Preaching and book

I preached in the Anglican Church last Sunday night for the carol service. I enjoyed it. I preached a gospel message. I hope that it hit the target. My first draft of my book is written. I will be sending it to my friend this week

The christmas message for St Johns

Genesis 3:15 (read this) You will have seen tonight from the readings from the Bible, that the Christmas story is not confined to the New testament. It started in the old in Genesis, and the lords coming was foretold by Isaiah and Micah. Isaiah 9:2. 6-7 Micah 5: 2-5 ( Micah tells where he shall be born) Why did he come? ( Your answer to that question, will determine your eternal destiny) In the Genesis account we see that, The devil had tempted eve to do wrong and sin entered the world. God however in this verse reveals what he will do. He says, “He shall bruise you head and you shall bruise his heel”. If you hit someone on the head, they die, on the heel they are wounded. ( this is the Christmas story) It was a prophecy concerning Jesus. It was saying that jesus would come and destroy the devil and his works. The devil may try to stop him, but the device the devil used to try to stop him became Gods instrument for salvation. Christ came to deal with sin At this time of year, we tend to think of Jesus the baby, coming to earth, and then we do not think of anything beyond that. We read the Christmas story in the passages we have heard, and we sing the Christmas carols that remind us of Jesus, but why did he come. ONE OF THE VERSES IN THE CAROLS WE HAVE JUST SUNG SAYS. A virgin most pure, as the Prophets do tell, Hath brought forth a Babe, as it hath befell, To be our Redeemer from death, hell and sin, Which Adams transgression hath wrapt us all in. Refrain Rejoice and be merry, set sorrow aside; Christ Jesus our Savior was born on this tide. The reason he came, is in the book of Genesis. Mankind lived in harmony with God until Pride got in the way, he took of the knowledge of good and evil which God had commanded him not to do, and sin entered the world and through Adam, it is imputed to us. We still have in all of us, the knowledge of good and evil which comes from that first sin. Sin is our nature. We think wrong things and we do wrong things. We lust, we bicker, we lie and gossip, so sin is not just the things we do, it is our nature. WE are all born in sin and God is holy and perfect and cannot abide sin. Sin has to be punished and that punishment is banishment from God in eternal pain. We call it Hell where God punishes the wicked and it will never end. 1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. 5. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. 6. Thou shalt not kill. 7. Thou shalt not commit adultery. 8. Thou shalt not steal. 9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. 10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s. It is impossible for us to keep the 10 commandments. The purpose of them is to show us the truth about ourselves. We are sinners deserving Gods wrath, and yet, he sent his son to take upon himself the punishment for our sin. However, God is also love. How can a loving God, deal with sin that shows his love, but also punish it? Have you ever thought about that? Death came into the world because of sin. God warned that that if Adam took of the knowledge of good and evil, he would die. Sin entered the world and so now we all die, and we will face God and account for what we have done. God wants us to repent. Repenting is not just an emotional experience. It is not just sorrow. Lots of people feel sorrow, but they feel that because they were caught or exposed doing wrong, but they did not repent. To repent means to change your mind. If I walk in one direction and change my mind, that produces a change of action. I will walk in another direction. It is like this with sin. We put our lives in a new direction. God sent his son Jesus to die. He put on him the punishment that all of mankind is due for sin. Christ endured temptation as we do, yet not once did he succumb. His nature was not sin as ours is. Yet it was the punishment for sin that he took upon himself. He was mocked and despised. He endured a cruel execution. He was publicly humiliated. He was scourged, a crown of thorns was thrust on his head and spear stuck in his side. He was in great pain as he carried the cross up the hill to be put on it by having large nails put in his hands and feet. He hung there He dismissed his spirit. Jesus is the only person who could dismiss his spirit for death had not claim on him for he had no sin. When we die, our spirit leaves and enters death because of our sin. Death had no claim on him and he rose from the dead and for those who trust him, who repent, who accept his substitutionary death in our place, he promises that we will be saved. That although we die, it we die trusting in Jesus and his death on the cross in our place, then we do will rise and never see hell. It is not just an agreement of the facts that Jesus was a real person that he died and rose again. The devil believes that and he is going to hell. It is a surrender of our lives to Jesus Christ and trusting completely in him to save us. For we will of our own deeds never be good enough Luke 2: 8-20 The shepherds were afraid, the angel reassured them. He came to bring Good News. They were given a sign. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. Mathew 2: 1-12 the wise men quoted the prophecy of Micah ( which we have read) V6” and you Bethlehem Land of Judah are by no means least among the leaders of Judah ( in the worlds eyes they were, but not in Gods) For out of you shall come forth a ruler, who will shepherd my people Isreal. The messiah, came from the least of the people of Israel, and yet of his reign there will be no end. He rose from the dead and he ascended to heaven and he offers himself to you for salvation. If you will trust in him with all your heart and repent of sin then he is faithful to forgive. Will you do that this Christmas?

John the baptist

Luke 1: 1-25 Luke wrote this detailed account for someone called Theopolis He opens the story with the promise of the coming of John the Baptist. It had been foretold that Elijah would come and call the nation back to God. However we now know that the prophecy meant that a TYPE of Elijah would come, and prepare the way of the lord. Elijah wore coarse clothes and he preached to the nation in the wilderness. John the Baptist did the same thing. Zacharia was chosen by lot. This happened once in a lifetime, or not at all to go into the that part of the temple, the holy of holies where the common people never went and where even the priests went on fear of death. To be chosen was an honour, and those who were chosen, would look upon it as a once in a lifetime experience to be before the alter, and experience God as they had never experienced him before. He would have been excited, but also have a holy reverence for the one he served and for what he was going to do while in there which was pray and burn the incense. An angel appeared. Priests went in on fear of death, and we are told that when he saw the angel, he was gripped with fear. He would have thought that God was not pleased with him in spite of his good life, and he was about to be put to death. Immediately the angel reassures him and says, “Do not be afraid” “Your petition has been heard”. What petion? Your wife, Elizabeth will bear you a son and you will name him John. It was the custom of the time that sons would be named after other members of the family, and there was no one in his family with that name. This would have caused a discussion. “Did you hear? Why has he given him that name? There is no one else in the family called John? We know that he called him john, in obedience to the lords command. Zacharias was overwhelmed. He asked a question, V18 “How shall I know this for certain? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years? The answere“I am Gabriel who stands in the presence of God and I have been sent to speak to you. Note” Who stands in the presence of God” It is like saying to him, I appear directly in front of God and he has sent me directly to you to tell you this yet you do not believe even though you know that these things were prophesied. Therefore because you have not believed, you will be silent until the boy is born. Zacharies was probably tired. Note this conversation started with the announcement. “Your Petition has been heard. In that respect Gabriel came at Zacharieses own request. Yet he did not believe. It is probable that he and Elizabeth prayed for a long time for a child who never came, and they had given up on asking and so when he is told that this request has been granted he does not believe because he has given up, and accepted his situation, and he thinks that God has said NO because now he and Elizabeth are too old to be parents. Sometimes God waits a long time to answer prayer, and when he does, we may be surprised at what he does. Malachi 4: 5 -6 Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. And he will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I came and smite the land with a curse. Gabriel was telling Zacharia that this prophecy was about to be fulfilled. Possibly he and Elizabeth had prayed that God would carry out this prophecy as he had promised, but he could never have imagined in his wildest dreams that the Elijah spoken of would be his son. You will recall that the disciples asked Jesus why the scribes said that Elijah would come first, and Jesus told them that Elijah has come and he was rejected by them. At that point they realised that he meant John the Baptist. The scribes were right, but they were also wrong. They did not see what was before their eyes. They did not recognise John as the fulfilment of this prophecy nor did they recognise Jesus for who he was. It should not surprise us that God carries out his will in ways that we do not recognise. Somehow the knowledge that John was the Elijah promised had not been communicated. His father knew it and presumably the family knew it, but that knowledge was not with the great and mighty. Large number of people came to John to hear him and be baptised into repentance as had been promised, but the hearts of others was hard. He prepared the way for the messiah, his cousin, and thus begins the Christmas story of Christ Coming to earth at the behest of the father in order that you and I may be saved. There may be those who come to carol services, who only come to church once every year, or for weddings and funerals. What they need is not the sentimental gentle Jesus the baby all meek and mild as in some of the carols, but the Jesus of the bible whom John the Baptist supported.

Sin and forgiveness

WE had PE day this morning. We had guests, which was good. however we also had writing things on bits of paper and either putting them on small bush so that people can see what was being prayed for or writing names of those we need to forgive or things we need to be forgiven for, taking the paper outside and burning it and claiming Gods promise of forgiveness. I have noticed over the years that everyone who has put this idea forward has been a woman. For me, it is symbolic and may have no substance. To obtain forgiveness, one must confess and repent, and unless one does that, then burning little bits of paper with sins on them has no meaning, and I know that I need deep cleansing at times. I need to do as the apostle paul did who said that he beat his body so that it becomes his slave. In other words he disciplined himself so that he avoided sin. He said lest having preached to others I myself should be disqualified from the prize. I think sin needs to be taken seriously. I was watching a video of Joan Bakewell recorded in 1970 interviewing Martin Lloyd Jones and on sin she put it to him that once sin brought shame, but now we make excuses and I think that is even more true now than it was then. Concerning forgiveness, I vividly remember a lady in my Amsterdam days say, "Do not make it cheap". I think we christians, myself included often make Gods forgiveness cheap. What we need is heartfelt, deep repentance, and then we are in fit state to do Gods work.

~Get ready for Christmas

Luke 1: 1-25 Luke wrote this detailed account for someone called Theopolis He opens the story with the promise of the coming of John the Baptist. It had been fortold that Elijah would come and call the nation back to God. However we now know that the prophecy meant that a TYPE of Elijah would come, and prepare the way of the lord. Elijah wore coarse clothes and he preached to the nation in the wilderness. John the Baptist did the same thing. Zacharia was chosen by lot. This happened once in a lifetime, or not at all to go into the that part of the temple, the holy of holies where the common people never went and where even the priests went on fear of death. To be chosen was an honour, and those who were chosen, would look upon it as a once in a lifetime experience to be before the alter, and experience God as they had never experienced him before. He would have been excited, but also have a holy reverence for the one he served and for what he was going to do while in there which was pray and burn the incense. An angel appeared. Priests went in on fear of death, and we are told that when he saw the angel, he was gripped with fear. He would have thought that God was not pleased with him in spite of his good life, and he was about to be put to death. Immediately the angel reassures him and says, “Do not be afraid” “Your petition has been heard”. What petion? Your wife, Elizabeth will bear you a son and you will name him John. It was the custom of the time that sons would be named after other members of the family, and there was no one in his family with that name. This would have caused a discussion. “Did you hear? Why has he given him that name? There is no one else in the family called John? We know that he called him john, in obedience to the lords command. Zacharias was overwhelmed. He asked a question, V18 “How shall I know this for certain? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years? The answere, “I am Gabriel who stands in the presence of God and I have been sent to speak to you. Note” Who stands in the presence of God” It is like saying to him, I appear directly in front of God and he has sent me directly to you to tell you this yet you do not believe even though you know that these things were prophesied. Therefore because you have not believed, you will be silent until the boy is born. Zacharies was probably tired. Note this conversation started with the announcement. “Your Petition has been heard. In that respect Gabriel came at Zacharieses own request. Yet he did not believe. It is probable that he and Elizabeth prayed for a long time for a child who never came, and they had given up on asking and so when he is told that this request has been granted he does not believe because he has given up, and accepted his situation, and he thinks that God has said NO because now he and Elizabeth are too old to be parents. Sometimes God waits a long time to answer prayer, and when he does, we may be surprised at what he does. Malachi 4: 5 -6 Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. And he will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I came and smite the land with a curse. Gabriel was telling Zacharia that this prophecy was about to be fulfilled. Possibly he and Elizabeth had prayed that God would carry out this prophecy as he had promised, but he could never have imagined in his wildest dreams that the Elijah spoken of would be his son. You will recall that the disciples asked Jesus why the scribes said that Elijah would come first, and Jesus told them that Elijah has come and he was rejected by them. At that point they realised that he meant John the Baptist. The scribes were right, but they were also wrong. They did not see what was before their eyes. They did not recognise John as the fulfilment of this prophecy nor did they recognise Jesus for who he was. It should not surprise us that God carries out his will in ways that we do not recognise. Somehow the knowledge that John was the Elijah promised had not been communicated. His father knew it and presumably the family knew it, but that knowledge was not with the great and mighty. Large number of people came to John to hear him and be baptised into repentance as had been promised, but the hearts of others was hard. He prepared the way for the messiah, his cousin, and thus begins the Christmas story of Christ Coming to earth at the behest of the father in order that you and I may be saved. There may be those who come to carol services, who only come to church once every year, or for weddings and funerals. What they need is not the sentimental gentle Jesus the baby all meek and mild as in some of the carols, but the Jesus of the bible whom John the Baptist supported.

Oswestry Live and other things

Oswestry Live happens tonight as does the last but one performance of "Last Tango in Whitby" tomorrow there is the Christmas parade. In the afternoon, I am going to the Dick Whittington panto and in the evening there is the final performance of "Last tango in Whitby" there is also dinner at the Simla tonight and the party tomorrow. It is my plan to invite all of the theatre the carol service at the Anglican Church where I shall be preaching and this coming Sunday I am attending the blessing of a wedding.