I lift up my eyes
The Psalmist writes,
“I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.”
Psalm 121:1,2.
I am so glad that I can say my help comes from the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth.
I am so humbled that God in the form of His Son Jesus Christ came to this world to save me. To help me in times of trouble. To be my guide in life.
Can you say this?
Please think about it.
The apostle Paul to the Athenians
In the book of Acts we read,
"So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.
A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, "What is this babbler trying to say?" Others remarked, "He seems to be advocating foreign gods." They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.
Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?
You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean."
(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.
For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.
"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.
And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.
From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.
God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
‘For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.'
"Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man's design and skill.
In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."
When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, "We want to hear you again on this subject."
At that, Paul left the Council.
A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others”Acts 17:17-34.
The apostle Paul is speaking here to the Athenians and through them to us. He is telling us what he believed. Telling them about God and Christ Jesus who died for our sins and rose again that we might have eternal life.
Take a few minutes to read again what Paul said and ask yourself; Do I believe this?
Please think about it.
No God No Purpose
In Ecclesiastes we read,
"I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labour.
Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun." Ecclesiastes 2:10,11.
Put simply a life without God is empty.
The way I see it, God gives you purpose in life. If there is no God there is no purpose in living. I don’t believe that all we are on this earth for is to simply procreate and then pass on.
I believe life is eternal and that this life prepares us for where we will live in the next life.
Please think about it.
Lesson from a faithful woman
Isaiah the prophet wrote,
Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid,
for the LORD GOD is my strength
and my might;
He has become by Salvation
Isaiah 12:2
I write these blogs about two weeks in advance. But in the middle of March I sat at the bedside of a truly faithful woman. My wife Sharon. We’d been married for close to forty-five years.
Sharon tended to keep a low profile. Serving the Lord in word and in deed without drawing much attention to herself.
But knowing her heart and kidneys were failing and that she was on life support. She asked to be let go into the arms of her Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Then with the family and pastor gathered around she and we sang Amazing Grace, said a prayer and took her off life support.
The nurses made her comfortable as all in the room listened to worship music. Within an hour or so peacefully she got her wish.
Dear reader
Is your life right with Jesus. Can you say for certain,
Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid,
for the LORD GOD is my strength
and my might;
He has become by Salvation
Isaiah 12:2.
Please think about it.
A Call to Tell the World
Jesus said to His disciples and through them to us,
"Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20.
As Christians we have a duty to Christ to go into all the world, be that world our neighbourhood, the nation we live in, or somewhere else in the world, and tell people about Jesus.
I believe the way we should be doing this is by presenting the gospel message in love. By saying “this is what I as a Christian believe. I leave it up to you as an individual to believe what I am saying, or not.
We must never force our faith on anyone. For a good example of how to present the gospel all we need to do is look at what the apostle Paul did in Athens a city filled with temples to a myriad of gods.
Acts 17:17-31 shows Paul speaking at the Areopagus at the request of non-Christian Epicurean and Stoic philosophers.
Paul didn’t say I am right and you are wrong. He simply presented the gospel message and let them decide.
If you consider yourself to be a Christian take some time to study Pauls address to the Athenians to see how you can present the gospel message better.
Please think about it.
The Resurrection of Jesus
In Matthews Gospel we read,
"After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.
His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.
The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.
He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.
Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."
So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
Suddenly Jesus met them."Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshipped him.
Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me." Matthew 28:1-10.
Of all the religions in the world only Christianity claims that it's founder rose from the dead. This is the cornerstone of Christianity. Without it Christianity would be a dead religion.
The resurrection of Jesus from the dead confirms His identity as God incarnate and Saviour of all who would believe in Him. For only God could have done what Jesus did.
And the resurrection of Jesus was not just noted by His followers. Josephus a Roman Jewish historian noted,
“About this time arose Jesus, a wise man, who did good deeds and whose virtues were recognized. And many Jews and people of other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. However, those who became his disciples preached his doctrine. They related that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion and that he was alive. Perhaps he was the Messiah in connection with whom the prophets foretold wonders.” [Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, XVIII 3.2].
Thus the question becomes do you believe this? With the more important question being do you believe what Jesus said about Himself when He said,
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." John 3:16,17.
Please think about it.
The Reason Christ came
Matthew’s gospel tell us of this incident in the life of Jesus,
“When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”
On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 9:10-13.
Jesus had one reason for coming to the earth He created and that was to show each individual the way to heaven.
God knew we could not live a life that was good enough to get us into heaven. Thus He sent Jesus to show us the way by going as far as humanly possible and dying in a most horrendous way.
Does this seem odd? Yes it does. But as the apostle Paul pointed out
"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." 1Corinthians 1:18.
God’s ways are not our ways. Believing in a Saviour who died for our sins takes quite an act of faith which is what God wants.
The writer of Hebrews stating,
"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1
"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." Hebrews 11:6.
I think the reason God requires faith is that people who have true faith in anything will go to their graves for what they believe.
Which is what a true believer in Christ Jesus will do.
Please think about it.
The thief who got into heaven
"Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him (Jesus) to be executed.
When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left....
One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence?
We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’”
Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Luke 23:32,33,39-43.
I heard this the other day. A man walks up to the gates of heaven and is asked, “Why are you hear?”
He replies, “The man on the cross told me to come”
Though it is just a story about the criminal who believed in Jesus getting into heaven. What he did while hanging on the cross is something we all are called to do.
First of all he believed Jesus was innocent and that Jesus was who He said He was the Son of God.
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom”
Second he confessed his sins saying,
“We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
In reply Jesus said,
"I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God Saviour of all who believe in Him?
Will you confess your sins directly to God right now. The apostle John writing,
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”1John 1:9.
John also writing,
“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” John 1:12,13.
The criminal on the cross that day with Jesus believed who Jesus was confessed his sins and was forgiven. Thus giving him entry into heaven.
Please think about it.
Jesus died for us.
John’s gospel reads,
"The next day John (the Baptist) saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1:29.
The apostle Paul writes,
"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!
For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation" Romans 5:6-11
Good Friday is tomorrow. The day we Christians believe Jesus Christ The One and Only Son of God died for our sins. A controversial belief in some circles. With people asking if this is entirely true.
To which I respond that it this is not true, Jesus is either a very misguided individual or even a lunatic who died for nothing.
C. S. Lewis makes this statement,
"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God.
That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.
He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell.
You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
Please think about it.
The Word of God
The Psalmist writes,
"The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple"
Psalm 19:7.
Many see the Bible as being a book of harsh rules. When it is quite the opposite.
God has set forth within His Word a set of instructions that if followed will lead to a good and rich life.
If society as a whole would follow the commandments of God it would be a much better place to live in.
In order for God’s word to have any effect in our society however means those who claim to be followers of Christ Jesus, should be living and presenting the word of God in word an deed.
I like what Charles H. Spurgeon said about the Word of God. Who speaking to Christians said,
"The Word of God will be to you a bulwark and a high tower, a castle of defence against the foe. Oh, see to it that the Word of God is in you, in your very soul, permeating your thoughts, and so operating upon your outward life, that all may know you to be a true Bible-Christian, for they perceive it in your words and deeds." Charles H. Spurgeon.
Is the Word of God your bulwark against the foe?
Does the Word of God permeate your thoughts and deeds?
Please think about it.
Truth or lies?
Luke’s gospel records this incident when Jesus as an infant was brought to the temple to be dedicated to the Lord.
“Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required,
Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
"Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,you now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel." Luke 2:25-32.
When it comes to this incident you can like with all the stories about Jesus, believe it or not.
But think of this. If this story and indeed the whole New Testament is made up then this is the most momentous lie in history.
You must make your choice. Is the New Testament and all that is said about Jesus the biggest lie in all history or is it the truth. The choice is yours.
Please think about it.
A Question from Jesus
In John’s gospel we read,
“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
“Yes Lord” she told Him, “I believe you are the Christ the Son of God, who was to come into the world,” John 11:25,26,27.
While this question was asked to Martha it is a question we all must answer when confronted with Jesus.
Do you believe Jesus is the Christ the Son of God who has come into the world to offer eternal life to all who would believe in Him.
Do you?
But before you answer please take some time to read the New Testament and see what those who knew Jesus best believed about Him.
Please think about it.
