The Gifts of God

The title to this blog may be a bit misleading because really I want to give a personal thought to what God has given to my family of late.

Over the past four years Anne and I have been the benefactors of four beautiful grandchildren.  They have lit up our lives in ways that are incredible.

I have to praise God for His wondrous dealings that Anne and I have in our own children who in turn have also been the benefactors of God's Grace in these beautiful offspring of their God ordained marriage union:

Gen 2:23  And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 

Gen 2:24  Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. 

What a treasure we have when God blesses this union with Children.

Children that because of the sin curse may well have defects which God never intended from the beginning of Creation however they still are our children and are loved dearly.

If you have been blessed with children of your own remember whatever the condition that they find themselves in they are still yours, given of God for your blessing.

So cherish them as did the Lord Jesus Christ when He called them to Him:

Mark 10:14 - But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. 

The desire of Anne and I is and has always been for the Glory of God through the Salvation of our kids (and ultimately their own kids as well) through giving by God of His only begotten Son.

God gave His Son that my sons and daughters could be saved from the penalty of Sin

Col 2:14  Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

The debt that we owe to God is immense and we are not worthy of such Love yet in His Love we find Salvation:

1 John 4:10 - Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Pastor Peter Skillen

Braehill Baptist Church

Belfast

www.braehillbaptist.org

braehillbaptist@gmail.com

The Believer and Sin - past, present and future.

Hi all

Just a few thoughts on our relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.

More and more we as faithful believers are shackled by the thought of our sins before God continuing to be a problem in our relationship with Him.

The very thought of considering what offends God in our lives is a good thing. As we consider God's Word in our Bible we see that it is through our desire and application of its authority that we are progressively sanctified in our lives.

Never on this earth will we be perfectly sanctified. That is reserved for Glory. That time when we reach the heavenly shore when called in physical death or raptured by our Saviour.

John tells us that our acknowledgement of our sin in our lives is essential to bring Joy to the believer.

Consider 1 John 1:4 & 9  

The wonderful thought that God is always who He says He is as 'faithful and just' must bring joy to any faithful believer who is walking in fellowship with Him.

Continuing in the Truth of God's Word brings liberty to those who were once in the darkness of their sin:

John 8:31 - Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; 

John 8:32 - And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. 

God doesn't stop loving the believer who fails Him.  The disciple and Apostle James says:

James 1:2 - My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 

James 1:3 - Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 

When God allows temptations into our lives He rejoices to see the growth that comes as the believer overcomes them through His power. Also as we fail He remains the same so that we may be lifted up again to Him as we come in repentance and confession.

In a daily reading by the writer and commentator F B Meyer I rejoiced in this thought - that no matter how much I personally fail God He is always there to love me and  hold me without applying blame.

Jesus Christ took my blame at Calvary's Cross. Praise God.

See below the full transcript of what I read and I hope it gives you a blessing as it did for me.

THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD'S LOVE

"We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. We love Him, because He first loved us."-- 1 John 4:16-19.

GOD IS Love. Jesus Christ first brought to men the conception that man loves God only because God has first loved him. In vain we search for such an idea in the philosophies of Greece and Rome. The men who fixed this thought in the literature of mankind were followers of Jesus Christ. Might and majesty were the dominating ideas of B.C., but since A.D., we think of Love enthroned in the Divine Nature.

His Love passeth knowledge. We may apply to it the masterly arraignment of Psalm 139. It winnows our rays. It besets us behind and before. It lays on us its gentle restraining hand. It is high, we cannot attain to it. If we ascend into heaven, it is there; if we make our bed in the grave, it is there to lift us to His heart; if we take the wings of the morning, it shines as sunrise; if we pass into the darkness, it makes the midnight shine as the day. It covered us in our birth, it will tend us in old age. How precious it is, and how multitudinous in its expression, no mortal lips can tell.

Even our sin will not lessen that Love. That Peter sinned deeply, who can doubt, but did it put a screen between him and Christ? Nay, for when Christ arose, He sent specially for him. In the garden He restored him, and at the lakeside He taught him that His love would be as acceptable as ever (Mark 16:7; John 21:15).

His Love will not spare. Jesus looked on the young man and loved him! But He read him through and through, and mercifully gave the unwelcome verdict: "Go, sell all that thou hast... and follow Me." He went away sad, and Christ went away sad! But He loves us too well to spare us! God's love is consistent with stern dealings at those things which may cause us to fail of the best.

We believe in God's Love when it seems not so. "We have known," says the Apostle, that "God is Love," unutterable and changeless! But there are times when we have to believe in it, i.e. in the perplexity of life's problems. We are often facing incidents and providences that strike us as inconsistent with God's Love. Then we must believe that the same Love is there. God Is Love, and nothing can reach us save through His Love.

One final reference from me:

2 Cor 1:9  But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: 

2 Cor 1:10  Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us; 

 Past, present and future we as believers are delivered from our sin.

Does that mean we can sin as we want? God forbid.

Let us continue in the Word and bring Glory to God in all things.

Pastor Peter Skillen

Braehill Baptist Church

Belfast

www.braehillbaptist.org

pastor@braehillbaptist.org

The lack of understanding of what God wants from us.

While I was on holiday this year in Perth Scotland I saw two shop fronts that made me have a laugh to myself.

One was an undertakers and the other what appeared to be a clothes shop. The undertakers had the usual undertakers signage outside (almost too welcoming) and the the other had the word 'Revival' across its door.
I thought that the services they offer in Scotland are definitely second to none.
In thinking of this I could see the roots of a Gospel message coming to mind.

Heb 9:27  states 'And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:'
As  the body eventually lies dead in this world the soul moves into an eternity that is ruled by what decision we make about Jesus Christ while alive.
While it seems that the majority of this world seem to be apathetic as regards to their eternal future we see that for the Christian who in their New Birth in Christ they can be joyful that Revival is just next door.

Praise God for the Truth and surety of His Word.
The previous verse gives us an insight to the plain and simple Salvation that is given as a gift from God through His Son Jesus Christ:
Heb 9:26  For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 

The putting away of sin is the only way that anyone can come to God. We cannot put away sin ourselves and that's why the sinless Son of God came to this earth as God in the flesh to be the sacrifice needed to redeem us:
A work that He finished with love for each soul on this earth:
Heb 1:3  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; 

In preparing for this Sunday's message I was drawn to the the thought that many believe that God will see them alright when it comes to eternity and that Hell is a place of fantasy or a place that parties occur.
Jesus Christ the Son of God sates clearly that it is a place of torments (Luke 16:23 - describing the rich man's plight with Lazarus in paradise).
Christ also stated that it was a place  'Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched' 
(Mark 9:48) 
That is a place where the conscience will allow a memory of our sin and separation from God through the rejection of His Son.
The ordinary natural unsaved person believes this foolishness but to those who are now in the light of Jesus Christ know that the Truth is abounding in the Word of God. (1 Corinthians 2:14-16)

Look at the world in chaos. Time is getting short. The Judge Jesus Christ is coming soon. Will you be ready and see life in eternity or remain in the darkness and torment of Hell?

Pastor Peter Skillen
Braehill Baptist Church
Belfast
www.braehillbaptist.org
pastor@braehillbaptist.org

Deliverance Healing

Why do so many people search after deliverance by extraordinary human engineered means when all that is required before God is His Salvation.
Turning to God in Repentance and faith sees the Holy Spirit indwell the believer for a victory that is centered in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Its God's Power that changes lives and delivers us from the powers of sin and darkness.

Jesus said quite plainly and simply:
Matthew 11 verse 28 - Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Salvation depends on the Lord Jesus Christ and no other:
Acts 4:12 - Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. 


Pastor Peter Skillen
Braehill Baptist Church
Belfast
www.braehillbaptist.org
pastor@braehillbaptist.org

Renewal from failure

Hi all
I was again reading recently a Daily Devotion from the hand of F B Meyer a renown theologian and writer who is easily read and understood and i thought I would share it with you.
It was on the thought of the failure of the Christian to live up to his/her testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ in their lives.
Failure is something that creeps into all lives and yet for the Christian it allows self pity and a removal from the blessings of God.
When we fail there is a tendency as Adam and Eve did in the Garden to run away and hide from God when in reality it is Him to which we must run and hide.
God never changes yet it seems in our expression of emotions we do.
I have included an excerpt below of the devotion from F B Meyer which is a tremendous insight into the how deals with that which is broken.
Never feel that failure is something that God cannot deal with and restore a person who is willing to be renewed in His power.

Of course this is not just for the Christian.
God's Word also gives assurance that all who would come in Repentance and Faith confessing their failure of sin before God have the promise of peace with God through the finished sacrifice of Christ on Calvary's Cross.
Rom 10:13 - For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
God hears the genuine call to Him in repentance.
A broken life of sin can always be restored through Jesus Christ who declared that He was the only way that anyone could have access to God:
John 14:6 - Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 
There is no need for the Christian or those without Christ to remain in broken pieces in this world.

'It was thus that our Lord dealt with Peter. He knew that in spite of his grievous fall, there was a strong undercurrent of devoted love, and He did not hesitate to entrust to him the care of His sheep and lambs. In a certain museum there is a lovely marble statue which was found broken into hundreds of pieces. The fragments were carefully collected, and with infinite patience fitted together. Finally a seemingly impossible task was accomplished, and the statue stands in all its original completeness and beauty. So the Lord Jesus will take the broken pieces of any life that will come to Him, and with His skillful and tender touch will remake it into something useful and beautiful in His service. This is the meaning of Redemption' - F B Meyer

Pastor Peter Skillen
Braehill Baptist Church
Belfast
www.braehillbaptist.org

SELF-WATCH

A great daily reading from F B Meyer this morning. (I highlighted the last paragraph as a soul searching thought for me).
Proverbs 4:23  Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

SAID PETER to our Lord, "Spare Thyself this death of which Thou speakest--this bitter suffering and anguish shall never be Thine!"
These words are continually spoken still, and many are the voices that bid us spare ourselves--the voices of our friends who love us; the voices of prudence and worldly wisdom; the voices of our own wayward hearts.
Do not spare your judgment of yourself. Never permit yourself to do things which you would be the first to condemn in others. Never suppose that there are reasons for you to do a wrong, which, under no circumstances would you tolerate in your neighbour.
Do not spare yourself in confessing your sins and mistakes. Confession is one of the tests of nobility. Not a few are willing to confess to God, who never attempt to confess to men. It is a serious question whether that sorrow for sin is genuine and deep enough which does not lead the offender to ask his fellow-man for pardon, even as he asks his God. Nothing could be clearer than Christ's words, that whenever we remember that our brother has aught against us, we are to leave our gift at the altar, and go first to seek reconciliation with him, before we offer our sacrifice to God.
The supreme test of goodness is not in the greater but in the smaller incidents of our character and practice; not what we are when standing in the searchlight of public scrutiny, but when we reach the firelight flicker of our homes; not what we are when some clarion-call rings through the air, summoning us to fight for life and liberty, but our attitude when we are called to sentry-duty in the grey morning, when the watch-fire is burning low. It is impossible to be our best at the supreme moment if character is corroded and eaten into by daily inconsistency, unfaithfulness, and besetting sin.
You cannot really help people without expending yourself. The only work that tells must cost you something. Gold, silver, and precious stones can never be built into the new Jerusalem unless you are willing to part with them from the stores of your own life.

Peter Skillen (Pastor)

Damp squib

Some interesting news from the 'www.wayoife.org' Friday news:

BAD NEWS FOR BIG BANG (Friday Church News Notes, July 18, 2014, www.wayoflife.orgfbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Bad News,” Christian News Network, June 24, 2014: “Nearly two years after the highly-publicized discovery of the elusive ‘God Particle,’ scientists have determined that the current Big Bang model cannot account for the existence of the universe. ... However, in a major setback to the secular Big Bang theory, scientists with King’s College in London announced this month that Higgs boson physics cannot account for the universe’s existence. ... ‘What [the scientists] found was bad news for, well, everything,’LiveScience reports. ‘The newborn universe should have experienced an intense jittering in the energy field, known as quantum fluctuation. Those jitters, in turn, could have disrupted the Higgs field, in essence rolling the entire system into a much lower energy state that would make the collapse of the universe inevitable.’ ... Dr. Danny Faulkner, an astronomer with Answers in Genesis, says the Big Bang theory has repeatedly conflicted with observational evidence. ... Likewise, Drs. Jake Hebert and Jason Lisle with the Institute for Creation Research propose that a belief in God--not the Big Bang theory--is ultimately foundational for understanding the universe’s existence. ... ‘The fact that such physics is possible or even meaningful would only make sense in a created universe that is controlled by the mind of God anyway. The study of how God upholds the universe today is the very essence of science.’”