Truth makes the true Believer alive

Galatians 6:1-3 -Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.  Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.  For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.

The burdens of life get us down sometimes and it is hard to pick ourselves up again. What a joy it is to know that we have our God who loves everyone of us. God allows the Holy Spirit to lead us into the Truth that He has given us through His inspired Word, instructing us in the way to deal with each other. Paul shows us in his letter to the Galatians that as we are all one family 'in Christ' so therefore we have a responsibility for each other and the difficulties that we all get into. God has given the believer the recipe for living a Truth inspired life with attention to their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. What a joy it would be to see 'His Church' take up that Truth and use it to it's full as we serve our risen Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ. Looking out for one another as we traverse this life until He comes or calls.
If you haven't the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour then these words do not apply to you because you are outside of God's family. Why not look at your life from God's point of view and it will become a lot clearer as to what these words mean. This link may help > http://www.braehillbaptist.org/Personal

Baby selection by abortion

The news coming from Australia recently is staggering. The Christian Institute reported the following 'A couple who conceived twin baby boys through fertility treatment in Australia have aborted them because they wanted a girl'. Apparently they have 3 boys and lost a girl shortly after she was born. They then went on to ivf treatment and conceived twin boys. Not wanting the boys they terminated them by abortion technique's. This made me think of how God saw man at one time after His creation in Genesis 6.
Gen 6:5-6  And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  (6)  And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
Many would say 'you heart has to go out to them' and yes it must be something unexplainable when anyone would lose a child during or after birth yet we must not allow this sympathy to cloud our judgement as far as life is concerned.
Life is precious right from the very beginning of conception. God knows about it and speaks about it through David in Psalm 139
Psalm 139:13-16  For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.  (14)  I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.  (15)  My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.  (16)  Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
Adam in his failure toward God caused all this by his wilful sin in disobeying. How we should be so thankful that God in presenting His only begotten Son the Lord Jesus Christ as the second Adam who because of His impeccability ie no sin in Him, He did no Sin nor could He have sinned, has made that sacrifice on the cross at Calvary that we in confession of our sinfulness can be saved.
Galatians 1:4  Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:
Hallelujah! What a Saviour.
 www.braehillbaptist.org

The Believers Family

Acts 4:23 - And being let go, they went to their own company…..

In those early days of ‘the Church’ the excitement, enthusiasm, togetherness, the security of being a part of a family must have really been something. Peter and John after their examination by the High Priestly mafia of Annas and Caiaphas and their family circle were able to go to their own people who were watching and praying for them.

As we go into a new year wouldn’t it be equally something that as Bible believing Christians we would take more care for each other by using the great access (Romans 5:1-2) we have to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. James inspired of the Holy Spirit tells us to ‘pray one for another’ – James 5:16.

Today the true ‘Church’ – that body of believers in Christ – may be small in number yet the Lord Jesus Christ continues to add to it in His time.

As we serve God on this earth and desire glory to be brought to His name may we always be conscious of our fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord that we can call ‘our own company’. May we be conscious of the fact that although life’s difficulties can get us down at times there usually is some other believer getting it just as bad or even worse.

Jesus said ‘A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another’ - John 13:34.

This love that Christ had for us is a sacrificial love and therefore we must have that love of sacrifice for each other as He has commanded. It may just be putting up with someone or something that really irritates you however whatever it is it needs to be put to the side while we do the Lord’s work.

How thankful we need to be as we consider the Lord’s return for the true believer, in the catching away of His Bride 'The Church’ (1 Corinthians 15:51-58) – ‘and so shall we ever be with the Lord’ – (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

Then those things that cause us grief will be no more as we do away with the corruptible and put on the incorruptible. Of course the source of us causing grief to others will be dealt with as well. :) .

1John 1:9 - If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

Maranatha

The Greatest Deluge the world has ever seen.

What a deluge of snow the UK has seen over this past month. In Northern Ireland I don't think we have seen such a fall of snow and the drop in temperatures since 1963 (I was only a wee lad then).

I was thinking about Noah recently and how the rain promised by God started to materialise on the earth. It was a deluge that the peoples of the world thought was never going to stop. It didn’t and the people who were looking for its end decidedly perished in it. Many today wonder how so much rain could fall and cover the earth so comprehensibly yet the answer is in God’s Word, ‘The Bible’ as we know it. In Genesis 1:6-7 we see God dividing waters. One below on the earth and what appears to be a canopy of water above the earth. This canopy above the earth created a humid environment allowing many species of His creation to exist. It would be logical to assume that God used this canopy of water to flood the earth in Noah’s day. What significance would this have had on the environment that was left? Most certainly the humid greenhouse effect would have disappeared because the canopy of water that the sun was shining through had now gone. This would have caused some types of certain kinds of life to be reduced in numbers due to the change in their living conditions. I believe that life changed for the dinosaur (dinosaur being a relatively new word to describe a certain batch of life that remains have been found in different parts of the world). Many would not have been able to survive the new living conditions.

It is interesting that Sir David Attenborough, an eminent scientist of some repute, has stated recently in an interview with Sky News the following:

"Every now and then there's a blip (extinction), like what happened with the dinosaurs and pterosaurs."

Yet men of Sir David’s calibre fail to even contemplate the possibly that God’s hand of creation and ultimate handling of His creation is the result of what we have on earth today. There are of course many other less publicised yet equally eminent scientists who hold to the belief that there must be a Divine originator without whom this world with its life-forms and the surrounding galaxies would fail to exist.

God even told of the fact that the earth was round in the writings of Isaiah:

Isaiah 40:22 -It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:

God even allows us to see what can only be described as creatures that fit into the ‘Dinosaur’ ‘kind’ in Job 40:15 (Behemoth) and Job 41: (Leviathan).

I am not an scientist but sometimes the obvious is overlooked because it is so simple in the first place. The old saying comes to mind:

‘When plain sense makes good sense seek no other sense lest it result in nonsense’ 

Psalm 24:1 - The earth is the LORD's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

Quickie professions of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ

 For many years I have been troubled as to the method of some preachers of the Gospel who appear to concern themselves with numbers that are saved rather than whether the person or persons that they are speaking to are convicted of the Holy Spirit in that they have sin in their lives and this sin needs to be confessed before God in repentance. I have experience of preachers that for what ever reason find it necessary to produce numbers of persons saved for their reports that they send to supporting churches. Young people coerced into saying a 'little prayer' and then because of their lack of understanding are left saying things like 'I have tried being a Christian but it doesn't work' or 'I don't feel any different'.
Again I believe that David Cloud says it probably more eloquently and more informative that I would. So I recommend that you read his article (link below) on his website entitled 'Whats wrong with most soul winning courses?'

http://www.wayoflife.org/files/883fd3a63df3008abd03eebd1399fc93-694.html

Our so called celebrities need Salvation too

Much is made today of the glitz filled lives of our stars from the silver screen, TV, sports arenas etc. In fact they are held by many as to be great role models for our lives in general and that of our children. Many of these so called stars show themselves as upright decent people with whom 'butter wouldn't melt in their mouths' as the old saying goes. Yet frequently these stars are targeted by the reporting hounds of the media as having slipped into the abyss of sin and debauchery. Perhaps that sin and debauchery was always there in their lives  however it suited the powers that be not mention it. Over these passed few weeks we have seen the glamour of the x-factor where young and old hopefuls have been given a chance of this star studded life only to find that stardom really only lasts for a short time and that keeping up in that life declares that reinvention becomes a frequent necessity if they are to maintain a public profile. I feel sorry for our celebrities who appear to be caught up in false world which only gives them a bit part in the great production of life. God is nothing to many of them. Their whole lives are driven by the lusts of the flesh. These lusts are not necessarily of a sexual nature although much is but can be lust for money, adoration, worship or even notoriety. Of course this stardom is not just in the entertainment area. Politicians have now dipped into the celebrity status and guess what? they have been found out as well. Then of course there are those who believe that followers of this biblical God are delusional and declare the earth and creation as nothing more that just an accident or an evolving of a piece of slim into a human being.
Psalm 14 comes to mind ' The fool hath said in his heart There is no God. Many live their lives as if God does not exist and has no claim on them yet David declares through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in Psalm 24 'The Earth is the LORD'S and the fulness thereof the world and they that dwell therein'. Like it or not we are all - superstars and celebrities as well - under the hand of a loving God.
Is that not why He sent His Son the Lord Jesuis Christ as a human being, born of a virgin, experiencing all that we experience yet He was without sin (Hebrews 4:15). We all need to be saved from the curse of sin - celebrities and all. Think about them when you think of their star spangled lives and consider how lost many of them are because of the influence of the flesh has on their lives. Before you say that I am being judgemental about them and perhaps many others that do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour look at what God's Word states:
Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
John 14:6 - Jesus said 'I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me'.

You see I am a sinner just like everyone in this world however because I have accepted and trusted the gift of God's Son my sins no longer keep me separated from God.
Accept the gift of Christ this Christmas - not the baby in the manger but the one who died and shed His blood rising again that you might be reconciled to God.
What a gift this is.

Is Separation only a side issue for the believer?

I received today an article from http://www.wayoflife.org/ in which David Cloud presents the argument for the believer to live a life separated from those who would seek to liberalise the teaching of scripture and also those who completely rewrite the teachings that cause men and women to lose sight of God's plan for them and 'the Church'.
I would encourage you look at this article and see if you are being coerced into the 'muddy waters of compromise' as regards your faith in the whole council of God.
Click on the link below.
http://www.wayoflife.org/files/f612d71124c95d3a0b119a654a8031b8-689.html