Avoiding the Dirt. ( Colossians 3 v 12 )

I was getting out of my car,and the ground was muddy and so I tried to avoid the dirt, that sort of dirt is not much of a problem,but there so much moral dirt about which we need to avoid.On the Internet there is pornography ,there are movies that are not suitable, comedians whom we should  not  listen to. There are those are those who would want to bring us down to their level,better to walk alone than to walk with them.Now I am not calling for a holier than thou attitude, but I am stressing the importance of holiness.In Exodus 28 we have a description of  the priestly attire,one of the things he wore was  a pure gold plate,which was attached to his turban, it had the following words engraved upon it,' Holiness to the Lord'. These are very important words,these words remind us all of the challenge of being holy.Holiness is a state of separation  to God, and conduct befitting that separation. The scripture declares ',Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and be holy;without holiness no one will see the Lord.'.  ( Hebrews 12  v 14)

J W' s ( 1 Corinthians 2 v 6 - 16 )

Had my usual visit from the J W s ,it is very frustrating,talking to them,the fact is they do not understand Biblical truth,well how could they?.They are not born again,so they have not received the Holy Spirit, so that has consequences, here is what the Bible writes about these people, 'The person without the Spirit does not accept the things, that come from the Spirit of God but considers  them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit'. (  1 Corinthians  2 v 14 ) It means that they lean upon their own understanding,and reject the very obvious teaching of scripture,and no matter what one may say ,it will not be accepted. When we become a Christian we enter into life of faith,we accept things that most J W' s reject  for example ,the Trinity, heaven is for all believers,but  not so for J W's, their teaching on blood transfusions,is  a dangerous belief , and is not taught in scripture,one could mention other things,but the sad fact is they have no true spiritual understanding of scripture.It is not easy to speak to them for they,are not listening to what one says. the god of this world has blinded them, its as serious as that.

I am the worse. ( Luke 18 v 9 - 14 )

It is Paul who writes in 1 Timothy 1 v 15,' Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,of whom I am the worse'. Where did He come from? ,the answer is ,from Heaven.Yes Jesus preexisted before He was born in Bethlehem,  C P,  John 1 v 1 / 17 v 5/ 2  Corinthians 8 v 9 . Why did He leave heaven and come to earth? the answer is very simple and very important ,'To save sinners', Mohammad cannot save sinners,Buddha  cannot save sinners,only Jesus can do that,that's why he came.Why did Paul say that he was the worse of sinners?,surely there were worse sinners  than Paul.Yes there were worse sinners than Paul ,on these words John Stott writes the following,'The truth is that when we are convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit,an immediate result is that we give up all comparisons.Paul was so vividly aware of his own sins that he could not conceive that anybody could be worse. It is the language of every sinner whose conscience has been awakened and disturbed by the Holy Spirit.'

Why did Jesus come ? ( 1 Timothy 1 v 15 )

I said last  time that Gods love is not blind,because His is a holy love,that means He see's us as we really are,sinners.We try to ignore or even resent those words,and there are even some foolish ministers who do not like using the word sinner, They feel that it will offend people,it more than likely does,but that's neither here or there,it is the truth,and until a person accepts the fact that they are sinners,they will never get to heaven. They will  say ,no one is perfect,yes they can accept those words,but they will not accept that they are sinners,and unless that sin is forgiven they will never enter heaven.

How great is your darkness? ( John 1 v 1 - 5 )

There he was walking on the other side of the road, I have spoken to him a number of times while out walking. So I crossed over and talked to him,now I had a gospel leaflet in my pocket,so I asked him would he accept it. He started edging away from me, saying he had it in his head, and that people were his gods,so I  carried on with my walking, and as I walk along I passed a tree and there on the  ground, beside the tree was plate of food and a glass of water.I wondered what that meant,it appears to be a Hindu practise,relating to their beliefs,trees and animals can be seen as sacred.Of course humanity worships so many different things ,Our Lord Jesus said in Matthew 6 v 23,'If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is your darkness.'People are full of all sorts of beliefs weird and strange ,that man who said he worshipped people,was saying that was his light. The person who bows before a tree, is saying that's my light, that is what I believe, Jesus declares how great is their darkness, there darkness is great.Jesus declared ,'I am the light of the world . Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the life of light'.( John 8 v  12 )

Forsaken, Forgotten? ( Hebrews 13 v 5 )

Had God forgotten Joseph when his brothers sold into slavery,and when he was unjustly cast into prison?. Had God forgotten Job when he lost his family,possessions ,health?,had God forgotten Jeremiah when he cast into a pit?or when Paul was beaten and put into a prison?. If I added your name to the list,by adding your difficulties that you may be having,and ask do you think God has forgotten you?.In Mark 4 v 35 ff we read that the disciples where in a boat with Jesus, suddenly a storm came up the boat was in danger of sinking. Now all the time Jesus was sleeping,and did not appear that Jesus cared if they perished,they even told him as much.Now that takes it to another level, It is a fact that when we are in difficulties and it appears that the Lord is not responding ,and does not appear to be even listening to ones prayers that we think all sorts of things?.In Isaiah 49 v 14 we have Gods people declaring, 'The Lord has forsaken me,the Lord has forgotten me'.Here is what God replies.'Can a mother forget the baby at her breast, and have no compassion on the child she has borne?.Though she may forget I will not forget you. See I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.( Isa v 49 v 15 - 16 ) That's the word of the Lord for you today.

You are ( John 3 v 16 )

We read that God  is love  ( 1 John  4 v 8 ) and we read  ,that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten  Son,  that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3 v 16 ) God loves the world , here it means people,you and I,everyone without exception.But lets contrast Gods love with with human love,   Derek Tidball writes the following ',Human love is usually 'Eros' ,it loves those who are worthy, lovable and able  to love us in return. It is characterised by desire, often a desire to possess'. He goes to contrast this with Gods love,using the word  'Agape' agape love is one that loves the unworthy,and does so freely....Gods love differs from ours,not just in quantity but in kind'.Gods love is not a blind love, no it is an all knowing love,he knows our innermost thoughts,our secret sins,our open sins, He knows everything about everybody. In spite of the fact that we are unloving, unthankful ,We will continue this next time.