Same message, Different Song
Read Matthew 3

“For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 

The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and “sinners.” ’ But wisdom is proved right by her actions.” 

 Matthew 11:18,19

Chapter three of Matthew talks of Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist. John was in the desert of Judea calling,
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” 
                                                                Matthew 3:2.
People were coming to John confessing their sins and being baptized.
The religious leaders of his day were coming out and witnessing what was happening. John noted them and spoke against them. He called them to “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” Matthew 3:8.
Warned them not to rest on the fact they had Abraham as their father. But to turn to doing the work of God the way God had intended.
This was essentially the same message Jesus would preach. He called people everywhere to repentance for their sins. While at the same time speaking against the wrongs the religious leaders of His day were doing.
John writes, "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. John 3:17,18
Matthew 23 states,
“But do not do what they(scribes and Pharisees) do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.” Matthew 23:3b,4
The difference was that John was “radical” he wore camel hair garments and ate locusts and honey.
Jesus on the other hand, was more “conventional”. He dressed normally and moved among people in the same way, anyone would.  Yet still He was condemned by the religious leaders of His day.
Jesus made it clear, “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and “sinners.” ’ But wisdom is proved right by her actions.”  Matthew 11:18,19.
Sometimes it doesn’t matter how you present things, people will not listen. People will only believe what they want to. All we can do is present the gospel of Christ as best as we can.
Once we have done it our obligation to God and to the person is complete.
Dear Christian have you completed your obligation to God?
Think about it.

For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen cannot love God. Whom he has not seen.

Read 1 John 4

“We love because he first loved us. 

If anyone says, “I love God,”

 yet hates his brother, 

he is a liar. 

For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen 

cannot love God. Whom he has not seen.

 And he gives us this command: 

Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

                                                                                           1John 4:19-21
Once again John emphasises love. The love of our brother.
Who is our brother? The people that are around us are our brothers.
We must treat all people around us as brothers and sisters. If we don’t how can we rescue them.
We need to in love go to these people and say God loves you. We need to in word and in deed show the love of God the father to our brothers and sisters in the world.
If we don’t have love enough to show to the neighbour next door, or the people we work with then how can we express our love to God.
The love God showed to us through Christ is a sacrificial love. Jesus gave his life for us while we were still sinners.
This is the kind of love we must be willing to show to the world. We must be willing to sacrifice the relationships we have with people for the love of the gospel.
We must in love be able to go to our friends and present the Gospel and if necessary face their rejection.
We must let them see that we are doing it out of love for them.
We must present the Gospel in a way that lets our friends family and acquaintances know we love them.
All to many Christians try to force the gospel on people.  Like wise all to many ‘Christians’ try to place a guilt trip on people. They point out the persons sins. They even go as far as pointing out so called ‘special sins’ as if one sin is worse than another.   I’ve even heard people point out sins that are not sins according to scripture. Such sins are only sins because someone has misinterpreted scripture.
We must avoid all of this.
We must simply present the gospel and leave it for the person to accept or reject.
That is why we must be presenting it in love. In doing so we will given them pause to think and have done our duty to God. It’s that simple.

Something to think about
The lyrics from a Beatles song that states “Love, Love, Love all you really need is Love.”  is the truth.
We need to have the love of God so strong in us that we will be willing to approach even our worst enemy with the love of God and not give him any reason to hate us.
Think about it.

The death that had to be

The death that had to be.

“They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it.   When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots.  And sitting down, they kept watch over him there.  Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.   Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left....” 
                                   Matthew 27:33-38
“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 worshiped 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 28:2-10
The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the one thing that separates Christianity from all other religions.
On the surface it looks totally ridiculous. After all why would a group of people who want you to believe in their religion make up such a claim as someone rising from the dead unless it was true.
Jesus is God incarnate. He is God coming to earth to show mankind how far he would go to make a way to heaven for him.
God understood that we as humans were frail. We could not possibly be good enough to make it to heaven.
He knew that He couldn’t judge us justly if He didn’t know what it was like to be human.
It’s all well and good to be an almighty God. But might doesn’t necessarily give someone the right to judge.
God knew that. He I believe realized that He had to have first hand experience at being human. He needed to come down and live as a man. He needed to experience all that it was to be a man. And He needed to show mankind how far He would go to give them a way to heaven.
Jesus experienced it all he grew up as a commoner in a backwater area of the world. He as a child became a political refugee escaping with his parents to avoid the wrath of Herod. He attended weddings, funerals and other events. He performed miracles and raised the dead.
Then finally He suffered the indignity of being falsely accused of a crime he didn’t commit. He was flogged and condemned to die on a cross.
In order for him to get to that cross both Jew and Gentile sinned. The Jewish leaders falsely accused Him. While the Roman governor realizing he’d done nothing wrong let the crucfixtion continue and an innocent man be put to death.
And through all of this Jesus knowing what was ahead of him allowed thing to continue.
He allowed them to happen so that we would see what great lengths he would go to reconcile us to him.
He allowed it because he knew He would rise from the dead and be seen by others walking on the earth before He ascended into heaven.
He did it to make it as simple as possible for anyone anywhere to get into heaven. As the apostle Paul wrote.
“By grace are you saved through faith it is a gift of God not of works so no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8,9.
Jesus paved the way for us. All we have to do is ask Him into our heart and lives. He is as close as a prayer.
Why not if you truly believe that Jesus is both Lord and God pray this prayer.

Dear Heavenly Father
I know that I am a sinner. That I have and do things wrong. That I fall far short of you. I believe that you are both Lord and God.
Please forgive me of my sins and come into my heart and life today.
                         In Jesus name I pray
                                  Amen  

Jehovah Jirah

Read Psalm 23

The LORD is my shepherd 

I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down 

in green pastures;

He leads me beside the still waters, 

He restores my soul;

 He leads me in the paths of righteousness

 For His name’s sake.

Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil;

 For You are with me;

 Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil;

 My cup runs over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me 

All the days of my life.

And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.

                                                                                                   Psalms 23:1-6
This is perhaps the best known psalm and for the Christian it says it all.
It has been said, correctly, that we either accept Christ for who He claimed to be,
the Son of God, God incarnate.  Or we reject Him as a fraud.  There is no middle ground, as much as some people would like to think there is.
If we accept Him as LORD of our life, here is a promise:

The LORD is my shepherd 

I shall not want.

I think when people here, particularly in the west, look at that phrase they assume God will give them everything they want.
We, here in the west, and particularly in North America equate want with excess.  “I want a million dollars: “I want a new car every year”, when what God is saying is, I will meet your needs, essential needs food, and shelter.
There is no record in Scripture of millionaire apostles, although, there were those within the early church who were wealthy and used that wealth for the glory of God.
The apostles accepted God’s provision, no matter what it was.  They gave their lives to God completely, and in some cases, found the roof over their heads was a jail cell.
The apostles were not focussed on their physical condition, which would have taken them away from the spreading of the Gospel.  Instead, they focussed on what God wanted for them in their lives.  As a result, even in a jail cell, they could rejoice in God.

Something to think about:

He makes me to lie down 

in green pastures;

He leads me beside the still waters, 

He restores my soul;

If we are truly trusting God, and letting Him lead our lives, we will find those green pastures in places we never dreamed of.
We will find He will restore our soul, even in the worst of conditions.

Day 12
Read John Chapter 10
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it.The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 
 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—   just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.   I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.  The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again.  No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” 
                                        John 10:11-18
Throughout John chapter ten, Jesus makes it clear who He is, but the people don’t believe Him.  They even accuse Him of blasphemy and want to stone Him.  They have been asking Jesus, if He is the Messiah, yet, when He answers, they turn against Him.
Many people today, are like this, they refuse to accept the evidence put before them.  They accept that Jesus is a good man, that He is an important historical figure, but, refuse to accept that He is LORD and God.
Jesus states clearly that He has the power to lay down His life, and to take it up again, something that was seen, when He died and rose from the grave.  No other religion in the world claims resurrection from the dead.
Jesus is LORD and God, He has the power of life and death.  He has the power to forgive sin.  These things are the cornerstone of our beliefs as Christians.
As Christians, we may disagree on many things, but on these things we cannot:
* Jesus is LORD and God
* Jesus died for our sin
* Jesus rose again from the dead conquering sin and death
* Jesus has the power to forgive sins
* It is by faith in Jesus Christ that we are saved through grace, not our good works.
Something to think about:
The first church I ever attended had a large banner over the pulpit that  read,
“What think Ye of Christ”
Question: What do you think of Christ? Is he your Lord and saviour? Do you know if you are going to heaven?

God’s Rules for Salvation
Jesus is not a respecter of persons. He dose not care who you are or were you are from. He doesn’t care about your ethnicity or lifestyle or anything about you.
He simply loves you for who you are. And he loves you so much he was willing to demonstrate it by giving the ultimate sacrifice in human terms.
Giving up his life.
However he did not stay in the grave but rather he arose to life going on to ascend into heaven. Leaving us with a simple road map to follow him and a free will to choose wether we do it or not.
The scriptures listed below are that road map. A map I leave for you to choose wether you follow or not.

1/God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life. (John 3:16, John 10:10)
“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”. John 3:16
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10

2/Man is sinful and separated from God. Therefore, he cannot know and experience God's love and plan for his life. (Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23)
“But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference,  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—  he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:21-26

3/Jesus Christ is God's only provision for man's sin. Through Him you can know and experience God's love and plan for your life. (Romans 5:8, I Corinthians 15:3-6, John 14:6)
“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.” Romans 5:6-8

“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance : that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures” 1 Corinthians 15:3

“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

4/We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord; then we can know and experience God's love and plan for our lives. (John 1:12, Ephesians 2:8,9, John 3:1~8, Revelation 3:20)
“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” John 1:12

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast” Ephesians 2:8,9

If you would like to accept Jesus into your life today why not say this simple prayer.
Dear Lord Jesus
I confess that I am a sinner.
I believe that you are the Christ God’s One and Only Son.
That You died for my sins, that rose again to life and then ascended to heaven.
Please forgive my sins and come into my life to day.
                                  Amen

Then Jesus Said

“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

What’s a Christian to do. We are told to go into all the world and make disciple of all nations. 

This is what I believe.

 believe

"That God so loved the world 

that He gave His one and only Son

that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

That God did not sent his Son into the world

to condemn the world

but that the world through Him

might be saved."

John3:16,17

I believe

Ephesians 2:8,9

For by grace you have been saved, through faith,

and that not of yourselves,

it is a gift of God,

not of works,

lest anyone should boast.

I believe

We are saved through faith in God.

That faith is defined in Hebrews 11:1

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,

the evidence of things not seen."

I believe

Jesus when he said in John 14:6

"Jesus said to him "I am the way the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through Me."

I believe

Romans 3:23

"all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"

I believe

Romans 6:23 when it states.

"For the wages of sin is death, 

but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

I believe

1John1:9

"if we confess our sins,

He is faithful and just to forgive our sins

and to cleanse us form all unrighteousness."

I believe

Psalms 139:13-16

"For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

you works are wonderful, I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you

when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me were written"

in your book before one of them came to be."

That God knows our very make up physically, mentally, and spiritual.

That God understands fully our physical, emotional and spiritual problems.

That God knows our very genetic make up.

I believe

God always meets us were we are at,

physically, emotionally and spiritually.

I believe

it is important to share my faith with others.

Mark 16:15,16 makes this clear " He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned."

I believe

That God has given all people a free will, 

and that salvation is a matter between God and the individual.

That individual must choose to follow God. God will never force them to follow Him.

I believe

A person who truly comes into a personal relationship with God, 

who truly lets God into their heart and life,

 cannot help but be changed.

I believe

I should share that faith in a none judgmental way.

I must present the hope I have in Jesus Christ to others and not impose it upon them.

I believe

I have no right to judge any man,

Luke 6:37 makes this clear

"Judge not, and you shall not be judged.

 Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned.

 Forgive and you will be forgiven.

As does Matthew 7:1

"Judge not that you be not judged."

I believe

Matthew 7:2

"For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged,

and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you."

For that reason if for nothing else I must as far as humanly possible be careful not to judge my fellow man.

I believe

the apostle Paul when he writes in Romans 12:18

"If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, 

live at peace with everyone."

I believe

the words of Jesus as recorded in Matthew 22:37-40

Jesus replied: " ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: `Love your neighbour as yourself.'

 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Matthew 22:37-40 (niv)

I believe

Jesus also when he said,

"You have heard that it was said, `Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.

' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,"

Matthew 5:43,44

I believe

That the apostle Paul in 1Corinthians 13:4-8a,13 

describes what Christian love should be,

"Love suffers long and is kind: love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, 

is not provoked, thinks no evil.

does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.... And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

I Corinthians 13:4-8a,13

I believe

"Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience."

Romans 13:1-5

I believe

That the only time when we are to go against the governing authorities is when those authorities forbid we as Christians from practising our faith.

I believe

The Bible is a book of fact and faith.

The sole purpose of the bible is to point mankind to God.

It is not intended as a science book.

Nor is it intended as a book of judgment.

It is a book of hope.

A book of faith, pointing man to the one true God.

I believe

God’s word is the same yesterday today and always.

I believe

That God delivered the same faith message to those in Old Testament times 

as He did to those in New Testament times.

 That, that message is still there to day for all to see.

I believe

The bible was written at a time when mankind had a limited

knowledge with respect to what we have today.

I believe

God in his wisdom did not try and explain genetics or advanced Physics or modern medicine or any kind of advanced scientific theory to man in biblical times simply because mankind wasn’t ready for it. And it was irrelevant to the salvation message.

Nor was it important to him following God by faith.

I believe

That God layed the way of salvation in the simplest of ways possible in order that all people may come to know Him, no matter how limited their understanding.

I believe

That all Christians as individuals need to study the scriptures.

To ask questions of God and those teachers around us whom we trusts.

Because as 2 Timothy 3:16,17 states,

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,

that the man of God maybe complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work"

I believe

that it is only in studying the bible

 that we can grow in Christ.

We cannot solely and blindly follow the teachings of any one man or group of men.

For all men are fallible.

Therefore I believe 

we must study the Bible earnestly.  

Called to Reach out not Judge

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  

For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, 

and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 

                                                                                                 Matthew 7:1,2

Is it me am I the only one that is getting sick of hearing Christian, particularly evangelical Christians judging the world.
I am fed up of hearing preacher after preacher in the media trying to stomp out those whom they disagree with.
I am sick of Christians playing politics with the goal to destroy those they disagree with.
Jesus never sent Christians out to judge the world. He sent them out to save the world.
Jesus made things crystal clear when he said,

“He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.  

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, 

but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” 

                                                                                                                Mark 16:15,16.

He also said in Matthew,

“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.  

Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and 

as innocent as doves.” 

                                                                                              Matthew 10:16
Note those last three words of Matthew 10:16, “innocent as doves”
If we are innocent as doves people can’t possibly get upset with us and they are more likely to open dialogue with us.
Opening a dialogue with any group of people is the only way we will ever win them to Christ.
It is wrong to make people think they have a “special sin” all sin is equal and we should be careful what we call sin.
You can’t just look back in the old Testament and cherry pick laws that we think apply to the twenty-first century.
We are under grace and we should be presenting God’s grace to all mankind.
To the Christian who is reading this I would ask are you judging people, perhaps even without realizing it.
I live in Ontario Canada and we’ve just got our first female premier, she also happens to be openly gay.
As soon as she was elected I heard Christians criticizing her. They had never met her and they haven’t given her a chance to accomplish anything.
The same people who judge her are not judging the leader of the opposition that while in office under another party leader never voted against his party even though they did things against the poor that Christians should have stood up too.
Christians need to step back and take a good look at themselves and see if they are truly doing the work of God or are they attacking people simply because they don’t agree with them.
God allows the governments to reign over us. He allows all groups to have their say.
In God’s world everyone has freedom of speech. They have the right to their own beliefs.
We all, Christian and none Christian will one day be judged by God, NOT by Christians.
It is a Christians job to evangelize the world. To turn people against us by attacking them has eternal consequences.
Think about it.

Live your life as strangers in this world

Read 1 Peter 1:13-25

“Therefore, prepare your minds for action;

 be self-controlled; 

set your hope fully on the grace to be given you

 when Christ is revealed.” 

                                                                                   1 Peter 1:13
How are we to live as Christians? Peter here makes it clear.

 be self-controlled,
 set your hope fully on Christ,
 be obedient to Christ,
 do not conform to evil desires,
 be holy in all you do,
 live your life as strangers in this world, with reverent fear.


As Christians we are now strangers in this world. Like someone living in a foreign land.
This is something many Christians don’t understand, I think largely because most have never lived in a foreign land.
I live as a landed immigrant here in Canada. While my wife and family are Canadians and have by right of birth all the rights Canada has to offer. For me those rights are a privilege extended to me as long as I live at peace in this country.
As a landed immigrant in Canada I am afforded the freedom of speech and may say within reason what I wish. I cannot vote in an election or have say in what laws are made.
If I violate the law I cannot only be thrown in prison but deported to my country of origin.
It is obligatory for me as a guest within this country to pay my taxes, obey and work within the laws of Canada. If I do not it is only fair for them to remove me from the country.
This is what Peter is saying about the Christian in the world.
When we accept Christ into our life we become citizens of heaven. We thus are no longer citizens of the world. We however are guest of the world and must live within the law of the world.
We can minister the word of God but we must respect the rights of others to disagree with us.
Sadly many Christians, especially it seems those with a pulpit in the media want to scream at the top of their lungs what the government should be doing. And that the government is not acting in a “Christian” manner.
No government on this earth in this century is Christian. They are simply secular governments doing what they feel is right. Be that right or wrong in the eyes of a God they may or may not believe exists.

Something to think about.

As foreigners in this world as I have said we must obey the laws of the land we are in. We can minister the Word of God. That is our duty as Christians.
We must also accept the fact that in doing our duty to God we can at times be thrown into prison. Or sent home to be with the Lord.
Let us therefore be sure that if these things happen to us, they happen for the right reasons.

What is it with some Christians????

What is it with some Christians?

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.   For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” 
                                                                                  Matthew 7:1,2

I just heard today about a Christian organization that receives some government funding to drill wells and build latrines in third world countries, had it cut because they had anti gay material on their website.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation report that, “Until Tuesday, the organization's website carried a list of "sexual sins" deemed to be "perversion": "Turning from the true and/or proper purpose of sexual intercourse; misusing or abusing it, such as in pedophilia, homosexuality and lesbianism, sadism, masochism, transvestism, and bestiality."
  I happen to have a great deal of respect for the organization. Still however they are very much old school. They tend to without realizing it I’m sure have “special sins”.
Here they linked pedophilia, bestiality with homosexuality and lesbianism what garbage. There is no “special sins”.
I don’t care what you are, gay or strait the bible makes it clear when Paul writes, “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference,  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,  and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus”
                                                                                                             Roman’s 3:21-24
It’s interesting that my pastor this past Sunday noted that all sins are equal. There is nothing special when it comes to sins. And I would raise the question is homosexuality a sin? And YES I know what the Old Testament says. But we can’t go back to the Old Testament and cherry pick what laws we want to obey. What laws apply to today.
Consider these laws,
“Keep my decrees.
Do not mate different kinds of animals.
Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed.
Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.”
                                                       Leviticus 19:19 
Note the last line, do you wear a cotton polyester mix, or a cotton wool mix?
Here's another one,
“Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.” 
                                                                                                                  Leviticus 19:27
How about eating pork or shellfish, the list goes on and on.
It is not the church’s place to judge sinners. It is the church’s place to be as all inclusive as possible.
We are to go out and evangelize the world. To reach the world for a loving God who wants all people to come to know Him in a personal way.
God is no respecter of person. He loves and cares for all people.
Read the words of Paul to the stoics and epicureans in Athens,
"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’s 17:24-32 
Neither Jesus or any of his followers every spoke out about the sins around them. They went into a world that I am sure shocked them. They were Jews going throughout a secular world that had practices dynamically opposed to what they had been brought up with. Yet they simply presented the gospel and let God do the rest.
In doing so they changed the world.
It is something the Church in the twenty-first century needs to be doing.
We have no need to list sins on our website’s. We've all sinned, be we the average person on the street, the pope or the leaders of the organization that prompted this blog.
We need to extend our hand to people in every walk of life and say “God loves you, and show them the way to heaven.
            Think about it.

God is with us

Read Psalm 27

The Lord is my light and my salvation -

whom shall I fear? 

The Lord is the stronghold of my life- 

of whom shall I be afraid.

                                                                                              Psalm 27:1
Where is your trust. Is it in the Lord. Do you desire to do the work of the Lord. Our lives should be fully devoted to God.
We live in a very uncaring world. We live and for that matter have always lived in a world that has been hostile to Christians. That’s life.
The Psalmist here is asking God to be with him. He saying God is with him through everything that happens to him.
As Christians we should remember this. That no matter what we are going through God is with us.
The cry of the Psalmist is for God to lead him in the strait path to teach him His ways.
No matter what circumstance we are in God is there. I think it was Cory Tenboon that said “there is no pit to deep that God cannot reach into.” This is true.
I fully believe the book of Acts was put there to show Christians throughout the generations what they can expect.
Within the book of act there is great rejoicing. While at the same time those who took the Gospel out underwent a great deal.
Peter and John heal a man, preached to the people as a result they were arrested and put in prison.
Stephen was stoned to death.
Paul shipwrecked, stoned and left for dead, put in prison where he witnessed to his jailor.
There was also a lot of evangelization. Peter preaching from the house top on the day of Pentecost. Peter and John witnessing to the crowd and the religious leaders of their day. Philip leading the Ethiopian Eunuch to Christ. Paul holding what amounted to an evangelical meeting at the Areopagus, at the request of none believers, the local Stoics and Epicureans no less.
These men went through a lot for the sake of the gospel and they laid the foundation of the church. They showed God is with them no matter the circumstances.
They believed the words of the Psalmist,

“The Lord is my light and my salvation -

whom shall I fear? 

The Lord is the stronghold of my life- 

of whom shall I be afraid.”

Something to think about.
In order to win this lost world to Christ we need to go forth with the abilities and talents we have. We must always remember that God does not create junk. That he gives us the exactly what we need to reach those around us. Even if that’s just the ability to invite someone to church, Sunday School a Bible study group or youth meeting or for that matter an in home coffee group.
We may be rejected and shunned. In some parts of the world we may even be arrested and placed in jail. But through it all God will be with us. Because nothing can separate us from the love of God.

Paul in Romans 8:38,39 states, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our LORD.”

Life

Read Ecclesiastes chapter 1

“Meaningless! Meaningless!”

 Says the Teacher

“Utterly meaningless!

Everything is meaning less....

I have seen all the things that are done under the sun;

 all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 

        What is twisted cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted. thought to myself, “Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.” Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.” 

                                                                                                                    Ecclesiastes 1:1,14-17
Carl Sagan looked at the above picture taken from the Voyager space craft over six trillion miles from earth and said,
“Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor, and explorer, every teacher of moral, every corrupt politician, every ‘superstar’ every ‘supreme leader’ every saint and sinner in history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam”
I have Bi-polar affective disorder and when I get depressed I look at that picture and sometimes I believe what Solomon wrote. in Ecclesiastes one is right Yet I know he’s not right. That all there is, is this life, and everything in it is meaningless.
I cannot believe even though we are as Sagan put it “on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam’, there is not more to life.
Albert Einstein wrote, “Human beings vegetables or cosmic dust. We all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible player.”
I think he was close to the answer.
            The late Martin Luther King Jr. Said,
“We thank thee for thy Church, founded upon thy Word, that challenges us to do more than sing and pray, but go out and work as though the very answer to our prayers depended on us and not upon thee.
Then, finally, help us to realize that man was created to shine like stars and live on through all eternity.”
I believe Martin Luther King jr. was right. We are eternal beings. We are destined to live on throughout eternity. The question is where will you spend eternity?
Think about it.

We can't choose the laws we obey

Read Galatians 2

For through the law I died to the law 

so that I might live for God. 

I have been crucified with Christ

 and I no longer live, 

but Christ lives in me. 

The life I live in the body, 

I live by the faith in the son of God, 

who loved me and gave himself for me.

“I do not set aside the grace of God for 

if righteousness could be gained though the law

Christ die for nothing.

                                                                                                     Galatians 2:19-21
Paul makes it clear we can’t choose the law when it suits us and lay aside grace. Either we live under the law which cannot save us or we live under grace.
Many in the church today mix the Old Testament teachings with the New Testament. They conveniently pick the laws they choose to follow and forget about the rest.
The law is their to show us right from wrong. This in itself is not a problem. The problem arrises when those within the church choose to pick which laws they wish to observe.
There are many out there who say capital punishment is supported by the bible. Which it is. But the bible also forbids the eating of shell fish and pork.
Do those who are out there justifying capital punishment by using the bible also refrain from eating shell fish and pork?
You can’t have it both ways. This is what Paul was saying. We now live under grace.
I firmly believe that Christ came at a crossroads in time. God knew a new era in the world was beginning. That’s why he sent Christ when he did.
God knew the gentile world would have a hard time with some of the laws. That in parts of the world especially in the times of the early church it may be impossible to even obey the laws, especially the food laws at times. That’s why he made it easy for us to obtain salvation.
The Council in Jerusalem recognized that there was a new era coming. In Acts 15 it made a simple statement to the gentile believers.

“It seemed good to the Holy Spirit  and to us 

not to burden you with anything 

beyond the following requirements; 

you are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, 

from blood, 

and from the meat of straggled animals

 and from sexual immorality 

you will do well to avoid these things. 

                                                                                   Acts 15:28,29

Something to think about.
The message of Christianity is one of love and forgiveness. Not rules and regulations that cannot save anyone. It is about freedom not do’s and don’t.
God want’s us to live for him and not sin. We should never sin deliberately. Paul make it clear in Romans salvation through faith is not a licence to sin.
Still when we sin, and we all do, it is important to know we can turn to God and as John states, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
                         1 John 1:9  
That is the message of Christianity. God’s loving us so much that he sent His Son to die for the forgiveness for our sin.