect, in Germany Hitler was considered a great man,he was idolised, people gave there lives for him,but he was an evil man, and he brought misery upon million and millions of dear people, the German nation can point the finger at what happened to their nation,cities bombed nearly to extintion, thousand of women raped, yes all that is true.Those things were wrong,but all this came about, because a nation followed one man Hitler, the army swore absolute obedience to him.Now while I am highlighting Hitler,and Germany,through out history there have been many evil leaders, who somehow got into power ,Stalin, uncle Joe, as he was affectionately known,but to those who were close to him, he was Ivan the terrible.Let the nations learn from these events, and let us all be careful who we give our allegiance to,there is one person we can fully give our allegiance to, His name is Jesus, he will not leads us to harm anyone,in fact He has promised to do us good.
A  prayer...../Dear Lord Jesus, we bow before You,we surrender our wills to You, and swear absolute allegiance to You ,we ask this in Your name Amen /