Preaching with a purpose

Thank you Lord God for a day planned and perfectly executed by you.   From the time spent with friends at the local Farmer’s Market in our village hall, to the time spent on my own (except, of course, You were always with me.)   Thank you for the plentiful supply of food you have given me this day.   Thank you for my computer which has helped me to learn more Russian today and kept me in touch with the good folk who read this blog. Thank you for the telephone by which I have kept in touch with friends and especially with my brother who has to have a heart procedure next week. Thank you that You have made me realise just a little of how great You are.   May this be increased each day so that knowing your strength and power I will feel completely safe and secure in You no matter what life throws at me.   Help me to always say, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

  You may fast, observe Lent, go on a pilgrimage, but none of these things will make you better in God’s eyes.   We are told that Jesus is the only one to make us fit to come to the Father.   It is only when we believe that Jesus is the only one who can forgive us, that only He has the power to put us right with God that we can know we are accepted by the Father. We can do absolutely nothing toward our salvation.   Oh yes we have to believe but that also is a gift given to us by the Father.   Why are we so stupid as to keep struggling to put ourselves right.   It can’t be done.   As the Father accepts us He will give us the desire to do good things, but only because we love Him and not to bring about our salvation. Look at Ephesians 1 and 2 and also John 14 verse 6. We have this terrific urge to put ourselves right with God but it can’t be done.   It is human rebellion that wants us to do this.   It is the same rebellion that made Adam...

Why do people find the need to have constant noise in their lives? Whether it be the T.V. or constant music from ear pieces or the blasting sound effects of a computer game?   Are people trying to block out what their conscience is trying to tell them?   Are they afraid of silence when all the unanswered questions crowd in? I find silence to be comforting after the busy day.   I am not saying I want to live like a monk.   There is a place for the hustle and bustle of meeting everyday challenges and consorting with other people, but after that I find a joy in solitude.   Today I went grocery shopping in the town five miles away.   I am looking to lose weight so I bought lots of fruit and fat free natural yogurt. I just want to lose enough weight to be more healthy.   I have also been on lots of walks in the last two weeks. This evening I was playing short mat bowls. If I was an entrepreneur I would be looking to introduce the sport to the U.S.A, bu...

I am really enjoying my adventure into the Russian language. I find the words for animals are very pretty.   Bird is птица which sounds like peteetsa   to western ears.   The word for deer  оленъ   is a woman’s name in Britain, that is Eileen.   The little bee is   пчела  which roughly sounds like another name, Petula. What a happy thing to turn off the T.V. and spend some time on something as worthwhile as learning another language.   My chances of meeting a Russian speaker are not great where I live, deep in the countryside, but no doubt I could do something about this if I really tried. Just as I had written this I went off to discover if I could watch Russian T.V. online and found Kino 1 TV.RU. That is not quite like talking to someone face to face but I think it might well help me. I seem to be falling in love with Russia.   So far it is with its history and language.   I know little about modern day Russia.   Tha...

Tonight I saw on the News that the people of Greece are protesting against camps being set up where they live, for migrants.   No matter what sympathy we have for the migrants, who are fleeing from war zones and conditions of poverty, we also must realize that the people of Greece have had difficult times economically and are in no position to receive migrants.   This is a very difficult situation and the European Community should do more in a concerted way to sort out what is happening.   This migrating of many thousands of people into Europe is a huge event in our time and brings many challenges which the politicians do not seem to be sorting out and after all that is their job.   This problem will not go away in a hurry.   A caring solution needs to be found.   All those people are the responsibility of all of us and need to be treated with respect.   Among them there may be “bad apples” but many are decent people just trying to find a life. ...

 The other day my leg was playing up; maybe I had a trapped nerve as there was pain travelling down my leg.   I am a great believer in walking to cure a leg.   Of course this will not always work for everyone, but if you can catch the problem early I believe this is the best cure. So I went for a walk with a friend.   The walk is referred to as, ”going round Byes.”   That is because we pass Byes Farm on the way.   The walk is about two miles long.   I had to use a stick and requested my friend to slow down.   It was quite painful until half way when things began to improve.   There was no worsening of the condition and by the next day my leg felt fine.   Two days later I went for an even longer walk and although exhausted at the end of it I felt fine the next morning and if I had had the time to spare I felt I could have had a repeat performance of that longer walk.   There has been rain and other commitments since that so I ...