Monday Message

When you listen to some preachers, you can be forgiven for thinking that life as a Christian is easy and everything will go your way... Just take a look at Mr Beaver's answer to Lucy:   "Who said anything about safe?  'Course he isn't safe.  But he's good.  He's the King, I tell you." [C. S. Lewis,  The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (HarperCollins, 1950), p. 48.] And so, I reckon, life as a Christian is anything but safe. But it's good. And because it's not safe, there will be opposition. This is what Jude was trying to address in his letter. Jude 1:17-23ff But, dear friends, remember what the apostles  of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.   They said to you, “In the last times  there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.”   These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up  in your most holy faith ...

Back to the 'Love' chapter. This time it's a comparison between now and the future, when we are face to face with God. 1Corintians 13:8-12 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies,  they will cease; where there are tongues,  they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part  and we prophesy in part,   but when completeness comes,  what is in part disappears.   When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood  behind me.   For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. The differences are stark. When completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When we are in God's presence, the parts we didn't know, the things we didn't see and the understanding we didn't have will be completed.  Which b...

It has to be one of the most annoying interview questions, and yet we still hear it time, after time, after time! "Where do you see yourself in 5 years?" You'd think by now, with the pace of technology, that a more fitting question would be focused on a range of about a year. In a time where most people will change careers 5 - 7 times during their lives, and 1/3 will change jobs every 12 months [reference] , a year seems like a great time frame to aim for. But, upon reflection, even this may be too far reaching. Let's look at what James has to say on the matter of forward planning: James 4:13-17 Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.”   How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.   What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do ...

When things go wrong, how do you fix it? Who do you take your troubles to? Today I want to look at two famous figures in Jesus life; Peter and Judas. First, Judas. After his betrayal of the man he saw as a teacher , Judas tries to make things right by going back to the Pharisees. Matthew 27:3-5 When Judas, who had betrayed him, realized that Jesus had been condemned to die, he was filled with remorse. So he took the thirty pieces of silver back to the leading priests and the elders.   “I have sinned,” he declared, “for I have betrayed an innocent man.” “What do we care?” they retorted. “That’s your problem.” Then Judas threw the silver coins down in the Temple and went out and hanged himself. An ignominious end for Judas. His appeal to the earthly powers that be fell of deaf, uncaring ears. Now Peter. Peter has denied Jesus and feels ashamed of his actions. And yet, when Jesus returns, Peter goes to Him. John 21:15-17 After breakfast Jesus asked Simon...

A passage that most people know well. 1Cor 13:4-7 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. All good things; All things we should aspire to live out. But what if I replace 'Love' with 'William'? William is patient and kind. William is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. He does not demand his own way. He is not irritable, and he keeps no record of being wronged. He does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. William never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Can I honestly say I do all these things all the time? I know I do all of them at some times, b...