My head is full after another crammed day. Not enough hours, too many things going at the same time, things left undone......
I wrote previously that I was Not a PC! yet, perhaps I am one, more than I think.
I operate a little like an underpowered PC at times. I have 'too many windows open' and this causes my 'screen to freeze'. My 'task manager' pops up to warn me and I need to reset my thinking.
What is my Ctrl Alt del in real life?
Is it a coffee break? (fat chance!)
Is it lunch? (even fatter)
Do I endure until I get home and 'Crash' in front of the TV?
Do I open the fridge and gaze within, looking for relief?
The bible calls these 'broken cisterns' (we go looking for water in broken wells).
Lamentations 3:40 Let us test and examine our ways and return to the Lord.
Often, our waking hours are a struggle to switch off. Even when we hit the off button, sleep will not come. I am grateful for God unplugging me at the wall and that usually, I sleep soundly. Long, long before man made computers and we struggled to overcome them locking up by switching off and on again, God made it part of our system.
We need to be switched off and switched back on again - Isn't that what sleep is? Hopefully, by morning I will have been rebooted with a whole new shot at the day.
Thank God for it.
Lamentations 3:22,23. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
Wednesday 12 December 2012
Tuesday 11 December 2012
Trees of life
It seems ages since I last posted a blog. I love to write and I have poorly neglected it of late.
It was my son's 13th Birthday this weekend and we spent some time in the woods. The woods are a great place to go and listen. Sometimes illustrations come blindingly obvious to me and this weekend was one of those days.
Trees are planted in pots then planted out - often in rows in woodlands or forestry. I have planted hundreds and hundreds of trees in woodland. It is a most rewarding activity, knowing that you are planting for future generations.
When the trees are planted out they are generally staked and corrolex tubes placed around them. this protects them from pests like rabbits, dear or squirrels from chewing them. The stake is placed alongside to encourage straight growth and to support the tree whilst it throws down its roots.
In time, it naturally breaks out of the protective tubing, which lays discarded. however, the stake and tie are a very different matter. At some point there comes a time when the tie must be loosened and eventually, the stake lifted and removed. If he stake is removed too late and the ties not loosened, it will damage the bark of the tree and cause harm. If it is removed too early, the tree may not have roots deep and strong enough to stand under the pressure of the elements. Of course, there are trees that never were staked. Some grow strong, some grow wild, some fail - It's a big risk. How many garden centres have un-staked trees for sale? They know the value of staking!
This has such a powerful parallel with parents and children. We try to get it right but at times parents can be too lax and allow too much too early and we see the damage caused as youngsters gain their independence far too early without strong loving boundaries. We see week roots and damaged trees. Yet, the same can be true of over restrictive parents. We often struggle to see the growing our children have done without our noticing and get stuck in treating them 3 years younger than they deserve. This can also be damaging and our support turns into a tourniquet which stifles the life from our children.
This, perhaps, is why such hurt and pain is experienced during adolescence between children and parents. The youngster wants to sway in the wind and the parent simply tightens the tie when it ought to be loosened. It's a mine-field. So how do we do our best to avoid such tightness or dangerous freedom. We watch, we talk, we listen, we trust, we pray. Trees must be tended and if neglected, will suffer.
Lord help uncaring lax parenting which leaves the youngster at the mercy of the four winds without support or guidance. Help parenting which seeks to demand obedience, restrict, constrict and stifle with control being the goal, rather than allowing the necessary growth to happen and the movement to strengthen the roots.
Dear parent (myself included), pay close attention like the best woodsman and tend your young plants, saplings and trees.
Proverbs 22:6. Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.
It was my son's 13th Birthday this weekend and we spent some time in the woods. The woods are a great place to go and listen. Sometimes illustrations come blindingly obvious to me and this weekend was one of those days.
Trees are planted in pots then planted out - often in rows in woodlands or forestry. I have planted hundreds and hundreds of trees in woodland. It is a most rewarding activity, knowing that you are planting for future generations.
When the trees are planted out they are generally staked and corrolex tubes placed around them. this protects them from pests like rabbits, dear or squirrels from chewing them. The stake is placed alongside to encourage straight growth and to support the tree whilst it throws down its roots.
In time, it naturally breaks out of the protective tubing, which lays discarded. however, the stake and tie are a very different matter. At some point there comes a time when the tie must be loosened and eventually, the stake lifted and removed. If he stake is removed too late and the ties not loosened, it will damage the bark of the tree and cause harm. If it is removed too early, the tree may not have roots deep and strong enough to stand under the pressure of the elements. Of course, there are trees that never were staked. Some grow strong, some grow wild, some fail - It's a big risk. How many garden centres have un-staked trees for sale? They know the value of staking!
This has such a powerful parallel with parents and children. We try to get it right but at times parents can be too lax and allow too much too early and we see the damage caused as youngsters gain their independence far too early without strong loving boundaries. We see week roots and damaged trees. Yet, the same can be true of over restrictive parents. We often struggle to see the growing our children have done without our noticing and get stuck in treating them 3 years younger than they deserve. This can also be damaging and our support turns into a tourniquet which stifles the life from our children.
This, perhaps, is why such hurt and pain is experienced during adolescence between children and parents. The youngster wants to sway in the wind and the parent simply tightens the tie when it ought to be loosened. It's a mine-field. So how do we do our best to avoid such tightness or dangerous freedom. We watch, we talk, we listen, we trust, we pray. Trees must be tended and if neglected, will suffer.
Lord help uncaring lax parenting which leaves the youngster at the mercy of the four winds without support or guidance. Help parenting which seeks to demand obedience, restrict, constrict and stifle with control being the goal, rather than allowing the necessary growth to happen and the movement to strengthen the roots.
Dear parent (myself included), pay close attention like the best woodsman and tend your young plants, saplings and trees.
Proverbs 22:6. Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.
Thursday 23 February 2012
Spurgeon's Bible Treasury - ENOCH
Such a long time since I wrote anything.
Picked up an 8 Volume set of Spurgeons Treasury of the Bible today.
Really thrilled to have it. Thanks to The Salvation Army second hand books.
I hope to post up some various slices of the sermons I read. They are all pretty long but I may only pick a sentence from here or there. I will have 2,600 to choose from. Today, I was reading about Enoch. There is not much in the bible about Enoch apart from a couple of places.
‘Enoch walked with God: and he was not; For God took him.’
Genesis 5:24
From Sermon - ENOCH P33
I buried yesterday, one of the excellent of the earth, who loved and feared and served his God far better than most of us... One of the last wishes of his heart he had committed to writing in a letter to a friend , when he had little thought of dying. It was this, “I have longed to realise the life of Enoch, and to walk with God”.
Oh for a closer walk with God! He did but write what you and I also feel... I hope a consideration of the life of Enoch may help you towards the realisation of your wish.
What is meant by Enoch’s walking with God? His walk was testimony that Enoch was well pleasing to God... for the Lord will not walk with a man in whom He has no pleasure. Can two walk together accept they agree? If men walk contrary to God, He will not walk with them. Walking implies amity, friendship, intimacy, love and these cannot exist between god and the soul unless the man is acceptable unto the Lord.
If Enoch had been pleasing to God by virtue of some extraordinary gifts and talents or by reason of some marvellous achievements or miraculous works we might have been in despair... No man can be pleasing to God till sin is pardoned and righteousness imputed. No beloved, by faith, Enoch became pleasing to God, and by faith he walked with God. Let us follow in his tracks.
He walked with God. It was not that he thought of God merely, that he speculated about God, that he argued about God, that he read about God, that he talked about God, but he walked with God... In his daily life he he realised that God was with him and he regarded Him as a living friend, in whom he confided and by whom he was loved.
I scarcerly know an intercourse that is more free, pleasant and cordial, than that which arises out of consistent walking with a friend. If I wished to find a man’s most familiar friend, it would surely be one with whom he daily walked... When persons are constantly in the habit of walking together from choice, you may be quite sure there are many communications between them, with which no stranger may intermeddle.
What a splendid walk! A walk of three hundred years! One might desire a change of company if he walked with anybody else, but to walk with god for three centuries was so sweet, that the patriarch kept on with his walk until he walked beyond time and space, and walked into paradise...
He did not commune with God in fits and starts, but he abode in the conscious love of God. He did not now and then climb to the heights of elevated piety and then descend into the marshy valley of lukewarmness; but he continued in the calm, happy, equable, enjoyment of fellowship with God from day to day...
So I gather that Enoch’s life was a spiritual progress, he went from strength to strength, and made headway in the gracious pilgrimage. May God grant us to be pressing onward ourselves.
These snippets have merely written in the dust on the surface of this sermon. I trust it brings encouragement and a desire to hunger after the life Enoch knew.
Christ says in Matthew 11 – “Come to Me”.
Picked up an 8 Volume set of Spurgeons Treasury of the Bible today.
Really thrilled to have it. Thanks to The Salvation Army second hand books.
I hope to post up some various slices of the sermons I read. They are all pretty long but I may only pick a sentence from here or there. I will have 2,600 to choose from. Today, I was reading about Enoch. There is not much in the bible about Enoch apart from a couple of places.
‘Enoch walked with God: and he was not; For God took him.’
Genesis 5:24
From Sermon - ENOCH P33
I buried yesterday, one of the excellent of the earth, who loved and feared and served his God far better than most of us... One of the last wishes of his heart he had committed to writing in a letter to a friend , when he had little thought of dying. It was this, “I have longed to realise the life of Enoch, and to walk with God”.
Oh for a closer walk with God! He did but write what you and I also feel... I hope a consideration of the life of Enoch may help you towards the realisation of your wish.
What is meant by Enoch’s walking with God? His walk was testimony that Enoch was well pleasing to God... for the Lord will not walk with a man in whom He has no pleasure. Can two walk together accept they agree? If men walk contrary to God, He will not walk with them. Walking implies amity, friendship, intimacy, love and these cannot exist between god and the soul unless the man is acceptable unto the Lord.
If Enoch had been pleasing to God by virtue of some extraordinary gifts and talents or by reason of some marvellous achievements or miraculous works we might have been in despair... No man can be pleasing to God till sin is pardoned and righteousness imputed. No beloved, by faith, Enoch became pleasing to God, and by faith he walked with God. Let us follow in his tracks.
He walked with God. It was not that he thought of God merely, that he speculated about God, that he argued about God, that he read about God, that he talked about God, but he walked with God... In his daily life he he realised that God was with him and he regarded Him as a living friend, in whom he confided and by whom he was loved.
I scarcerly know an intercourse that is more free, pleasant and cordial, than that which arises out of consistent walking with a friend. If I wished to find a man’s most familiar friend, it would surely be one with whom he daily walked... When persons are constantly in the habit of walking together from choice, you may be quite sure there are many communications between them, with which no stranger may intermeddle.
What a splendid walk! A walk of three hundred years! One might desire a change of company if he walked with anybody else, but to walk with god for three centuries was so sweet, that the patriarch kept on with his walk until he walked beyond time and space, and walked into paradise...
He did not commune with God in fits and starts, but he abode in the conscious love of God. He did not now and then climb to the heights of elevated piety and then descend into the marshy valley of lukewarmness; but he continued in the calm, happy, equable, enjoyment of fellowship with God from day to day...
So I gather that Enoch’s life was a spiritual progress, he went from strength to strength, and made headway in the gracious pilgrimage. May God grant us to be pressing onward ourselves.
These snippets have merely written in the dust on the surface of this sermon. I trust it brings encouragement and a desire to hunger after the life Enoch knew.
Christ says in Matthew 11 – “Come to Me”.
Tuesday 26 January 2010
As an Arrow
How sure is genuine salvation? Is conversion reversible? Can we lose it?
Salvation is sure when our hope is firmly rooted in Christ. There is no way to undo what Christ has done and no way to dismiss it. No metaphor is perfect but here is an entry in from a book I have at home:
"Could an arrow, once released from the bow, return unto it? Once Christ has shown Himself to be saviour and the scriptures as true there can be no other way. Through divine revelation of Christ, a knowledge and conviction of sin, true repentance, belief in God by trust and faith in Christ Jesus - God pulls back the strings and sends the arrow toward Christ.
The wind may gust and contend with it but the power of The Almighty Archer will sustain it and keep it true in flight.
How could it return by it's own will to the Great Fletcher who wrought it, carefully chose it, and placed it within His quiver. How could it fly back to the Great Archer, who, when the time was right, placed it between His fingers and slid it into into the bow.
No, no. It could not turn back and deny the direction in which it was sent! Only when the arrow has flown its course and falls to the ground, spent, when the mortal energy given it is gone, then will the Archer and Fletcher (being the same) run to the place and raise up the spent arrow and take it home."
Sunday 24 January 2010
As I sit here, having just returned from church, my mind is lead to a recent entry in my journal. Many think that I am a bit mad and gone too far and that I have my head in my bible too much (you must be joking). I care not! (Psalm 56:11) Christ can be my judge.
A TV advert which I have despised has made me think. "I AM A PC!" Those words always evoke the response from me "No, I am not a PC!" But, having said that (and my hatred of the advert still remains) there are aspects that provide good lessons.
When it comes to hearing The Word and responding to the message, we can be very much like a PC. Take the Gospel, for example: We can hear it, we can know it, we can appreciate its depth, its meaning, we may be able to recite texts to explain it and possibly even believe what we have heard and yet something is missing.
Our modern terminology is not helping. The current phrases used for 'conversion' are now 'made a commitment', 'made a decision for Christ', 'accepted Jesus into his life'. It was not much different when I came to Christ in the late 70's. You just prayed this prayer and you were in. I have no recollection of the prayer that I was lead through but I did get a handout that was called the 'ABC of Salvation' and I was left in no doubt what Christ had done and what I had prayed. Acknowledgment of sin and a true repentance, Belief and trust in Jesus Christ, Confession of my previous life of sin and a promise to follow Christ.
Our new terms do not measure. I understand the term 'accepted Christ' but honestly, it is so misleading to put the whole contract into such a trite phrase. Surely, it is Christ who accepts us and not the reverse! Again, it is not whether or not 'I know Christ' but whether 'Christ knows me'. On the judgement day, to those who are banished, God will say 'Depart from me'... "I never knew you!" (Matthew 7:23) . If I go to Buckingham Palace and ask to be allowed in, I will not be allowed in because I know The Queen. Everyone knows her. The key would be, that The Queen knows me!
We need our thinking straightened out. A mere decision to follow Christ is not evidence of any conversion or salvation because that decision begins and ends with me. When Lazarus was called from the tomb, did he sit in there in the stink and death thinking "shall I go or shall I just stay here?" He arose and left the tomb. If a drowning man is thrown a life-belt in a raging sea, does he make a decision to reach for it? If a woman is surrounded by fire and the firefighter enters the room with breathing apparatus, an axe and flameproof blanket, does she take time to think about it? To all these, the answer is no. In modern terms 'it's a No-Brainer'.
Once it has been revealed to us our state in sin, our destiny, our utter hopelessness and depth of depravity, why would we need to make a decision. "Mmmmm.. well I know I am a sinner and bound for God's judgement without Christ and it all makes sense but no thanks, it's not for me." This does not happen! What does happen is that a person does not believe that God even exists, that Christ died for them, that they are sinful and in need of Christ - In fact, most unbelievers believe that they are good and in no need of saving. It has little, if anything to do with a decision. No one comes to Christ unless God draws him (John 6:44)
Anyway, with all this considered, thinking about our PC (getting back to my original point) nothing will make any difference to my life unless I 'hit the button'. I can get all sorts of warning messages on my PC, updates, changes to how a page is set up, global templates and all sorts. I can jump through lots of hoops, tick lots of boxes, agree to licence agreements etc. etc. And yet, unless I click the 'APPLY' box, nothing changes! I can have spent a long time altering, editing, learning and if that box is not clicked then it is meaningless and worthless.
The same is true for us. All we hear needs to be applied and if there is no fruit in our lives then, in all honesty, no changes have been made. Let us also remember that once significant changes are made to your PC, it requests that you restart your computer in order that the changes take effect. RESTART NOW! On my PC I am invited to postpone restart but scripture says 'today' (Hebrews 4:7)
As Christians, we believe that God is the maker of the universe and all within it. Am I then to make you believe that I could possibly have an encounter with Him and remain unchanged? This, as Paul Washer said, is no more likely than me being run over (having an encounter) with a logging truck and coming out unscathed.Christian, have we left church today, having heard something that should change us? So let us apply what we have received. I hope this opens up some thought. Be challenged and encouraged.
By the way. Don't ever think that I am lecturing from a place anywhere else than alongside. At times I do not apply, I ignore, I delay.. I have rebelled as much as anyone. It took time for some changes to take place and God calls us onwards. But even when struggling with overcoming particular sin, the change is that the nature and desire is not to sin. There is a heart change that takes place, even though we still live in this body of flesh. Read Paul. (Romans 7:17 onwards), which I am sure you know well.
The Mouth Tells All
What is happening in our everyday conversation, as Christians?
I ask that question, simply because of the increasing amount of foul bad language I hear, coming out of the mouths of professing Christians and I ask myself, 'What is going on!'
It appears to be ever more prevalent and even more sad is that has become acceptable. Acceptable to the point that it is not even through a moment of great stress or an outburst of frustration that these words flow from the mouth - It is woven into everyday talk. Foul language, including taking God's name and using it as a curse is somehow seen as a new colour on a verbal palette to help portray a picture, when it is nothing of the sort. Christian, we ought to be ashamed that such would come out of our mouths. And on the occasion that they do, turn from them and repent 'immediately'.
'But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth'. Colossians 3:8
Some think it unimportant and after all, it's only words. To these, let me ask - What have you at your disposal to show Christ in your life to others? Scripture is plain:
'Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers'. Ephesians 4:29
We might believe, we might think, we might pray, we might read our bible. But there are only two ways to communicate to others what lies within our hearts: What we do and What we say. That's it!
'A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks'. Luke 6:45
If what comes out of our exhaust is not right (and I speak to my own heart also) then we need to lift the bonnet and check the engine. It is no use trying to stop swearing, God is not interested in 'behaviour modification' he desires a consecration of heart and a love for Christ. Out of that comes a different will to live and desire for holiness.
'Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure' 2 Peter 1:10
Others may curse and swear, it is crystal clear from scripture that the Christian ought not to. Let us support, challenge and rebuke where necessary in order that we are kept in the way.
'Let every one that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.' 2Tim 2:19
'preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching'. 2 Timothy 4:2
For those who do not swear and believe themselves to be above such, hear the words of Pastor James Smith in The Believer's Daily Remembrancer, just yesterday evening.
"...We are never so liable to wander, as when we fancy there is no fear of it; nor so likely to fall as when we think it impossible. Beloved, if you are not daily seeking divine protection, you are in danger of being overcome. Examine. Watch. Pray."
http://www.facebook.com/notes/the-believers-daily-remembrancer-pastor-james-smith-1802-1862/hold-up-my-goings-in-thy-paths-psalm-175-january-14-evening/282841019125
I ask that question, simply because of the increasing amount of foul bad language I hear, coming out of the mouths of professing Christians and I ask myself, 'What is going on!'
It appears to be ever more prevalent and even more sad is that has become acceptable. Acceptable to the point that it is not even through a moment of great stress or an outburst of frustration that these words flow from the mouth - It is woven into everyday talk. Foul language, including taking God's name and using it as a curse is somehow seen as a new colour on a verbal palette to help portray a picture, when it is nothing of the sort. Christian, we ought to be ashamed that such would come out of our mouths. And on the occasion that they do, turn from them and repent 'immediately'.
'But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth'. Colossians 3:8
Some think it unimportant and after all, it's only words. To these, let me ask - What have you at your disposal to show Christ in your life to others? Scripture is plain:
'Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers'. Ephesians 4:29
We might believe, we might think, we might pray, we might read our bible. But there are only two ways to communicate to others what lies within our hearts: What we do and What we say. That's it!
'A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks'. Luke 6:45
If what comes out of our exhaust is not right (and I speak to my own heart also) then we need to lift the bonnet and check the engine. It is no use trying to stop swearing, God is not interested in 'behaviour modification' he desires a consecration of heart and a love for Christ. Out of that comes a different will to live and desire for holiness.
'Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure' 2 Peter 1:10
Others may curse and swear, it is crystal clear from scripture that the Christian ought not to. Let us support, challenge and rebuke where necessary in order that we are kept in the way.
'Let every one that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.' 2Tim 2:19
'preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching'. 2 Timothy 4:2
For those who do not swear and believe themselves to be above such, hear the words of Pastor James Smith in The Believer's Daily Remembrancer, just yesterday evening.
"...We are never so liable to wander, as when we fancy there is no fear of it; nor so likely to fall as when we think it impossible. Beloved, if you are not daily seeking divine protection, you are in danger of being overcome. Examine. Watch. Pray."
http://www.facebook.com/notes/the-believers-daily-remembrancer-pastor-james-smith-1802-1862/hold-up-my-goings-in-thy-paths-psalm-175-january-14-evening/282841019125
Saturday 9 January 2010
My favorite book as a boy
I was not much of a reader as a boy. Not before school or during. My reading began much later in life and I love to read now, even though I am not a great story reader.
Surely everyone had their favorite story. Lately 'Where the Wild Things Are' has hit the box office. (I cannot remember the book as a child). There are stories which I have read to my children which I now love but never had any time for as a boy.
My favorite book was 'Tinker and Tanker. Knights of The Round Table'.
Surely everyone had their favorite story. Lately 'Where the Wild Things Are' has hit the box office. (I cannot remember the book as a child). There are stories which I have read to my children which I now love but never had any time for as a boy.
My favorite book was 'Tinker and Tanker. Knights of The Round Table'.
This is my book. It was given to me as a Christmas present from my Auntie Pat and Uncle Gordon in 1968. My uncle died in September 2007 and so it is very precious to me.
My tribute to Uncle Gordon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3xpjpvVBFw
I have read it to my boys over the years and they love it too. There were others, but at the top of the pile and the story which captured my heart and had me almost entering the scenes in the pages was this one.
All this beg some questions, 'Why? Why that story? Was it the illustrations? What was it about that story that engaged my heart and became a place I wanted to repeatedly return to?
In my favorite story there are two nobodies working in a petrol station in Tinkertown. Tinker is a mouse and Tanker is a Hippo. Two more incompatible and unsuitable heroes could not be invented. And yet, a herald arrives one day to invite them to a wedding. A wedding of the princess and at that wedding Sir Wicket Dragon (a crocodile in a deep green suit of armour) captures the princess and takes her away to his castle. There is a pursuit and whilst Tinker fights gallantly with Sir Wicket Dragon on the battlements and overcomes him, Tanker rescue the princess via the most precarious ladder you have eve seen. Of course, they are both hailed as heroes and quietly return the their beloved petrol station as before.
There is no secret that every boy wants to be a hero, every boy wants to defeat a powerful enemy and rescue the princess. All the ingredients are there. Every epic story has a Villain, an Adventure, a Battle to fight and a Beauty to rescue. Is it possible that these stories are echoes of the original story, our story, God's story? Look at the gospel. There is the evil one, Adam and Eve are invited into an adventure, there is a tragedy and they fall and just when it seems all hope is lost a hero comes and Christ fights the battle against the devil, sin and death. The church is the beauty he rescues and invites us to join the battle.
So, what was your favorite story as a child? Could it be telling you anything about who you truly are and is it even possible that all this time you have missed the real epic unfolding before you? When was the last time you read any part of the bible? The true epic!
Instead, we have settled for vicarious adventures and fictional stories with fake heroes. I invite you to read John's gospel this new year. Maybe Christ himself will invite you up into an adventure you never knew existed.
Just a thought!
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