In times like these we need an anchor

 

Life has so many twists and turns. Our world has become very unpredictable and uncertain. Society is crumbling morally. Relationships are no longer secure. Health systems are failing. Without God , who can find hope in the future?

All  this makes the Bible so much more meaningful. I wonder how much you read it? – read it to find God, read it to find purpose and hope? Read it to know the right way in life?

The Bible has God's message for all situations.

God is so great, we can trust Him to carry through on His plans.

-         Plans for the nations to learn that they can't have peace without Him!

-         Plans to reveal Jesus, the once crucified Son of God

God is so relational that He chooses to love, to liberate, to lift those who feel their need of Him. His promises are sufficient to enable the believer to be an overcomer in this present evil world.

God is not defeated by the progress of evil. Rather, He is angry with the wicked every day. He is seeking the lost with great patience. He laughs at the haughty rebellion world leaders. He is giving up those who don't want to know Him, giving them up to the consequences of their own sin.

In the midst of this, God has a multitude of His own people, His own sheep that love  Him, live for Him and hope in Him. To them Jesus Christ is so precious, that the present troubles are the evidences of God at work.

Do you know Him as the Good Shepherd?

Seek Him today . Jesus said "Come to Me all you who labour and carry heavy burdens. I will give you rest."  Matthew 11

"The LORD is my shepherd I shall not want"  Psalm 23

 

He healed the blind man
Walked on the waters
And He raised up
Jairius' daughter

He fed the hungry
Cleansed the leper
But we need Jesus now
More than ever

chorus
Jesus now more than ever
We are sailing in stormy weather
All His children should get together
For we need Jesus now more than ever

He touched the lame man
And he started walking
He touched the dumb man
And he started talking

He put their lives all
Back together
But we need Jesus now
More than ever

chorus
In the book of Revelation
Read about the Tribulation
We are heading in that direction
Only Jesus' blood can give protection

you can find this on youtube - interesting words

Lord - Jesus - Christ

 

The names and titles of the Lord Jesus Christ - a cause for praise.

Jesus – His human name expressing His mission – The LORD saving His people from their sins.

Christ – The anointed one, promised in the Old Testament to save       the world by sacrifice and judgement.

Lord – The disciples always spoke to Him as Lord or Master

or Teacher- and so should we. "God has made this same Jesus     both Lord and Christ."

Son of God – He said " I came down from heaven"

The Father said ' This is my beloved Son" and so we  should worship Him.

Saviour – He didn't come to judge the world, but to save –"thank you Lord"

Redeemer _ He paid the price to set us free from Satan, sin and self

Reconciler – He offered Himself as a sacrifice to bring us back to God.

Advocate – each day He intercedes before God for us.

King – Born King of the Jews, now exalted at God's right hand, He is waiting for the day when He will be revealed as King of kings and Lord of lords. – 'even so come Lord Jesus.

Shepherd – The almighty always was caring for those who trusted Him. This is seen in the tender love of the Good Shepherd.

 

And much, much more:

Let us  receive Him

    "    Trust Him

       "   Serve Him

        "    Love Him

          "    Worship Him

Faith that rejoices to do good

 

The writing of James is very uplifting

He begins with joy and ends with singing praise. In between is a commentary on the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. The sermon on the mount was wisdom teaching and James calls on us to seek, ask and live by wisdom which is from above. Like that recorded in the Gospel by Luke, Jesus and James have a low opinion of riches. Both describe the snares that come with seeking to be rich or clinging to riches.

Faith is central to James's praise. Jesus was his half brother and as boys and younger men, James did not have a high opinion of Jesus.  But now after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, James calls Him the Lord of glory. But James's faith was much more than theological, to him, to believe, was to obey and follow. Jesus did good works, and so every one who genuinely believes in Him will do the same. James points to the care of orphans and widows and at the end of the letter, the faith that turns an unworthy sinner back to God.

The Lord Jesus spent much time on the mountain top praying. So James exhorts – "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you!"

The NLT has a beautiful rendering of Matthew 5:3

"God blesses those who realise their need of Him"

James restates it his way:

"When you bow down before the Lord, and admit your dependence on Him He will lift you up and give you honour."

May I encourage you to read this letter from James, read it right through highlighting to links to the teachings of the Master, the Lord of Glory.

 

John Mckee

PS You may notice that I seldom give references – Purposely I am trying to encourage you to read the whole letter and see these truths in context.

Heaven in Hebrews or Hebrews in heaven

 

I have recently finished reading the Bible book called 'Hebrews'. I was deeply impressed with the continued presentation of heaven as a place of reality, a place of reward, a place of rest, a place of rich relationships and so much more.

Most importantly, it is the place of His throne – the Lord Jesus Christ, sitting at the right hand of the Majesty on high. His active functioning there is beautifully described. He is the Great High Priest for His people . He waits for the day when He will come again. What rejoicing it will be when the exalted Lord Jesus  rewards His faithful ones. He will lead the songs of eternal praise as the angels join the saints in praise to God eternal. What a glorious city it will be, composed of all the believers of all time, beginning to end.

In contrast to the glory and hope of heaven, stands the sober warnings to those who fall away, turn back or trample underfoot the Son of God. Our God is a consuming fire and to come under His fierce just judgement is terrifying. Yet this very judgement spells out the fullness and sufficiency of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ once for all. To rest in HIM by faith dispels all fear.  It is the joy of God to welcome to Heaven , to Himself, those who trust His Son.

This letter to the Hebrews concludes with this triumphant note:

"Jesus is the great Shepherd

by an everlasting covenant,

signed with His blood.

To Him be glory forever and ever.  Amen."    (Chapter 13)

I encourage you to read again this book of the Bible and shade in yellow the mentions of heaven.

johnmckee@internode.on.net

A new year

 
Looking Ahead
The word of the Lord to my soul this morning was:
"Strangers and pilgrims in the earth"  Hebrews 11
Along with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in company with Samuel, David, Isaiah and Daniel,  we are pilgrims passing through to a better land with our eyes fixed on things above (Colossians 3), looking unto Jesus (Hebrews 12). He has promised to bring us to the heavenly Jerusalem where thousands of angels join in joyful assembly. (Heb 12.22) Many will count it strange that we are not living for the profit and pleasure of the present. Indeed we are different if we take our instructions from an unseen, living God.   So much of our human culture has descended to less than animal behaviour. We with Abraham and Jesus, are to be  light and salt in a world destined for judgement.
So  chapter twelve  ends -  "Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire."
 
In a world so brilliantly created by God, in a world so spoiled by man -  let us live for Christ. Let us look up waiting for Christ.  Let us yearn for the day when He will be revealed as King  of kings and Lord of Lords.
Hebrews 13  -  faith responds :  "The Lord is my helper, I will not fear.....for Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever"
 
2020 has many lesson to teach us, and for the world in general 2021 is uncertain. Let  the word of the Lord bring hope midst despair and the love of Christ enable us to reach out to others.

 

For some of the lessons of 2020 write to  johnmckee@internode.on.net

Question: How does God keep us alive?

 

How does God keep us alive?

What a wonderful machine the human body is! Well it is not a machine but rather an organism. So wonderful that you can feed it carrots and this is converted into superfast electrical signals to store information (vast amounts of it) in a guey thing called brain, which in turn controls the hands to put more food into the mouth. Then the stomach asks for minerals and fibre and sugar and vitamins. Some how along with the intestinal tube, it sorts out the useful elements and discharges the waste. Of course transporting the vital molecules to the various working parts is done automatically through the blood stream so that the body cells grow, no, multiply by dividing!  This amazing cluster of dust molecules is able to see, hear, speak, sing, think, decide, love or hate etc etc etc .

Maybe there is something more than a well organized cluster of dust .

Anyway God seemed to invent something very special, but at the same time something rather frail. If the food fails, or water fails, or any vital component fails, the whole castle crumbles to dust!

Since God invented such a wonderful organism, we do well to care for it well. But beyond all that muscle, nerves, blood and bones, beyond that is mind and feeling, spirit and soul, personality and purpose. It is more important to care for this part of our being than the body. We need to feed our minds with good things, our souls on healthy attitudes, and let God direct our purposes.

 

Jesus said : "I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly."  John 10

How does God keep us alive? He oversees our wellbeing but leaves many of the choices up to us.

Read   Jude 21