christ died for everyone

I took this photo of this man outside a Glasgow court, he was so drunk that he could not stand. Many that saw him clinging on to the wall mocked and laughed as they past him by. He was oblivious to their smirks and unkind comments. What struck me about the man was that he had made an effort to dress well for court, no doubt in the hope the judge would look favourably on him. At one point he was in danger of falling so I sat him down on the steps to avoid him injuring himself.
Many of us if we saw him on the street would walk on by. Maybe we would think "oh that's a shame" but that's as far as our compassion would go before we walked on. I am not one to hand money to drunks, drug addicts or homeless but like my mum I am more than willing to buy them food if they are hungry. Yet we know when they ask for money its not food that they want because their body craves whatever they are addicted too.

I sometimes see them in the city centre and instead of giving money or buying food I pop into the nearest charity shop and buy a jacket. It is a simple act of kindness for which I seek no reward other than to help my fellow man.
A friend of mine at Xmas no longer buys a gift for her work colleagues but puts the money in a small box and along with her other colleagues donate the cash to a charity. What a wonderful act of kindness. She is not a Christian and in fact has no belief at all, other than helping others less fortunate.

There are 100s of people like the man in my picture who this Xmas will be sleeping rough in some doorway. I know we cant help them all but if we can make a difference to just one, who knows how their life will turn out.

Train spotters

Thankfully the rain has let up but as its Scotland this has been replaced with a lovely cold spell. The old joke about the Scottish weather is true, rain sleet snow sunshine and that's just in one day.
If I was not born in Scotland I would not choose to live here. Sure we have the hills and the glens but in all honesty most Scots don't bother to visit the highlands and lets face it, once you've seen one mountain or glen they do seem to merge into one big hill. I did climb Ben Nevis, which as you know is the highest mountain in Scotland, so I don't feel compelled to climb anymore. One thing I have never understood is people that put "hill walking" as a hobby on their CV or dating profile. Just because you put on boots and walk up a hill does not make it a hobby and no matter how many photograph slides you may want to inflict on others they will fain interest until their ears bleed.
Its like train spotting!!!!
Who in their right mind does that?
I was once trapped on a train with 100 train spotters coming back from Fort William and believe me it is a sight to behold.
1. They do all wear nylon jackets
2. trousers that don't go below their ankles
3. carry more pens than a stationary shop

There is no way they own a mirror and I am positive their parents buy their clothes for them. Ah but I am being too cruel towards them, well no I am not.

One of them actually sat beside me and opened his photo collection and with the enthusiasm of a child at Xmas or a Labrador puppy (but not as cute) he began to show me picture after picture of trains, only stopping to quote their engine numbers.
Suddenly he looked at me and with a glare he gathered his stuff and left to join his fellow spotters, no doubt noticing I was not one of them. Suddenly they broke in to glee as a train past by on the other track and I Kidd you not, some of them where jumping up and down with excitement.

Yet how wonderful for them that they all had this one hobby that brought them altogether. This hobby was the focal point and friends where made, telephone numbers, emails and addresses swapped. There was a connection that unless you too where excited by it, would never understand it.

I am sure you feel that way about God....see always a message

shell suits and buckfast Abby

Many years ago I was chased by 3 shell suit wearing gentlemen intoxicated I am sure with some of the finest wine that buck fast Abby could make. I had no doubt that they were not interested in congratulating me on the new jacket I had just purchased nor do I believe they wanted me to share in their enjoyment of the fore mentioned wine. There are many things you learn about yourself as you are being chased.
1. You remember all that cross country racing you done at school and no longer look at it with disdain
2. You suddenly have the ability to run faster than cars
3. You can pray while running in complete fear

There is also the fact that drunk people cannot run for a very long distance, nor do they have the ability to shout threatening comments while gasping for breath. Now if you are ever in this situation remember all of the above but don't get cocky and shout some stinging remark at them because for the most part it will be a waste of your time. Mostly due to their lack of intellect which I'm sure buck fast Abby can take some of the blame.


I myself enjoy the odd class of wine (corked not screwed) but have never felt the need to shout at others or break into football songs, nor have I insulted anyone over the validity of their parents marriage certificate. The happy group of lads that were chasing me, did make their way back to their home turf (see I am hip and down with the lingo of the street dude) and I'm sure after much back patting and words like "yeah we showed him" all the while holding back from vomiting over the pavement.
Now I wonder how much of the night they will remember.
Will they awake with a bright and cheery grin welcoming in the new day or will they groan and wonder how they are in a jail cell.

Please don't get me wrong, not everyone that drinks will end up in a jail cell but if drinking until you can no longer remember your name is what you call a good night, the chances are you may just have your breakfast passed to you through a small hatch in the cell door.


Oh yes the Christian moral to it all.

Don't drink too much.

Well this was a simple post

Ahh in case Buck fast Abby sue me I had better say " Their fine wine may not be the reason most teenagers end up in jail"

questions

My 10yr old son asks me question after question about God. And you think you have it hard when your child asks "are we there yet or demands more pocket money".
I have to answer; "If Jesus is God why did he shout my God my God why have you forsaken me and why did God allow Satan to sin and were is the garden of Eden and why is there so many churches if their is only one God". Yes the list goes on but thankfully we are building models from war-hammer because my small brain can only take so many questions.

I have brought my son up to question and not just accept. When I was at uni I studied sociology...yes I know most think it is a waste of time but I love the way it engages the mind.
In my house there is no such thing as "I said so" When my son comes to me at the weekend we discuss and reason things out. I may be dad but I still want him to have his point of view and understand my reasons. We study the bible and talk about it but when he is back at his mums he does not have that christian input.
So I am thankful that I do bring him up in the Christian faith but will never force him to go to church if he decides he does not want to go, even at this young age.

I remember being forced as a catholic to go every Sunday and I hated it. It was more boring than watching paint dry and more painful than watching England win the 1966 world cup (which they love to show all the time). The catholic church has not changed that much with regard to children but there have been many positive changes.

At the moment I am not attending any church. I was put off organised religion by a friend and pastor who could not find it in his heart to apologise. I suppose I had built so much around him and this dented my own faith. So for the moment I am looking at other churches and I am sure I will find the right one for me.

Anyway, keep asking question and work out your faith for yourselves

Difficulties in Prayer

Difficulties in Prayer

Sometimes after prayer we don't post things that have hurt us or use a blog to hurt others.

Isn’t it amazing the excuses you can find not to do something. I am constantly amazed at my ability to find reasons why I should not do things. Or why it would be better not to go running and just to read a book. But what is not so amazing is how easily reasons not to pray creep into my Christian life. In this post I want to flag up for us all some of the difficulties we all encounter in Prayer. By identifying the difficulties we encounter I hope we can also identify how to overcome them.

Let me set before you in this post what I believe is a common scenario in the lives of many of us

You have a desire to pray but it feels like such an effort and a burden that you are ready to give up. You feel guilty for even thinking about giving up and so out of a sense of duty you pray. Your prayers are empty of meaning and life because it is out of duty that you pray. This leads to further guilt. The more effort it takes to pray the more neglected your prayer life becomes and the more guilt ways heavy on your soul. You feel alienated from God because of your lack of prayer, more guilt. Your mind becomes more worldly and the result is that prayer gets pushed further down or even off the agenda. Yet you still believe in prayer. You still talk to people about prayer and about the necessity of prayer as a daily discipline in the life of a Christian believer. With the result that you have two parallel lives – the public Christian face which may even on occasions pray in public and the private (real) life where prayer is virtually extinct = guilt again. The end is a downward spiral of neglect and guilt which culminates in spiritual desolation and you walking in the wilderness. Is that a fair description of the prayer life of many Christian believers? I think it is and the reason I believe it to be so is because it has been my Christian experience on many occasions.

Many of us have a desire in our hearts to pray. We really want to pray each day. We believe prayer is important for our relationship with God, with others and in our own lives. We desperately want to have a good prayer life. We talk about the importance of prayer. We receive prayer letters from missionaries, Christian organisations and prayer requests from others. We believe in prayer and yet the practical outworking of that in our daily lives is sometimes non-existent. We are full of good intentions but that is all they remain – ‘good intentions.’ Why? Why do we fail to put into practice what we believe about prayer?

In this post I want to identify for you some of the key things which create difficulties in our prayer life and feed the scenario I just outlined to you.

Sin and Disobedience.

Listen to these words of Jesus in John 14.21 READ. Those are familiar words to us but they convey so much concerning prayer. What is actually revealed to us here is the ‘cycle of intimacy’ in a believer’s life. Jesus tells us that our love for Him is expressed in our obedience to Him, to His Word. He then promises that if we obey Him He will reveal Himself to us. This revelation of Himself to us will lead us deeper into a love relationship with Him and so the cycle continues. But the opposite of that is also true. If we do not obey Him then intimacy is lost. If we disobey Him then we lose that revelation of Him in our lives and our love for Him starts to wane and with it our intimacy with Him. Isn’t that what happened with Adam and Eve when they disobeyed in the Garden of Eden? Whilst they obeyed the commands of God they had intimacy with Him. Whilst they obeyed the commands of God He revealed Himself to them. But once they disobeyed intimacy with God was lost. Their disobedience brought sin into the created order and placed a barrier between God and them and the result was a loss of intimacy, loss of revelation and loss of relationship. Sin brought about a loss in their lives and it does the same to us in our prayer life. Listen to these words in Proverbs 28.9 READ. Did you listen carefully to what God said there? If you disobey (turn a deaf ear to the law) then your very prayers are detestable to Him. Strong words! Listen to how David expressed it in Psalm 66.18 READ. David says if he tolerated sin in his life, in his heart then God would not have listened to his prayers. Friends listen to me now – if you entertain sin in your life then you will have difficulties in your prayer life. If you are walking in the ways of sin you cannot know intimacy with God. If you disobey the Word of God then your prayer life will be a struggle. In fact the Word of God says God finds your prayers ‘detestable’ because your walk reveals you do not love Him and you should not expect Him to listen when you disobey.

Look at 2 Chronicles 7.11-22 I want you to notice a few things here. Firstly in verse 12 God tells Solomon he had heard his prayer. This is an answer to Solomon’s two requests in 6.20, 40. But read on to verse 14. God tells Solomon here are the conditions for answered prayer:

(a) Humility of my people.

(b) Seek my face in prayer. Note that – ‘seek God’s face in prayer’ not ‘seek God’s hands in prayer.’ Too often we come looking for what is in God’s hands and not what is in His face – but I will come to that in moment.

(c) Repent – if they turn from their wicked ways – obedience.

(d) Then God promises to hear and to answer. So friends this morning I want you learn from that. Unconfessed Sin will bring difficulties into your prayer life. In fact if it remains unconfessed it will stop your prayer life altogether.

Wrong Relationships.

In the passage from 2 chronicles 7 we read that God said He would answer prayers spoken in the Temple. We know from the teaching of the NT that we are now god’s Temple of the Holy Spirit – 1 Corinthians 3.16. We know that sin can hinder prayer but listen to these words from Matthew 5.23-24 and Matthew 6.15. What do you notice about them? Do you notice the teaching of each of them? Jesus says that if you come to pray and there is a wrong relationship in your life then you must sort it out or the result will be that difficulties will arise in prayer. Listen to what Peter says in a more specific way concerning prayer and the marital relationship – 1 Peter 3.7 READ. Peter warns that if a husband does not respect his wife, fail to love her as Christ loves His church, then a hindrance (barrier) will arise in their prayer life. That is a very sobering warning to us all this morning. Friends wrong relationships are a reason we have difficulties in prayer. It might be a relationship that needs a fence mended, an apology given or forgiveness asked. It might be a relationship that is forbidden in the Word of God and you are persisting in it, or about to enter upon it and you wonder why your prayer life is beginning to be difficult. Examine your life. Examine your relationships and bring them before God and then mend the fences.

Loss of Focus.

2 Chronicles 7.14 READ. Matthew 6.6 READ. I could list many more Bible passages which show that our focus in prayer is to be God. The Psalms, especially, are replete with commands to focus on God in prayer. The Bible teaches us that when we come to pray our focus is on God and not on anything else. Listen to these words from Exodus 20.1-6 – they are familiar to us as the 1^st and 2^nd commandment. But did you ever stop for a moment and think how they relate to your prayer life? When you come to pray you are to have no other God but God on your heart and mind. When you come to pray God’s glory, the worship of God is to be the focus of your heart and mind – not the ‘prayer list.’ It is easy to allow ‘prayer requests’ to become ‘idols.’ It is easy to forget that prayer is about a relationship with God and communication with God. It is easy to lose the focus of an encounter with the living God, which should always lead us to worship Him before anything else. So wrong focus can create difficulties in prayer because we come not thinking of God but of our requests. The result is that our minds wander, stray on to the list of things we want God to do for us and that leads us to the next difficulty.

Wrong Motives.

READ James 4.2-3. Again these may seem like harsh words but they are so true of our lives. How often our prayer life becomes difficult because we come to God with wrong motives. We come seeking His hands and not His face. We come with a shopping list and then sulk when we do not get what we asked for. Turn with me to John 2.1-11 and Jesus’ first miracle. Jesus was attending a wedding at Cana of Galilee. The wedding party has run out of wine, which would not only be an embarrassment but a social scandal at that time. Mary, His mother, comes to Him makes a request of Him – a prayer to Him. I want you to note the following about her request (prayer):

(a) she came to Jesus – v.3.

(b) she told Him what they lacked –v.4. She did not tell Him what to do or when to do it. She simply told Him what they lacked.

(c) She left it with Jesus and told the servants to do whatever He said – v.5

You might think there is nothing out of the ordinary in that sequence. But allow me to compare that passage with how we generally pray.

We come to Jesus – great start. We not only tell Him what we lack, but how we would like it to be answered and when we would like it to be answered. I know we should be specific in prayer but that is different than telling God what to do and when to do it. We can, and often do, use prayer as a means of giving instructions to God. We use it as a means of commanding God to do our bidding and the result is it becomes a burden to us because we have failed to trust God for the answer. We think we must tell God how to answer our prayers and the result is we spend hours trying to work out the answer to the prayer request and then we proceed to tell God how to answer the prayer and all the time we say ‘we are depending on God to answer.’ While all the time we are in fact being ‘hypocrites’ because we do not trust Him to answer in any other way than the once we have commanded of Him in our prayers. The result is that when God answers according to His perfect will, and not our sinful commands, we either fail to see the answer, have stopped looking for the answer and generally begin to give up on prayer. The difficulty has arisen not because God does not answer but because He did not do our bidding. It was a wrong motive in prayer and it leads to difficulties in prayer.

So when you come to pray come with the right attitude or motive. Come, seeking God’s face, and not His hands. Come not with the answer already worked out but with trust to a Father who wants only what is for our good. When we come with the wrong motive/attitude fear is the driving force. Fear and anxiety will rob us of our faith in prayer and will create the difficulties that will lead us to give up on prayer.

Practice and Perseverance.

Look at Luke 18.1-8. This is a well known parable about the widow who was persistent until she got an answer from her neighbour. Jesus used the parable to teach the disciples about persistence in prayer. One of the reasons we have difficulties in our prayer life is because we are not discipline people. We give up very easily. We do not stick at prayer. Coaches and athletes speak of a thing called ‘muscle memory.’ It is where the athlete, in whatever sport, has practiced time and again an action needed – so much so that the muscle remembers instinctively how it is done – so that under pressure the muscle’s memory will repeat the action despite the stress of the moment. Friends we need to develop a prayer memory so that even when the pressure comes, the storm hits and the stress rises we instinctively know how to pray. That will only be if we persistently practice prayer. That will only be if we make prayer so much part of our daily lives that without faltering our memory knows how it is done even in the midst of the storms of life. Jesus said ‘you do not have because you do not ask.’ The widow was rewarded for her persistence – it was an important lesson for the disciples and it is for us also.

Finally read – Exodus 14.15. You might wonder ‘what on earth has that got to do with prayer?’ Friends, Moses was still praying when he should have been up on his feet and leading the people across the Red Sea. There are times when difficulties in prayer arise because we are still on our knees when God wants us to be up and walking forward through a Red Sea path He has prepared for us. Don’t you get frustrated with your children when they ask the same question repeatedly – even after you have given the answer? Sometimes we are guilty of asking repeatedly when God has already given the answer. The reason we ask repeatedly is because we have fallen into the trap of telling God what the answer should be or we have failed to have eyes open for the answer. We are like the man sitting on the roof of His house as the flood water rises all around and who refuses several means of rescue because ‘I am praying the Lord will rescue me.’ He eventually drowns and standing before God he asks ‘why did you not rescue me? I prayed hard and long.’ God’s reply ‘who do you think sent all the means of rescue?’ Friends, like Moses, there comes a time when God has answered and we need to get up and walk forward. To remain on our knees in prayer when we should be up and walking is a lack of trust, lack of faith and disobedience and the result will be difficulties in our prayer life. So having identified some of the difficulties in prayer I hope we will now have a more Biblical understanding of how we can overcome them.

Amen

Worship

WORSHIP?

Deuteronomy 6.4-12

In the US there was a well known preacher called Henry Ward Beecher. His congregation was packed every week and many visitors came to hear him preach. One Sunday he was away from his home congregation and his brother was filling in for him. When his brother walked out to begin the service many people realising it wasn't HW Beecher got up and left. This is what his brother said in response as they left: "Would all those who came to worship H W Beecher please leave. Would those who came to worship Almighty God please be seated." We may find that humorous but you there is actually a great deal of truth contained in that story. Why do we come to worship each Sunday? What is it that draws us to church week after week? When we come are we coming to worship Almighty God? Is that the priority of our hearts when we enter our church? Why do we so easily skip worship? Is worship just the singing or is there more to it than that? In this post, I am going to try and bring to you some biblical understanding of worship.

As we begin let me give you a definition of the word 'worship.'

Worship = attributing ultimate worth to something or someone. We make something the object of worship when we make the pursuit and enjoyment of it the overriding aim of our lives. Worship gives direct expression to the ultimate purpose for living.

Turn to Deuteronomy 6.4-12. Deuteronomy means 'second law giving' and is basically three sermons by Moses recalling the deliverance from Egypt and the journey in the wilderness to the borders of the Promised Land. It ends with Moses final words to the people of Israel and his death. It exhorts the people of Israel to obey the Law of God and not to forget God, nor their deliverance from slavery in Egypt, when they enter the Promised Land. Chapter 6 is part of the first sermon preached by Moses to the people of Israel on the banks of the Jordan as they looked over to the Promised Land.

Turn to verse 4 and the first sentence. The first word 'Hear' gives the Hebrew title to these verses - 'Shema.' This is one of the first things that Jewish children are taught at home. Moses calls them to listen to what he is about to tell them. This is like the sergeant major barking out 'attention' on the parade square - everyone jumps and no one speaks. Look at the first thing which Moses declares to them concerning God, read verse 4. The uniqueness of God is expressed and the unity of God is declared. Their attention is focused first on who God is - 'the Lord our God.' Here is the first thing we learn concerning worship - the focus of worship is God.

When we come to worship Almighty God we need to ask ourselves 'Who am I focusing on?' Moses called the attention of the people first and foremost to God. When we come to worship our focus is on God - it is not on ourselves or those around us. Why is our focus to be on God first - because Exodus 20.5 tells us that God is a jealous God and He will not share His glory or honour with anyone or anything else. So let me ask you: "When you come to worship is God the primary focus of your heart and mind?" Israel was called to attention and their hearts, minds and gaze was directed towards God.

Verse 5 Moses then directs them to love the Lord God and this is actually central to an understanding of the book of Deuteronomy and also to worship. The rest of the book of Deuteronomy is actually a commentary on this command to love God. The injunction to love God is actually based on the precedent of God's all encompassing love towards them, and us. Ultimately this love was seen in their deliverance from the slavery of Egypt and now the Promised Land. For us it is seen in the Cross of Christ where God's love for a sinful world was revealed in the death of His only begotten Son that we might be delivered from the slavery of sin and brought to the Promised Land for all eternity. So our attention is focused on God and we are called to love God - but look how we are to love God. It is not a sentimental or emotional love but a love which encapsulates everything we are. The all embracing love of God is responded to by an all encompassing love for God in obedience. So when we come to worship God it is to be all encompassing. We are to worship God in the totality of our being. It is not that we section off a little part of our lives and leave it to one side we come to worship God. Worship should engage our intellect, our emotions and our souls. Hence in John 4 Jesus tells the Samaritan women that those who worship God must do so in 'spirit and in truth.' Worship engages our souls. Worship is not just a physical or emotional act but is at its very core 'spiritual.' Hence Mary could say in Luke 1.46-7 'that her soul magnified the Lord…' Even though Moses calls them to love God with all that they are - genuine worship is not worked up within themselves. Genuine worship is always a response to the presence of God. Mary responded to God's call on her life to be the mother of Christ. If we look at Hebrews 12.18-24. When we see God as He is then we respond to His presence. Genuine worship is the outpouring of our hearts in response to the realisation of who God is and of the experience of His presence. This time look at Hebrews 10.19, 22. In the OT, under the old covenant access to the presence of God was limited and restricted to certain individuals at certain times. Only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and then only once a year. But Hebrews tells us that now access is no longer limited and no longer restricted and therefore in worship we enter directly through Christ into the presence of Almighty God. We enter directly into the holiest of holies through the blood of Christ and come into the presence of God. We draw near to God in worship. For the Hebrews who were listening to Moses they knew that access to God was limited and restricted. They knew that they could not enter the presence of God without the shedding of the blood of an animal and even then it was done for them by the high priest. Our high priest, Christ Jesus, shed his own blood for us so that we could have unlimited access to God. We enter the presence of God in worship, not on our own merit but through the blood of the eternal covenant of Christ Jesus. So remember that when you come to worship - you are drawing near to the presence of almighty God. Mindful of that we should not rush in.

Not only do we draw near to God in worship but James (4.8) tells us that God draws near to us in worship. Hebrews 4.16 also tells us that when come to worship God it is there that we find grace to help us in our daily lives. 1 Peter 2.5 tells us that when we come to worship we are being built up in our faith as we offer to God our worship. So when we come to worship God we realise that we, unlike the OT covenant, have access to God which was once denied. We come to offer our spiritual sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving before Him. He draws near to us and draws us near to Him. As we worship Him we receive grace which builds us up as the Body of Christ. In that sense worship is a transforming activity through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Verses 6-9 are then an outworking of what Moses has called the people of Israel to do in worshipping God. You see worship is not limited to what we do when you publicly come together on a Sunday morning. Worship is actually about all areas of our lives. Hence Moses calls the people, no commands them, to live constantly under the Law of God. They were to write it upon their hearts - that is their understanding and their wills. As they reflected upon, and obeyed, the Law of God they would discover the love of God and the will of God for their lives. You see their worship and their obedience could be separated. Do you hear that? Your worship and your obedience cannot be separated. Their worship and their obedience was not, and is not, a matter of formal legalism and ritual. You can keep the Law and yet be unrighteous before God. You can substitute ritual for a relationship very easily and far too many people do. Their worship - in which they heard the commandments of God was to permeate every aspect, condition and situation of their daily lives. Listen to these words from James 4.8. Can you see how the striving for personal holiness is actually part of worship? Can you see how the striving for personal holiness is actually part of your preparation to worship God? Moses commanded them to constantly and consistently reflect upon the commandments of God - in order that they might worship God.

But listen now to what Moses commands the people - read verse 7. Having understood themselves they are then to teach their children. Parents if ever we needed to hear a word from God here it is. It is our primary responsibility as parents to teach the Christian faith to our children - it is a command of God. Can I, humbly, say to you 'Why would your children take worship seriously if you do not? Why would they listen to the Word of God if they never see you with a bible in your hand or never hear you pray? Why would they take seriously to commandments of God if they hear and see you break them? Why would they come here to worship each Sunday if they do not see it as a priority in your life? Why would they take the bible seriously if they hear you 'roast the sermon Sunday by Sunday?' I know that sounds harsh but let us be very honest - it is the truth. God commanded the Israelites to teach their children how to worship and how to live - by their example. Is this not a challenge to us this morning? What example of worship do we set before our children? I am not trying to lay on a guilt trip but we need to take the Word of God here seriously if we desire our children to do so. How are we to do that? Verses 8-9 by making worship and the Word of God central in our lives, conversation and actions.

Verses 10-12 God commands them through Moses not to forget Him when things go well with them in the Promised Land. He reminds them that it was not their strength that brought them into the Promised Land but God. He reminds them that all that they will receive in the Promised Land is actually through grace and not the labours of their hands. We too should remember that. It is all of God's grace and not of our works at all. It is easy to forget God when life is comfortable. Maybe that is the problem with us at times - maybe we don't have enough persecution. Maybe being a Christian is too easy here and we become lazy and apathetic about our faith. How often we make lame excuses not to come to worship on a Sunday. How often we miss opportunities of fellowship and worship because of small things which would never stop us doing other things. The people of Israel were not to forget who delivered them from the slavery of Egypt and brought them to the Promised Land. Can I ask you: "Do you constantly remember who delivered you from the slavery of sin and brought you to salvation and the Promised Land of eternity with God?" Let us not forget God and our deliverance when times are prosperous.

Conclusion

This post has only scratched the surface concerning worship but I believe it is important that we understand what we are about when we come together to worship God.

We come because He is the Lord God and He alone is worthy of our worship. We come before a God who is a jealous God and who will not share His worship or glory with anyone else. Therefore when we come to worship our focus is on Him alone. As the songwriter says : for an audience of One.

God draws near to us and we draw near to Him when we worship. Where once access was limited and restricted now because of Christ it is open for all to enter the presence of God. We enter God's presence when we come to worship.

God through His grace builds us up as the Body of Christ as we worship. We receive His grace by faith. Can I say on this point - we come to worship - to give all that we are and have to Him in worship - we do not come to get. We come to give worship - not to primarily receive. God does bless us in worship but we come to give Him worship. We do not come to be entertained. We come to give worship and a change in our minds concerning that would dramatically change how we worship and our worship experience.

Worship is not limited to what we do here on a Sunday but is our whole lives as we respond to the love of God in Christ by obedience.

We are to set the example before our children and to teach them how to worship. It is our primary responsibility as parents/adults to teach the children entrusted by God to us to worship God alone.

We worship because God alone is worthy of our worship

Just a thought

Why is it that as Christians we do not do door to door work?
The only group that comes around the doors is the JWs and love them or dislike them, you have to admire them for reaching out to the community and even if you send them away, they have left you some reading material. Lets face it, fewer and fewer people are entering through the doors of churches and we cant just sit about like the spider hoping someone lands on our spiritual web.

We could invite people along but if we are truthful we seldom do that and even at special events the turnout is nothing great. But why wait until special events, why not invite them along every Sunday?
If we are truly excited about the church we are in and the message it is teaching then we must want to share it.

May be like the JWs we need to get out of our christian bubble and reach out to the community.

Bridge

When I took this photo it reminded me of the bridge that Christ has built between us and God. We cant reach God without Christ and there is no bridge without Christ.

Parenting

Deuteronomy 6

I am going to speak to us all in this post about being parents. Please do not switch off and say that this does not apply to me because I don't have children, or my children have left home. It applies to us all because at different points in our lives. we all have a parenting role. Please do not dismiss what I am going to say with the attitude that what would he know about parenting a teenager or twenty something or older. I am not going to give you my advice as a parent nor the wisdom of this age. I wouldn't be so arrogant as to think that as a father I know better than any of the rest of you or have done a better job than some of you. Today I am going, as I try to do in all my post, to share God's Word with you. It is God's Word that has something to say to us as parents and it is to this that I want to turn our minds and hearts now.

Deuteronomy chapter 6. Allow me to set the context for you. The people of Israel are camped east of the Jordan. Canaan, the Promised Land, lies across the Jordan to the west. Moses calls the people together and reminds them of all that has happened to them since leaving Mount Sinai. He is giving the people of God final instructions before they cross the Jordan to the Promised Land. As you know he will not be crossing over with them because of his disobedience. A generation has died out over the 40 years they have wandered in the wilderness. That is the context of these words recorded for us in Deuteronomy 6. We only read a small portion of chapter 6 but we will venture beyond the first nine verses as we look to see what God would say to us about being His disciples in parenting children.

Verses 1-3 Learn about God yourself. Moses begins his exhortation to the people of God by calling, or recalling, them to the 'fear of the Lord' (v2). Did you notice that Moses extends this to the children and the grandchildren of the people of God? The 'fear of the Lord' is the basis of godly Christian parenthood. When we hear the word 'fear' we immediately think of something to be scared of or something which makes us afraid. Whilst the use of fear here does have something of that, it is not the central focus of the usage of the word here. The central thought and focus is that the people of God are to stand in awe of God. The phrase the 'fear of the Lord' incorporates reverence and respect. God reminds them of who He is, what He has done for them in the past and what He is about to do for them as they lift their eyes across Jordan. 'The fear of the Lord' speaks to them of the totality of a right and devout relationship to and with God. That 'fear' was based on the faithfulness of God to the covenant promises made to His people. Their understanding of 'the fear of the Lord' is based on their knowledge, their experience and the teaching of the Passover, the Exodus and the wilderness wanderings of 40 years. All of their individual and national experiences, all of their knowledge and the teaching concerning the Lord God are brought together in the phrase 'the fear of the Lord.' It is this that they are to teach their children and their grandchildren. Stop for a moment and think about this generation who are hearing these words spoken by Moses. It was their parent's generation who had experienced the slavery of Egypt. It was their parent's generation who had experienced the Passover and the deliverance from Egypt. It was their parent's generation who had walked through the Red Sea on dry land. It was their parent's generation who first ate manna from heaven. It was their parent's generation who rebelled and condemned them to wander for 40 years and who experienced God's gracious provision in those years. It was their parent's generation who witnessed the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night as they left the slavery Egypt. It was their parent's generation who saw water flow from a stone and who saw the glory of God descend on to Mount Sinai. The generation standing before Moses, with the exception of Caleb and Joshua, are the next generation and knew only of the Passover and Exodus by the teaching of their parent as they celebrated the Passover each year. Moses wants them to pass on this knowledge, this teaching about God to their children and to their children's children. Yet they cannot pass on what they do not know for themselves.

In leadership there is a lesson called 'the Law of the Lid.' It is quite simple really. You cannot take people beyond what you know yourself. There comes a lid in your leadership beyond which you cannot lead. There is a lid to parenting as well. You cannot teach and lead your children where you have not been yourself. If you do not know God yourself then you cannot lead your children to God. If you do not know the Word of God you cannot teach your children the Word of God. So the very first instruction Moses gives them, and us, is to fear the Lord so that they, and we, can teach their, our, children and children's children to do the same.

It wasn't until I got into my twenties that fully appreciated the godly Christian parenting of my mum and my maternal grandparents. My greatest regret is not telling them sooner and more often how much their 'fear of the Lord' has meant to me in later life. What about you as a parent? Do you know God personally? Would your children say you fear the Lord?

Live what you profess - verses 4-9

I am sure you have heard me say many times that this was one of the very first things that a Hebrew child learned from their parents - the Shema. It is the greatest commandment - total commitment to God. Moses asserts that there is only one true God and it is the God of Israel. In Matthew 22.37-38; Mark 12.29-30 and Luke 10.27 Christ Jesus states that this is the first and the greatest of all the commandments - total commitment to God. Verse 5 gathers the totality of a person together and asserts that it is with all that a person is that they are to love God. There is here the tying together of love, obedience and loyalty towards God in the covenant that He has brought to fruition as they stand on the banks of the Jordan looking over into the Promised Land.

In verses 6-9 the people of God are called to impress this commandment upon their children and their children's children. These commandments were to govern their hearts, their lives, their homes and the paths they took.

What lesson had their parents and grandparents learnt since leaving Egypt? Looking at these verses I can only conclude that they had learned that it was not sufficient to say that they loved God with their lips if their lives did not support that claim. The incident with the golden calf and their failure to trust God when the spies brought back their message about the Promised Land showed the consequences of lives that did not agree with lips that praised God.

Let me bring this up to date for you. Do you realise as parents how difficult it is for young people to love God and follow God when they witness you say one thing with your lips and another with your lives? Do you realise the impossible task that you place on the leadership of this church when you live lives that deny the Word of God but expect your children to come to church Sunday by Sunday? Ask yourself what message has your life, not your words, but your life spoken to your children in this past week? Do you ban them from watching things on TV and then spend hours watching inappropriate material yourself? Do you ask them about reading their bibles, about praying etc but they never see the bible in your hand or hear your voice in prayer. Do you call them to be honest whilst you lie? Do you expect them to live a life in conformity to the Word of God when you yourself deny it with the way you live? Pastor in one sense are parents of their flock. Are your words kind and inspiring to your flock?

Children learn from our example - what is my example? Let me say to you that there are some things I am glad I learned from my parents and there are some things I try not to repeat from my parents. They were not perfect but I am thankful to God that they taught modelled important Christian characteristics for me. I often heard my mum's voice in prayer late at night. I often saw her bible in her hand. She insisted I went to church My grandparents were the same. My grandfather often spoke to me about what he was reading in the bible. It wasn't forced as a conversation, it wasn't every conversation but it was a natural part of life between us. I am thankful to God for that. I pray I model it half as well to Jude as they did to me. What about you? Live what you profess.

Verses 7-9 teach what you have learned. When you see your children following Christ's example encourage them to keep going. They need encouragement as much as correction from you. Teach them the importance of doing things for the glory of God and not for any reward. Teach them what you have learned of Christ by word, by deed, by the way you direct your home life and the paths you take in life. Model it for them. May I ask you fathers: Will your sons be good husbands if they follow your model? Will your daughters choose good husbands if they choose a man like you? Mothers - the same questions to you? Grandparents, what a responsibility is placed on you here. You know grandparents have an unbelievable influence on grandchildren. Your wiser, your older and you realise the mistakes (at least you should) that you made with your own children - but do you set godly examples to your grandchildren? Those of you who have been asked to be godparents - do you take that seriously? You pray regularly for your godchildren? Set them a good example?

Verses 10-19 when you get home take a moment and read these verses closely. You will see the guidance God gives to you as parents. Here are commands and warnings that we are to learn ourselves and then we are to teach to our children. There is a warning not to forget God when things are going well in life. How easy it is for people to forget all about God when life seems to be going well. How easy it is for many of our parents to forget God when holiday time comes around. What are we teaching our children about God there? Do we set our children the example of thanking God for His blessings in our life? Does God get the glory and the praise when things are going well? Or does He get the blame when things are going wrong in our eyes?

Also you will notice in these verses that there is a warning that we are not to get distracted by the things of this world - remember these are the things we are to teach our children.

f you want to be a godly parent then you must guard your children with all your strength because satan will use many things of this world to tempt them away from the path of God. As a parent exercise your God-given responsibility in your own life not to follow other gods. Let me say to you we need to rediscover and recover parenting in the Christian church. Stop listening to the pop psychology of the world and all its experts and listen to the Word of God.

Be a father and be a mother to your children. I know for some of you no one ever modelled it for you. I know for some of you that your mum and dad let you down in how they behaved or didn't behave but don't follow their example - take responsibility for yourself as a father and as a mother. The reading from Ezekiel tells us clearly that each of us is responsible for our own lives beforeGod.

There is a distinct difference between influence and choice. It is important that we learn that distinction. Your parents might have had a bad influence on your life, they may still do but they do not make the choices for you and you are not programmed to make bad choices because of the way you were parented. You may be influenced by past bad decisions but they do not determine future action. Influence only goes as far as I allow it to go and I must take responsibility for my choices. If your parents did not set good examples, did not follow the Word of God then seek out godly role models and learn from them. I love my father dearly but for most of my life he was not a Christian and not a very good role model. I never saw him read a bible, I learned that from my mother. Many of the things I learned about being a man of God I learned from my mum . As I said I love my father dearly but I don't want to follow his example in that part of my life. I don't wantJude(my son) to have to seek out other men to model godly manhood and fatherhood for him - that is my calling in his life and under God I want to fulfil that calling. Please, please take on board personal responsibility and accountability from the reading from Ezekiel.

Therefore, as a Christian father there will be things that I will not allow Jude to wear, places I will not allow him to go, things I will not allow him to watch and things I will not permit him to do. There will be things I will not allow into my home. Does that make me a mean Dad? No, I am exercising God-given, God-ordained responsibility as a father. I am called of God to set the spiritual temperature and tone of my home and I am, quite frankly, being sinful if I fail to do that. Parents it is not a popularity concert. It is not about being friends with my children. That will one day come. When they are young they need a father and a mother more than they need a friend. It is about being a parent and exercising that God-given responsibility in the home and in the life of children entrusted to our care by Almighty God. One day we will answer for the way we have parented our children, therefore, guard your children.

In closing: Prepare for trying times - verses 20-25. Trying times will come, they always do. Even in the bible parents had wayward children. Adam had Cain. David had Absalom. Christ even used the story of a wayward child. We all know that trying times will come as parents but we can prepare for those trying times. Look at verses 20-25. God told the people of Israel that when they had entered the Promised Land and they were following the ways of God their children would ask 'Why?' Don't you just love that question from the lips of children? 'Why?' You are so tempted to answer 'because I said so...' God doesn't say that to the people of Israel. He tells them to explain the reasons - because of the covenant love of God and the deliverance of God of His people from slavery and the gift of the Promised Land. Your children, my child, will ask 'Why?' The answer will be in the years before those days - the years that we have taught and modelled the Word of God and lived out the Word of God before them. You know one of the saddest parts of ministry is when you encounter people who think that the pastor, the teacher, the social worker, the doctor or the policeman will sort their children out for them. I am not saying that they do not have a role and please understand me I am not saying that it is all down to bad parenting but often such people come on the scene when it is too late - the horse had bolted years before. It is your responsibility, and my responsibility, as a parent to teach them and model for them the answers to the 'Why?' questions. God tells the people of Israel that the answer to 'Why?' is found in His dealings with His people in the past and their present following of the commandments of God. Why would we depart from that instruction as parents and expect to have the answers at the 'why' moment?

The choice is before you is clear. Are you going to follow the instruction of the Word of God and be totally committed to Him and live that out in word and deed before you children or not? Are you going to take responsibility for being a godly parent by following the Word of God, even when it conflicts with the way of the world? Amen

CHRISTMAS THE PAGAN CELEBRATION

Well its only the start of November and already we are being brain washed with adverts for Christmas. The first Christmas trees and decorations are already in the shopping malls, supermarkets have everything you need for the perfect Christmas. But this has nothing whatsoever to do with the birth of Christ. In fact Christ is not even in the picture because Santa is the main man at Christmas. That big cuddly red suited guy with the red suit (which at one time was GREEN until a certain coke company changed that forever) and white beard.
Why is it that Christian have bought into this, the season to be merry?
Why is it Christians preach all year about Christ but sell out at Christmas?

In fact I have noticed that there is only one of the main stream "Christian religions" that don't sell out (JWs) but we the Christians are ready to attack them for their beliefs, yet at the same time we are the ones that sell out year after year after year.

This reeks of loving God when it suits us and jumping on the pagan bandwagon so that we all fit in to the worlds ways, that world that we preach is running blindly to hell.
Yes what a kill joy I must seem.
No Christmas tree
No Christmas decorations

I do not advocate we all become JWs but I respect that they stand true to what they believe and in fact I respect any religion that stands true to what they believe.
We the light of the world have lost our shine but does it really matter. Hey its only Christmas and we can say we do it because Christ was given gifts when he was born but in all honesty its a pagan celebration.

When you are tucking into your Christmas dinner and opening your pagan gifts (that's after you have asked God to bless the meal and your time with family and friends) ask yourself, is Jesus truly sitting with you at that table.


Just a thought

There are 1000s that have nothing and live in poverty all year. I wonder if as Christians we gave all that money to a local charity within our community would that not be a better way to make an impact.

Reflection

Let us strive to be a relection of our Heavenly Father