Preaching with a purpose

Recently I wrote about slavery, the pitiful state of those who are taken advantage of and denied the good things in life.   However there is a much worse slavery that affects us all whether we realize it or not and that is the slavery of being affected by sin.   Our ancestors Adam and Eve rebelled against God their Creator and so introduced sin and its consequences into the lives of us all.   We have inherited this scourge and it affects all of our lives.   The greed that this produces is what leads people to take advantage of other people.   We may be living outwardly good lives helping others and doing good, but we are still affected by this sin and sooner or later we find we slip up and do even things we do not want to do.   This poison needs a cure and the only cure is that provided by Jesus who died on the cross so that all who put their trust in Him can have that sin completely forgiven.   How amazing! Unfortunately many of us will not accept ...

Last Sunday I preached on the book of Philemon.   Philemon lived in Colosse and had a slave called Onesimus.   One day Onesimus ran away and went to Rome where he eventually met with Paul the apostle, now an old man.   Under Paul’s preaching Onesimus became a Christian.   Paul sent him back to Philemon as a brother in Christ, not a slave.   We might be very critical of a slave owner but we are usually thinking of the particularly cruel slave trade when people from Africa were transported under horrific conditions to the Americas, many dying in transit.   Slaves in the Roman Empire often had very good conditions to live in and had responsible jobs and food and shelter. However a man’s freedom should always be highly regarded.   When we criticize Philemon for having slaves we forget that most of us are involved in modern day slavery.   The cheap clothes and shoes we buy are made for us by adults and children in sweat shops in foreign land...

I’m sorry for my silence over the past few weeks.   This has been partly due to my having a nasty virus which dragged me down.   It is at times like these that we find how our outlook on life can become quite negative.   The Lord we honour and love in normal times can seem far away when our health is affected.   But we know that God does not change and He is still looking after us and caring for us just the same as always.   The old christians used to talk about our “frames,” meaning frame of mind and how changeable they are, but God does not change.   We may not feel this truth when we are low but we can still declare it to be true thus showing our belief.   Belief isn’t a cosy feeling it is a determined declaring of what we believe.   But then, of course, it is easy for me to say this now that I feel better.   I hope you will be encouraged to know that just because you feel bad it doesn’t mean that your position with God has in any...

Who is accountable to whom? Today I met a friend.   She was talking about the God of the Old Testament being horrid and zapping people He didn’t like.   When she talks like this I go sort of numb and can’t think of anything to say, but now, afterwards I would say, “Who do you think you are?   Is God accountable to you?   Have you any idea how mighty and wonderful and good God is?   We are accountable to Him, not the other way around.   If He wants to zap us He will be proved right.   But this God who destroyed the old world with a flood also saved Noah and seven of his family and He has made a way for us to be totally acceptable to Him, if we will just believe in Jesus and the salvation He provides to all you do believe.” How I wish she could find peace with God in Jesus.

We like to laugh and not to cry, but the Bible says it is better to live in the house of sorrow than in the house of laughter.   So often we get things the wrong way around and think good is bad and bad is good. We love the good times when all is going well for us, but do they make us think of God?   There is nothing like a dose of hardship or difficulty to make us turn to God who alone can help us.   Yes He gives us the good times too, but it is then that we tend to wander from Him and think we have got things well worked out for ourselves. Next time troubles come turn to God at once and He will be with you through them no matter how long they last.

I just want to reassure Christians in various places that although our national news does not tell us of your plight, news still does filter through and Christians in the U.K. are praying for you.   Particularly we hear about those in the Ukraine, Eritrea, Israel and North Korea.   You are not alone, chiefly because your Lord Jesus is with you each step of the way, but also because people all over the world are praying for you.