Groundhog day

I love the film "Groundhog Day".  Bill Murray lives the same day over and over again.  In some ways, I am living in Groundhog day. An issue came up that I thought we had resolved a long time ago, but just like a bad smell, it is back

The apostle Paul

The Apostle Paul

ACTS CHAPTER 8: 1-3

ACTS CHAPTER 9: 1 22

Recap on Luke. 

He was a detailer, a doctor. Only he records that the man with the withered hand had a withered right hand.

He accompanied the Apostle Paul on his missionary Journeys. 

He wrote the book of acts, therefore the details here about Paul are the things that Paul told Luke about himself

God Chooses people and calls them to himself, and sometimes he chooses the most unlikely people (Paul / Saul persecuted the church and was not likely person for God to choose, or so it would have seemed)

I am an unlikely person.  As a young man I did not enjoy church and was determined to have nothing to do with it. 

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One day, I met a man (Gordon Jenkins) who impressed me, I sat under his teaching for many years and my view of church turned around.  I wanted to communicate the gospel to others, but I started out resisting it.

Paul persecuted the church.  I often wonder how he felt looking back at how he approved of the death of Steven.

When he was persecuted, imprisoned scorged and shipwrecked.  He would have known the thoughts of his persecuters for once they were his thoughts.

Ananias was to meet paul and to disciple him 

It is not surprising that he questioned the lord about this man for he knew that Paul persecuted the church

Note the lords reply

In Acts chapter 9 verse 15-16  God says. GO ( and you to will be going) For he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear my name before the gentiles and kings and sons of Israel, for I will show him how much he must suffer for my names sake.

The Jews were God’s chosen people, Now God was moving out choosing Gentiles and Paul was to be his instrument. To start this. 

Perhaps at this stage Paul did not know this, but it was certainly revealed to Ananias at this point.  Paul would have told luke and luke has written it down for us to read.

 I am deeply moved by TWO WORDS  in BROTHER SAUL

Saul must have wondered how he would have been received. To be called brother must have been such a relief and so welcoming to him.

Sometimes we may have to welcome the strangest brothers and sisters. Never the less, as God had choosen them then they are indeed brothers and sisters in Christ.( I am noted for being a bit strange myself)

Ananias greeted him as a brother.

Paul encountered many difficulties. There were times when he had to chastise the church because of sin, He had to courageously proclaim the lords name in the face of the enemy and he was a pioneer because he had to do something that had never been done before and was contrary to his culture.  He had to go to the gentiles. 

You may find that you have to do things contrary to your our culture.  You may find that brothers and sister even without meaning to will hurt you and you need to learn to forgive seventy times seven as jesus said. 

Paul knew that. He had to chastise and forgive fellow Christians and he had to forgive those who persecuted him and those who disappointed him by leaving him.

Yes sometimes there are disappointments we have to bear.

There will be challenges for you  I do not know what they will be,. But I have had my challenges. 

Tell the shelter story of the shelter

I could not have imagined then that I would be where I am now telling you this story to encourage you.  I have written the story for others on more than one occasion, It was painful that the time, yet probably one of the most useful things that ever happened to me. 

You have to believe that it is true that all things work together for good to those who love the lord, but that includes the hard things.

However, he was faithful to the end, and he did what God wanted him to do. And perhaps you will find yourself in situations where you feel tested and you cannot take any more.  May I encourage you to think of Paul and of Christ and how Paul was faithful and continued in the race.  Christ has called you, just as much as he called the Apostle Paul.  He promises that if you are faithful t him, he will be faithful to you, but he does not promise that it will be easy.

You will notice from the passages that I read that Paul spent a lot of time with the disciples and other believers before he went out.  I think it was in doing this that he got to know the lord better and it showed that although he was a great scholar he was still willing to learn.  We to must always be willing to learn, and in this life, if you are wise , you will go on learning.

D day

Tomorrow is the anniversary of D Day.  I expect many old soldiers will mark it.  My father was 19 at the time and he was a conscript running up the beach with bullets flashing past him.  It must have been a frightening experience.

Strong and sure

To my surprise, M has responded to my long letter.  I pray that she comes back to the lord strong and sure.

Forest Hill

I went to Forest Hill and met with C to talk about writing. He gave me a lot of advice on how to set about it and I am now jotting down ideas with a view to doing exactly what he suggested.

It is my intention that it will become a book

the visit

I am going to Forest Hill tomorrow to have a discussion with a friend about publishing.  I hope to learn something in the discussion and see if I can kick start a process that will be of  longer term benefit to me.

Yesterday as J was talking about our ministry, ( which she emphasised was not to be called our Job) in what way would we want to develope in our ministry?  I think this focused me on tomorrows visit, and other things that I should be doing.

The call of Levi

Luke 5:27-32
Mathew 9:9-13
I notice one difference between these two accounts.  In lukes Gospel the disciple is called Levi and in Mathews Gospel he is called Mathew. 
Both Luke and Mathew were great detailers in their accounts  Luke, because he was a doctor and Mathew because he was a tax collector.
I have said in the past that we need to be careful about what sort of influence we have, for it will be for good or ill.  Mathew has proved to be an influence for good for centuries because we now have the blessing of his gospel to read and apply to our lives.
We do not know who gave Mathew his new name. it is a shortening of the name Mattathias, which means "the gift of God."

Despite his sinful past, Matthew was uniquely qualified to be a disciple. He was an accurate record keeper and keen observer of people. He captured the smallest details. Those traits served him well when he wrote the Gospel of Matthew some 20 years later.
By surface appearances, it was scandalous and offensive for Jesus to pick a tax collector as one of his closest followers, since they were widely hated by the Jews. Yet of the four Gospel writers, Matthew presented Jesus to the Jews as their hoped-for Messiah, tailoring his account to answer their questions.
Matthew displayed one of the most radically changed lives in the Bible in response to an invitation from Jesus. He did not hesitate, he did not look back. He left behind a life of wealth and security for poverty and uncertainty. He abandoned the pleasures of this world for the promise of eternal life.
We are told that when Mathew was called, he left everything.  He gave up his security as a tax collector. 
He gave up his greedy sinful life
He had a party in his own house and invited other Tax collector and sinners to hear Jesus.
The Pharisees were not pleased. They thought ill of Jesus that he ate with Tax gatherers and sinners.  However Jesus tells them something that is self-evident.  He tells them that it is the sick who need a doctor.  The Pharisees failed to recognise their sinful condition.  These people however were all too aware that they were sinners.  I think that is why they came.  They knew Mathew to be a man just like themselves and could see that Christ had made a difference to him and they wanted to meet him.
I have a lot of respect for Mathew, for as a tax gatherer, working for the Romans, he would have been hated by his fellow Jews, yet it was for them that he wrote his gospel.  The very people who would despise him.  He loved them and wanted to see them turn from sin to Jesus just as he had.

Notice Jesus remark, it is only the sick who require a doctor.  The Pharisees no longer saw themselves as sinners, but they saw the tax gatherers that way and as GOOD JEWS, they would have nothing to do with them.  Jesus openly met with them.  It was a way of saying to the Pharisees, this man and his friends know they are sinners. The recognise their need of me, but you also have a need of me, but refuse to recognise it.

As a tax Gatherer, Mathew would have been hated by his fellow Jews for working for the romans.  The hatred was so bad that a Jew would not accept change from a tax collector and where possible would rather borrow the right amount from a trusted friend than to accept filthy money in change.

It is likely that as Mathew collected money in his booth, he would have taxed the fishermen, and cheated them as tax payers did and when Christ called him and he obeyed, he would have found himself in the company of 12, some of whom may not have liked him for he may have taxed and cheated them in the past. 

Never the less, ( the motley Crew) they got on with it.

Matthew alone reports the visit of the tribute collectors for the tax. His telling of the story includes Jesus' lesson to Peter. Matthew 17:24-27

Matthew is the only Gospel writer to include this quote from Jesus, "Come unto me, all who labor and are heavy-laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

I think that as a tax collector he recorded this for he identified with it due to his former profession.  He had put a great yoke upon others by extorting them.

The turnaround in Mathew’s life was remarkable.

I think that Mathew became a modest man for he has recorded very little about himself in his Gospel and refers to himself in the third person. 

He has been a blessing to millions of people down through the centuries for his Gospel that God has preserved for us to read in our day.

I appreciate his skill as a detailer.