verse of the day

Thursday 28 March 2024

Strange ideas. ( Luke 11 v 4- 5 )

 Psalm 90 was written by Moses, it emphasises the transience of humanity, v10 ,Michael  Wilcock writes ,'We may say readily enough that we believe God is eternal,but we need to be reminded repeatedly  that our life in this world is not.. For every advance in medical or environmental technology helps to reinforce the illusion that it could be.It is easy to snigger at the the maudlin death-bed scenes of Victorian fiction , but  as someone once said( the modern world has forgotten who),'Blessed are those who mourn. Every death is a little undermining of humanity's pride in this respect' Yes life is brief like the falling of a leaf, ,not  many people think about God,many funeral services have no religious  content in them ,they can take the body away and bring it back in a container, no frills or fuss.They fail to realise or care, if God is cut out of ones life ,in time ,they will be cut out in eternity.We have a choice ,we can accept God's way  now,instead of being refused entry into heaven later.People have strange ideas about the after life ,I sought to witness to a man,I asked him was he a Christian?,he replied that he was a Catholic ,well I said one can .be a Catholic and not be a Christian,and you can be a Protestant and not be a Christian. Then he said something else, he said he saw his mother who had died,when he saw a robin sitting on a fence,he really believed that.I will tell you something else very strange,many people think that they are going to heaven ,even though they have not accepted Christ as their Saviour. Strange but not true,God's word teaches us clearly that  we need Christ to escape hell ,and to enter heaven,oh yes there is a heaven and there is a hell.


Wednesday 27 March 2024

Prayer ( Romans 12 v1 - 2 )

 I read this recently,'A famous writer once said there are really only two useful prayers;'Thank you,thank you,thank you', and , 'Help me,help me, help me'.I am not sure what he means by useful prayers,I recently prayed that prayer,  In 1 Thessalonians 5 v 17- 18 we read,'Pray continually,give thanks in all circumstances;for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus'.There are three  things involved in this verse, 'Prayer,giving thanks,and the will of God'. I'm sure I don't have to tell you  the importance of prayer,but how important it is?, but what about praying continually,or without ceasing, now that's a big challenge but you may ask what can we pray about continually?.I am not going to rattle off a lot of things for you to pray about. I am not talking about a legal thing, but having a spirit of prayer.The next thing is that of giving thanks in all circumstances,John Stott points out,'We cannot of course thank God'for all circumstances', including those which our evil and displeasing to Him\;but we can and should thank Him in all circumstances'or whatever happens'. Last but not least the reason we should do these things,because it is the will of God,the will of God is of great importance,and vital in our relationship with our God.

                                                                      'Dear God'

                                                     'Help us to grow in our prayer life,

                                                     Help us to be thankful people,

                                                     Help us, that our lives in all things 

                                                     may  be conformed to Your perfect will'

                                                     

Tuesday 26 March 2024

Ruthless Trust.( Habakkuk 3 v 17 -19 )

 Psalm 88 is a very sad prayer,it is titled ,'A psalm of the sons of Korah',so we don't know who it was who actually wrote it. He is pouring out his heart to God continually,his troubles are overwhelming,he feels he is under a death sentence,cut off from God,and that he is under His wrath,He feels that God has taken away his friends,and they are repulsed by him.There seems no escape from his suffering,and he reasons with God how pointless it all is; In spite of that he continues to cry unto God,yet feeling it is all in vain,his troubles has engulfed him,and he ends by saying,'darkness is my closest friend'. What can we learn from this mans prayer as regards his suffering?The first thought that comes to me is,that some things hath to be borne,and that there is no getting away from them,no matter how much we pray.Every day in this fallen world many of Gods dear children are suffering,and dying horrible deaths In spite all that this man was   going  through he still hung unto God,It was Job who said,' Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad'( Job 2 v 10)Yes it is true,bad things do happen to the most godly people,the hymn writer wrote,'Every joy or trial ,falleth from above',but then he goes unto to say,'We may trust Him fully,all for us to do. They who trust Him wholly find Him wholly true'. There is a book called,'Ruthless Trust',what does that mean?,here is the words uttered by a man who suffered greatly,his name was Job,'Though He slay me.yet will I trust Him', that's ruthless trust.

Monday 25 March 2024

We have a choice. ( Acts 16 v31 )

 I was with a friend and he spoke about a certain minister who he said was a very nice person, and that he could give a wonderful gospel message. That's wonderful,  yet he is advocating that we should accept the moral stance of the world as regards sex and gender. It is vital that we are true to the gospel ,true to Biblical doctrines, but it is wrong to compromise on Gods moral values, I stress God's moral  values.we need not to be surprised that the non-Christians accepts practices that are  not in keeping with God's moral values. In fact they are classed as being sinful, the cross on which Jesus died,was a sacrifice for sin.It tells us a number of things,first, how serious God views sin, He does not look kindly on sin of any  description.  One may be a nice person,but we are all sinners,and sin creates a great gulf between us and God. One can choose to ignore that  and rationalise that we are only human and that God will understand, the simple answer is ,He won't.In the Bible which is God's word we are told in no uncertain terms,what sin is and it's consequences, we can refuse to accept that. God has given all of us a choice,it is important that we make the right choice.Let me point you to the cross on which Christ died, it tells us that  we can be forgiven ,that means we cannot hold unto our sins,we must have them forgiven by trusting Jesus,and forsaking them.

                                                 'Wounded for me,wounded for me'

                                                 There on the cross He was wounded

                                                  me,gone my transgressions now I am 

                                                  free,all because Jesus was wounded for 

                                                   me'

Sunday 24 March 2024

It is important. ( 1 John 1v 7)

 There is an old hymn written by E A.Hoffman , and the first verse goes ,

                                         'Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?

                                          Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

                                          Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?

                                          Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb'.

This hymn is rarely song these days,I suppose because it is thought that it would not make sense to modern ears, for whatever reason. The fact is not many preachers explain what being washed in the blood of the Lamb  means.In the OT sacrifice was practiced, blood was shed and the animal was sacrificed on an altar.the blood  was splashed against the altar, (Lev8 v 19)Hebrews 9 v 22 tells us ,the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without  the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins, (or there is no forgiveness).In Isaiah 6 v 5, sin has with it a real sense of uncleanness ,or even defilement, which cuts us off from a holy God.Unless that sin is dealt with,we will remain cut off from God in time and in eternity. Sin cuts us off from a holy God,but Christ death on the cross changed all that,it paid the price to set us free from sin (1 Peter 1 v 18 -19) .It also  cleansed us, or washed us from our sinful defiled state. (Rev 7 v 14  )

                                                     'O Cavalry!  O Cavalry !

                                             Where Jesus shed His blood for me,

                                                     O  Cavalry! O Cavalry!

                                              Twas there my Saviour died for me. (Words William Mc Kendree)




Saturday 23 March 2024

The value of a soul. ( Matthew 16 v 26)

 Stalin said,'One death is a tragedy,one million is a statistic',sad to say sweet uncle Joe appeared to believe that. Yes one death is a tragedy,but how more is a million deaths,for everyone is a individual,let not numbers blind us of the value of every living soul . The mad bad dictators value no ones life,they take little account of the those they murder,of those they send into battle,or of those they conquer and slaughter.But not only mad and  bad dictators see human beings as of little value,there are many who see money as more important than human beings.There is a movie called 'The Train', it is about the 2nd world war,the German's are on the run,but they want to take back to Germany many ,'Old masters painting'. The french resistance are given the task of stopping them.The German officer in charge saw the paintings of more value that humanity.So the train set of for Berlin filled with these wonderful painting which he worshipped, a french resistance person  was able to stop the train,from going to Germany on the train there were French people , they were taken off the train and shot The movie ends with the German officer and French resistance fighter facing each other,he asked the French man why he stopped the train he didn't value the paintings,but the french man pointed to the people the Germans  had murdered,in other words,that was why he was fighting. In Gods eyes one human being is worth more than  all the art works in the world.Lucy A.Bennett wrote the following.

                                                          On teach me what it meaneth,

                                                          That cross lifted high,

                                                           With One, the Man of Sorrows,

                                                           Condemned to bleed and die,

                                                           O teach me what it cost Thee

                                                           To make a sinner whole;

                                                           And teach me, Saviour, teach me

                                                                   The value of a soul!


                                                               

Friday 22 March 2024

Look at the Cross. ( John 3 v16 )

 Romans 8 v 32 reads,'He who did not spare his own Son,but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also,along with Him, graciously give us all things'. Paul guided by the Holy Spirit writes these wonderful words to encourage his readers,and indeed every Christian, that God who give the greater gift ,He most surely will give the lesser gifts. I remember a preacher describing the lesser gifts as the wrapping paper, It goes without saying that the gift of His own Son,cost Him,this gift was beyond price,it caused Him pain beyond our understanding. The hymn writer wrote,

                                                'Well might the sun in darkness hide,

                                                And shut His glories in,

                                                 When Christ,the mighty Maker, died

                                                  For man the creatures sin' (Isaac Watts)

No one forced Him to give His Son,and no one forced  Christ to die on the cross,it was all voluntary,John 10 v18 ,speaking of Him laying down His life,He said,' No one takes it from Me,but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again'.Yes it was costly,it was  voluntary,but it was given out of love,' Octavius  Winslow wrote, 'Who delivered up Jesus to die?Not Judas, for money; not Pilate,for fear; not the Jews,for envy,- but the Father, for love'.John Stott writes ,'In giving His Son He gave everything. The cross is the guarantee of the continuing ,unfailing generosity of God'.

                                     'How do we know that God loves us, and will care for us?

                                                           LOOK AT THE CROSS