head on block

Tonight is the night.  Head on Block

Contact will be made

Battle starts

The result is entirely in the hands of the lord.

An Easter Gift

George V gave us all an Easter gift of £50.  Yahooooooooo.  I need to renew my passport so I think I will put the money toward that.

MOT, Road Tax and Doctor Who

Mot done.  Cost a lot.  road tax paid, also cost a lot, bought a set of Doctor Who 50th aniversary stamps. Wo ho.

Would like to meet

I have written a review for the book, ""Would like to Meet", by "Hopeful Girl".  I hope she likes it as her book has been such an inspiration to me

Snow on Snow and MOT

There is a lot of snow and it is meant to be spring. This is winter. I was snowed in all weekend.  I had to delay getting my MOT and if I had not been for a kind offer from a neighbour to dig my car out, I would still be snowed in.  The MOT happened today and it cost a lot. I am picking the car up tomorrow.

Winter returns with 18 inches of Snow and a few other things

This place is like Narnia.  I tried doing my wren round today, but could not complete it as walking in the snow was hard going.  We now have 18 inches of it according to one neighbour.  It looks lovely.  I feel like I am living in a winter scene postcard.  However, it prevents travel. I have not been able to get a new MOT as I am snowed in.  I need to have that resolved in the coming week.

I will also be taking a small risk tomorrow.  I will be contacting M ( not in the James Bond sense) and see what happens. 

I do see Gods hand in my life.  He removed P in a very unusual way so I know that it is the lord, and for some years I have seen him restrain M from doing things that would have been bad for her in the long run.

I now am making a final effort for her.

I had hoped to go to a passover demonstration tonight but that will not be possible.

you will not believe it

If it were on TV as a situation comedy, you could believe it.  However perhaps some sit come writers were once funeral directors.  I was at a funeral today, and while we were in the chapel, the grave was still being dug. :-)

I think the deceased if he could have seen it would have found it funny, but one does wonder how these situations arise.

Two fold plan

Phase one for M complete and there is nothing there, but I was not unfriended.  This result is what I expected, but whether it is good or not, I still do not know.

Just like jacob had two plans to save his people, so I have a second and final plan for this.  I will never attempt this again. So here goes, hold my breath

Crossing the Jordan

I have waited longer than I planned in getting back to M.  About a month as opposed to a weekend. It has given me time about what I want to say.  I feel like Jacob left alone wrestling with God and saying "I will not let go until you bless me." Indeed I have said that the lord, but I have also said that I want to be a blessing to M

Tomorrow, I shall check all messages to see if there is anything there.  What I do after that will depend if there are messages and what the contents are.  If there is nothing then I have another idea. I just feel that I need to trust in God and try this out.  Jacob did practical things in preperation for facing Esau and I have done practical things in anticipation of what may lie ahead.

Judging

At some point this week, I will contact M.  I am putting into practice what I preach.  In Genesis 32 we see how Jacob prayed and then did some practical things to pacify Esau that Gods will would be accomplished and I pray and have written something for M on my phone and I do not see what more I can do. I still have to check facebook in detail but I already know there is no message from her there but there may be one in my email. If not, then the message I send will be a final attempt after much prayer.

She accuses me of judging, but that in itself is Judging and in its context, Judge not that ye be not judged then goes on to warn about how we judge.  The point of the passage is that we need to judge in a Godly way and I need M to see that.

At least I stand up to her.  I am praying that I will be a mighty blessing to her.

Jacob to Israel

Genesis 32

Have you ever been in situation where you cried out to God to preserve you because you were afraid? 

Jacob did that in this chapter

The background is that Jacob had cheated his brother Esau out of his birthright at his mothers behest. 

Esau had not valued the birthright in the way Jacob had.

God had said that that the older would serve the younger, but we should not conclude that God expects us to manipulate and deceive as Jacob did to accomplish his will.

Jacob went on to prosper greatly and God had told him to return to his own land and there he would multiply his descendants.

Sometimes in order to carry out the lords will, we have to use our intelligence and to do some practical things. In this case, Jacob sent messengers to Esau.

The message he sent was an honest one, he told Esau that he had been with their uncle Laban all these years and now he had wives and a great deal of property, and he wanted to find favour with Esau.

When the messengers returned to Jacob, I think he would be hoping to have a favourable message back, after all, God had promised that he would prosper and have many descendants.  Surely in order to do that, God would have seen to it that Esau would long have forgiven him and welcome him back

However the messengers came back with news that I do not think Jacob wanted to hear.  They told Jacob that Esau was coming with 400 men.

V7 WE are told that Jacob was afraid.  He thought that Esau was coming to kill him and plunder everthing he had, TO TAKE FROM HIM JUST AS JACOB HAD DONE, all those years ago. It would be sweet revenge. 

It is my opinion that Jacob was right

Jacob then makes some decisions.  HE DIVIDES THE COMPANY IN TWO.  He thinks that if Esau attacks one company, then the other will escape. 

In this way there would be those who would survive and then there would still be descendants from Jacob as God had promised

Thus Jacob is ready for battle

He then has a second stategy

In V9  prays to God.  He reminds God that he is the God of Abraham and his father Isaac and that It was God himself who had told him to return, so he was being obedient to God.

He told God that he was unworthy of all the loving Kindness that God had shown him in prospering him.  this was true, he WAS! UNWORTHY.

This however shows that Jacob had changed.  When he set out, he had been grasping Jacob, He thought he was worthy of the birthright.  He had cheated and while he was away Laban had cheated him.  Jacob had learned some humility.

He asked God to deliver him from Esau.

Then he sent cattle ahead of him, and Camels and rams as a gift to Esau in the hope that this would pacify him.  He gave a message to all who drove these animals for Esau to hear OVER AND OVER AGAIN. Saying “Your Servant Jacob is behind us.”

He then settle down for the night and then arose and sent his wives and their maids and his 11 children across the ford of Jabbok

Finally Jacob was alone

A man wrestled with him until daybreak.  This man seems to appear from nowhere.  This man touched the socket of Jacobs thigh and dislocated it. 

They continued to wrestle

Bear in mind that Jacob was afraid of being attacked by Esau and here he is being attacked. Wrestling with God.  That would have been far more fearful than anything Esau could have done.

They wrestled until daybreak and then man said to Jacob, LET ME GO, but Jacob said,  I WILL NOT LET YOU GO UNLESS YOU BLESS ME.

Remember how he sought a blessing, the birthright by lying and cheating?

Here he was again, wanting to be blessed, but he was striving for God to Bless him this time. 

I have no doubt that God was holding back in that wrestling match.  God wanted Jacob to strive and to wrestle with him.  To entice him to seek the blessing.

We also need to keep a hold of him to bless us if we are to be of any use

God said WHAT IS YOUR NAME?

This was to bring out Jacobs character for he was well named for Jacob means grasping.  It was an exposition of the character that Jacob had been. 

He said his name was Jacob and the man told him that his name would no longer be Jacob but ISRAEL. Meaning HE STRUGGLES WITH GOD.

Jacob then asked the man the same question.  WHAT IS YOUR NAME?

The man said, Why is it that you ask my name?

I think that was a rhetorical question.  The man had just given him the name he strives with God and that was the answer.  Jacob by then must have realised who he was .  The man was God appearing as a man.

We know that Jacob realised the man was God for Jacob then gave the place a name. Peniel

For he had seen God face to face, yet his life had been persevered.

From the context we can see that it means the face of God.

Sometimes in our difficulties, we strive with God.  We learn from the experience of clinging on to him.  It is not necessarily always about getting something from God, it is about getting to know him

Jacob did two things before he faced Esau.  First of all he prayed looking to God for an answer to preserve him

Second, having prayed, the then took the practical steps he thought necessary to achieve that objective by sending over the cattle as a gift to appease Esau, and it worked.

Sometimes all we can do is pray, but there are times when God wants us to pray and then do something to get the answer.

We should cling on to God in prayer, in this w

No Parking

 The following is a private joke I sent to a friend as a result of a comment that he made about a notice he saw, and a book that he recommended to me.

It is all your fault.  I now have a copy of “Three things You Need to Know about Rockets”.  Do you have a copy and have you looked at the videos she made as a countdown to the publishing of the book.

Also were you naughty.  Did you park in the North Parish car park by that large notice, or did you just look at it? 

I think it would be just as well saying, “We only use this space for one hour on Sunday and None of us live in this area, but never the less YOU ARE NOT WELCOME! Goodbye”.  Oh we forgot to mention, we cannot actually enforce this as we do not have a traffic warden the police would not be interested and have better things to do, it is just us that are being difficult, by the way you are still not welcome and should we ever do a parish visitation to try to get you to come to Church we already know what your answer will be because of the big notice in the car park.  Also to all of you who live in Buffies Brae who cannot get out of it in the winter when it snows and parking in our car park would make your life so much easier.  TOUGH.

Yours sincerely

The Kirk Session

The man from Edinburgh

A young man from Edinburgh is on his way to join us.  I am reminded of the day I joined sitting in a coach coming down knowing that my life would change and that my parents were not in the best of health. I had left before, but this was different. 

As this man comes from Edinburgh and studied in Glasgow, I guess that rural life will be very different for him as it has been for me.

We are really glad to have him.  He will be a great asset to the team

Revelation

Revelation Chapter 1 with a sweep through chapters 2 and 3

This opening chapter states the purpose of the book of Revelation.  It is the Revelation of Jesus Christ to seven named churches, and the churches had to prepare for the things that God was about to do there and then.

The first Christian book I bought was all about biblical prophecy and I got caught up in it.  At no point did the book say that biblical prophecy that is not yet fulfilled presents difficulty in understanding, which is does.  There are however things in this chapter that are clear.  John was to write to seven churches that were in existence at that time and God through what John wrote directly addressed those churches and warned them about their sin and commended them for their good works.

I spoke on Balaam, and I said that it was my opinion that the angel of the lord who stood in Balaams way and caused the Donkey to speak is in fact the lord.  My evidence for this is that Balaam fell before him and I do not think an angel would permit that, and also it seems to me that the Angel of the lord in numbers and the angel in Revelation 1 ( for john does call him an angel) are very similar and therefore likely to be the same person. 

I do however think that the angel in Revelation, is clearly a glorified manifestation of Christ for he repeatedly says that he is

1)      The Alpha and the omega

2)      The first and the last

3)      I am he that liveth and was dead

4)      Behold I am alive forever more.

5)      I have the keys of hell and death.

THE UNIVERSAL PRIESTHOOD

Do you believe in the universal priesthood?  John being a Jew would be familiar with the Jewish priests but in verse 5 he says that Jesus is the first begotten of the dead who has made us kings and priests unto God. 

THE TRINITY

I see the trinity in this chapter.

Verse one says that is “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to HIM, to show to his servants. If  have understood the context correctly, the God referred to is the father who gave the revelation of Jesus Christ to him, i.e. Jesus the son and  John says that when he saw this he was in the spirit on the lords day, so there you have it, father son and holy spirit.

That does not seem to make sense to me, but we are grappling with spiritual issues.  It seems to me that is it saying that the revelation of Jesus Christ came from the father to the son about the son through the holy spirit.

There is a promise in this chapter.  In verse three the reader and those who hear the prophecy are blessed.  This is the point of the book

John, an apostle, was exiled to the isle of Patmos.  The church was being severely persecuted.  In verse 9 John refers to himself as a bother and companion in Tribulation

It is because of this verse that I know that he was writing to people who were being severely oppressed. He calls it tribulation.  He is seeking to encourage them in their difficulty by reminding them over and over that although there is difficulty, there is also a certain hope, for Jesus is the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, and he holds the keys to death and hell, he is all powerful and he cares for his people.

Tribulation, is a strong word.  I wonder if things were so bad that they felt like giving up.  Christ had not yet returned, and the Roman empire was oppressing them and they would wonder is it worth it. 

In later chapters the churches are told to lay aside their sin and they will be rewarded for their faithfulness and they are reminded in this opening chapter of whom we serve.

ANGELS

Three Possibilities

1)      The book is written to seven specific churches each of which has an angel.  Somehow angels are involved in this communication because they are symbolised in this chapter by the seven stars and in the following chapters addressed to each church John is instructed to write to each angel. Somehow by writing to the churches he was writing to angels. The angels would communicate the contents of the letter. I cannot say that I really understand this, but that is what it is saying. 

2)      Some think that they were the people who carried the messages and passed them on to those who would read them.

3)      The Greek word for Angel is sometimes translated MESSENGER so perhaps the angels were people in the church who would read it out. At this distance in time, we have no way of knowing, but the original readers would have understood this.

There is urgency in his writing. 

Picture this, the church is in tribulation, and the revelation is to encourage them.  There would not be much encouragement in a revelation that was exclusively about things that would take place thousands of years after their life time.  Indeed john urges them to prepare for the time is it hand, it was near. God’s blessing would come upon them if they were faithful and it was about to happen.

Therefore at least some of the contents of the book were to take place in the lifetime of the readers and hearers.

The fact that John is able to say that he has seen the lord in this glorified form would be a great encouragement.

We know that john was one of the men who was on the mount of transfiguration.  He with peter and James saw Jesus body glow and they saw him talking to Moses and Elijah. Here he sees the glorified lord and he falls before him as if he is dead.  He had seen him day by day in his earthly form, he had seen him transfigured but somehow in this vision, he was so struck by what he saw that he fell down as if dead.  He did not fall down on the day he saw the transfiguration, the offered to feed Jesus Moses and Elijah.  I wonder if they really knew what they were saying that day and saying something was better than saying nothing.

 In Revelation, He was terrified.  He had not seen the lord like that before, but the lord has compassion on him, and reaches out and puts his right hand upon him and said, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forever more AMEN.

Those words, Fear not, must have been so comforting to John. They would also have been a comfort to the readers of this book.  To see God was an awesome thing and he was so holy that sin could not abide in his presence.  To see God was to die. John had seen God and did not die. Instead God had compassion on him.

Jesus had loved him in his human form.  He loved him still when glorified.

If we look at the following chapters, we can see that the churches could be described as follows

1)      Ephesus (Revelation 2:1-7) - the church that had forsaken its first love (2:4).

The book lists their good deeds, but they lacked love and they are told to repent and do the things they did at first.  We can be theologically sound and yet lack love.

(2) Smyrna (Revelation 2:8-11) - the church that would suffer persecution (2:10).

They were told that some of them would be cast in Prison and they were not to fear. They were to remain faithful unto death. They were told that some of them would be put in prison, and as they were to resist unto death then presumably some would die, and this would go on for 10 days. ( We see God still being glorified in suffering, and he had put a time limit on this campaign of 10 days)

(3) Pergamum (Revelation 2:12-17) - the church that needed to repent (2:16).

This church had its good deeds, but is was also this church who had people among them who held as I said a few weeks ago to the Doctrine of Baalam.  You will recall that Balaam was asked to curse Isreal, but he could not.  However he told Balak to encourage Isreal to eat food that God had forbidden to commit adultery and Gods judgement came upon them in the form of a plague.  Evidently there were adulterous people in this church, and there was false doctrine

(4) Thyatira (Revelation 2:18-29) - the church that had a false prophetess (2:20).

There was a woman whom John calles Jezabel who claimed to be a prophetess who led the people into adultery and eating things sacrificed to idols.  God had given her time to repent and she had not, therefor God would bring an illness upon her.

(5) Sardis (Revelation 3:1-6) - the church that had fallen asleep (3:2).

They had to repent and wake up.  They had to remember what they had heard and put it into practice.  There were however a few people among them whom the lord commended.

(6) Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7-13) - the church that had endured patiently (3:10).

They were faithful and endured and God promised that he would keep them in the hour of testin

(7) Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-22) - the church with the lukewarm faith (3:16).

They held fast and did not deny the faith, but they were LUKE WARM.  They were wealthy, but did not realise they were poor in spirit.

It is interesting to note that it is of this church we read a well known verse.  In

Revelation 3:20,”Behold I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and dine with him, and he with me”.

We hear that verse used in evangelism to appeal to the unconverted to come to Christ.  However that is the wrong context.  We see here that the correct context is that Christ is appealing to his church and asking them to let him in.  Do we shut him out?

The seven churches, were seven literal churches in Asia minor, but todays church may take lessons from them.  We need to be awake, we need to love, we must not be luke warm, we must not tolerate sin and we must let Christ in.