Very serious ( Luke 16 v 19 - 31 )

I was listening to a a former atheist talking about becoming a  Christian ,he was a  qualified scientist ,he spoke of attending church thinking all he would hear  about was  sin and hell, instead he heard about love.I had not time to listen to anymore of what he was saying, I hoped that is not where  he stopped,I hope he went unto realise, that like or not,that we have accept that sin and hell are realities,that we have to accept. We cannot water those things down,they are to serious to do that,I remember hearing  about a Christian who was a passenger on the Titanic,he did die ,but before he did ,he swam around telling people about Jesus that they may be saved.Church history is full of people who endured so much ,in order tell people about Christ,who can save them. think of what Christ suffered in order for them to save them..People are grossly ignorant  of spiritual things, I am not ignorant of spiritual things, I know what the Bible teaches,as regards unforgiven sin,dying without Christ is a very, very, serious business.

                                                  ' Come to the Saviour make no delay'.

Trust in man , can never. ( Proverbs 3 v 5 )

 It was Napoleon who said that God was always on the side of the biggest battalion ,one writer pointed out that it was a dictum he lived to regret . When he invaded Russia he had an army of about 600,000 men, when he returned to France, he had 35,000 soldiers. Writing on Psalm 116 v 8,    which reads ,'It is better to trust in the Lord than man..... than princes, Herbert Lockyer comments,''Good it is to trust  in Jehovah'', 'It is better in every way to trust in the Lord to help us , because it is wiser , seeing He is more able to help us than the best of  men, who are only frail men at best.It is also safer to have Him  as the object of confidence,because we are always secure in His hands. Trust in man can never produce a sacred  calm of spirit, and sanctity of the soul, as the Lord can in the hearts of those who trust in Him'.

                                                  'Trust in the Lord with all 

                                                         of your heart'

Are we growing? ( John 12 v 21)

 I see now that winter is ending, although to be truthful it has been a very mild winter, one of mildest I can remember.My Geraniums have come through practically unharmed, and I have just notice that the row of small bushes are beginning to grow,and of course the grass  has also needed cut, looks like summer is on its way,or so it appears,we will see. I wonder what season are you in,for I think our life span has it seasons, I suppose I am in the last season,winter.the signs are there ,my memory is not as good as it used be,but still reasonable,and of course I am on some medication,but thankfully nothing to serious. Of course getting old does not mean one should stop growing spiritually,I wonder how we judge that?, we cannot go to the doctors to find the answer ,so where do we go to assess our spiritual growth?.Suppose we could ask a friend, who has known us many years,or ones wife.But of course the word of God ,will tell us,the qualities of spiritual growth. There are many scriptures that help us,guide us, and challenge us in relation to spiritual growth ,here are a few, Matthew 5-7 / 2 Peter 1v 5-8 / Galatians 5 v 22-23.The aim of it is, that we should be more like Jesus .Romans 8 v 29.

                                                                ' Keep growing'

Not distant. ( Ephesians 2 v 11 - 13 )

Psalm 116 is a lovely Psalm,it is known as the,'Pronoun Psalm', examples of pronouns ,I,Me, and You. The first two verses, have 6 pronouns, 3 as regards himself,and 3 as regards God. Other people see it as the,' I   Psalm', it reminds us that a relationship with God is very personal ,it not just a religion,one of going through the motions,nor is it a distant relation.There is a lovely hymn which emphasise that closeness with God through Christ,I not to sure who the author was, for two are mentioned ,'Horatius Bonar, and Catesby Paget, Here are some of  the verses.

                                                   '  By nature and by practice far-

                                                     How very far from God!

                                                     Yet now by grace brought near to Him,

                                                     Through faith in Jesus blood.

                                                     So near, so very near to God,

                                                     I cannot nearer be;

                                                     For in the Person of His Son

                                                     I am as near as He.

                                                     So dear, so very dear to God,

                                                     More dear I cannot be;

                                                     The love wherewith He loves the Son,

                                                     Such is His love for me'.

Those who are truly His. (2 Timothy 2 v19 )

 There is a saying, that',one should not judge a book by its cover', in the movies the baddies look like baddies,but in real life, the baddies usually look anybody else, of course there are exceptions. I am sure Judas did not look like the person he turned out to be,it appeared everyone accepted him as a true  disciple. But Jesus knew  exactly  what he was like,John 13 v 11,one may ask the question why did he choose him?, well like so many mysterious in life,which we cannot understand, we must trust the why to our all wise and loving sovereign God. One of the things I would say, Judas was a person who was a  thief,he was very ,very brazen in his actions which he assumed were hidden. To actually steal,and pretend to be a follower of Jesus in spite of the fact that he saw the miracles,he heard the teaching,yet none of this  appeared to touch him,the result was he committed the unforgivable sin,so very sad. Yet all the time he appeared a faithful follower of Christ, but he wasn't ,we are told that the Lord knows those who are truly His. 2 Timothy 2 v19. It goes unto say,'and , everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.'It is Matthew Henry who comments,' We must depart from iniquity ,else He will not own us',Judas by not departing from the sinful course he choose,showed that he was not a true follower of Christ.

Wait . ( Psalm 37 v 7 )

Most of us do  not like waiting,how often I have heard people complaining about waiting,I have just had a new system set up on my internet,that's really fast,doing away with waiting.I get impatient when I go to the bank ,it always appears that people in front of me are taken a long time,and longer than I take,impatience often blinds us to reason. When one thinks of it ,many accidents are caused by people being impatient ,no wonder the Bible tells us that we have need of patience. Hebrews 10 v36.I read this recently,'The only thing harder than waiting on God is wishing you had'.if only Saul had just waited,he may have continued to be king 1 Samuel 13 .if only Abraham and Sarah had waited Gods time, they would never have had Ishmael whose descendants  the Edomites, would give Israel a lot of bother. How often people say ,myself included,'if only I had waited'. So many people are so very busy,and they don't take time to pray, yet is so important,it is not being legalistic,that would do nobody any good, but it is very important in developing a relationship with your loving heavenly Father.We have these wise words, 'in all your ways acknowledge God,and He will direct your paths Proverbs 3 v 6.

                                                ' I waited patiently for the Lord;

                                                 he turned to me and heard my cry'

                                                           Psalm 40 v 1 

Don't be surprised. ( Revelation 3 v 5 )

 She is 67 she lives in Iran, she was arrested suffered the trauma of intensive interrogation by the state security agents and given a jail sentence,she was summoned again to face the same charge. She said that her only crime is her belief in Jesus Christ. Our Saviour said,'If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you'. .....'if they persecuted Me,they will also persecute you'. John 15 v 18- 20.Her only crime was her belief in Jesus Christ , our Saviour said ,we shouldn't be surprise,because Christianity challenges ever other religion,declaring that Jesus is only way to God ,John14 v 6.Of course the devil who has blinded the minds of those who do not believe the Gospel,will not like being robbed of his followers. In Colossians 1 v13, the apostle reminds the Christians, that they had been delivered from the power of darkness, and had been translated into the kingdom  of God's dear Son'.Satan and his followers do not like loosing any prisoners, and so believers in Christ will be persecuted, so don't be surprised when you read of believers being persecuted .But do pray for them that they will be faithful , if need be ,even unto death..