The Lord is my Shepherd

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. 

He makes me lie down in green pastures, 

he leads me beside quiet waters, 

he restores my soul. 

He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

 I will fear no evil, for you are with me; 

your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. 

You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,

 and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. 

                                                                                                  Psalm 23

What more can we want than the Lord as our Shepherd?
With God in our life we can go through anything. Even in the midst of sorrow and trials God is there for us.
Psalm 139:13-18 states,
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 
 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. 
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 
Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.”
To put your trust in God is a wonderful thing.
We will go through a lot in life but if we know the Jesus as our Lord and Saviour we have nothing to fear.
A few years ago I was found to have a cancerous tumour on my leg. Worse yet it had spread to the lymph nodes in my groin.
As a result I had underwent an operation to remove the tumour and the affected Lymph nodes.
Thirty nine days later I was rushed to hospital with two massive blood clots in my lungs and one in my groin, the result of the cancer surgery.
I could have died. Yet I felt no fear.
I honestly can’t say I quoted any particular scripture. Although both Psalm 23 and 139 did come to mind.
I can however remember being completely calm. I had no fear because I knew God was with me. And Christians always win.
Were I to die I knew I would be in the arms of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Were I to live, which obviously I did. I would have a wonderful testimony of how God was there for me.
 God has always been there for me. Letting God into my life was the best decision I have ever made.
Over the fifty-nine years I have lived, sadly, I have witnessed a lot of personal tragedy. Yet I know God has always been their for me.
And he can be for you. Will you at least consider making Jesus Lord of your life today.
Think about it.

A Saviour that is Christ the Lord

“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” 
                                                                                   Luke 2:8-11

On this day when we as Christians celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, may you find the Peace, Joy and Love that only Christ can give.
Merry Christmas and a very Happy new year to all.

Salvation

"Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.  
It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.  
Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required,  
Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: 
“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. 
For my eyes have seen your salvation, 
which you have prepared in the sight of all people, 
a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” 
                                                                                                           Luke 2:25-32

“For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”  The words of Simeon upon seeing Jesus.
Proof Christianity is about God reaching down to man.
Throughout the centuries every culture has believed in an afterlife. They have prepared the bodies of their dead for the afterlife in various ways. Everything from building the pyramids of Egypt to placing simple items people deemed important into graves.
In every case religions of the world have tried to reach up to God. To be as good as they could be.
To meditate to find ultimate enlightenment in the hopes of attaining nirvana or true perfect enlightenment.
Only in Christianity and Judaism, do we see God reaching down to mankind.
God started it all off when he reached down to Abram,
“The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. 
“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.” 
                        Genesis 12:1,2
Because Abram followed God in faith, from his  descendants came the ultimate blessing of salvation to all people through Jesus.
In Jesus we have the infinite God, the creator of the universe enter His own creation and show in purely human terms his love for mankind and just how far He would go to redeem sinful man.
Jesus came into the world to live a perfect life and to die for the sins of every individual that has ever lived or will live.
Jesus said,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”  
     John 3:16,17
Salvation is a free gift from God all one has to do is accept it.
It’s like being invited to a fine feast. The perfect meal that is beneficial to you in all ways. Yet if you do not eat it, it is of no use to you.
Jesus in John 3:18 issues a warning to those who refuse His salvation when he says   “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” 
                                                                                           John 3:18.
There is no grey areas when it comes to salvation one must accept it as Christ points out or reject it and accept the consequences.
The choice dear reader is yours.
Think about it.

Christ and Christians

“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem  
and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” 
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.  
When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.  
“In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: 
“ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’’” 
                                                                                                                Matthew 2:1-6

It is believed the Magi mentioned here were from Persia. They had travelled possibly for weeks to reach Jerusalem where they ask Herod  “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews.”
Herod must have been furious on the inside. Although he obviously didn’t indicate it to the Magi.
Herod the Great (37-4BC) was a ruthless ruler appointed by the Romans. He murdered his wife, his three sons, mother-in-law, brother-in-law and many, many more. Including the babies of Bethlehem.
Herod would have immediately wanted to know the whereabouts of this king whom he would perceive as a threat to his authority.
What Herod didn’t realize was he was fighting God.
God warned the Magi not to return to Herod and they returned to their homeland by another rout.
Mary and Joseph were also warned and slipped away to the safety of Egypt making Jesus technically a political refugee.
With nothing more to go on than the fact that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, Herod took his wrath out on the innocent babies of Bethlehem.
Herod like all despots failed to see the obvious, that if the prophesy was true he would be fighting God Almighty. A fight he couldn’t win.
Over the centuries many rulers have arisen and tried to take down the church. Today according to humanitarian groups Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world.
These persecutors like Herod fail to see that if indeed Christianity is the way to God. They are fighting God Himself.
The Christians over the centuries have suffered horrendous deaths. They died in the death camps of Hitler. They died for doing what was right protecting God’s people and anyone else that faced persecution under the Nazis.
Christians have died in the gulag’s of the Communist. Simply because they were Christians.
Likewise they have been crucified and tortured  under the regime of Pol Pot in Cambodia and under countless other dictators and despotic regimes.
Christian churches and their houses have been burned by their opponents in riots around the world.
Yet the church still continues on with the message of God’s love and mercy to all mankind.
Perhaps of all of the great Christian leaders in my lifetime Martin Luther King jr. expressed best Christian ideals when he said,

"We thank thee, O God, for the spiritual nature of man.

We are in nature but we live above nature.

Help us never to let anybody or

any condition pull us so low as to cause us to hate.

Give us strength to love our enemies and to do good

to those who despitefully use us and persecute us.

We thank thee for thy Church,

founded upon thy Word, that challenges us to do more

than sing and pray, but go out and work as though

the very answer to our prayers depended on us and not upon thee.

Then, finally, help us to realize that man was created to shine like stars and live on through all eternity.

Keep us, we pray, in perfect peace;

help us to walk together, pray together, sing together,

and live together until that day when all God’s children,

Black, White, Red, and Yellow will rejoice

in one common bond of humanity in the kingdom

of our LORD and of our God, we pray.

Amen."

Jesus came onto the world to offer salvation to all mankind. From the most despotic dictators such as Herod to the most innocent of children.
His message over the centuries is simple,

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, 

for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” 

Matthew 11:28-30 

Will you consider giving your life to Christ?

If you have any questions please feel free to Email me at nealbelieves@gmail.com

A Look at Christmas

     Any educated Christian will agree with you that the 25th of December is not the actual birthday of Jesus. Pope Julius I, in the fourth century set the date for Christmas in an effort to Christianise pagan celebrations.
The Puritans in England banned the celebration of Christmas from the time of Elizabeth I (1558-1603) to the middle of the 1800's.
They believed in a strict moral code consisting of prayer and close adherence to the New Testament scriptures.
They believed that since the actual date of Jesus’s birth is not known it should not be celebrated. Especially since the celebration closely resembled the drunken celebration of the Saturnalia of the Romans. The very thing Pope Julius I had tried to change by fixing the date of Christmas on December 25th.
The result was to ban all celebratory activities including decorating houses with evergreens and even the eating of mince pies.
Banning something never works. The result was that when the Victorian era broke Christmas as we know it today came with it.
The Victorians saw the rise of the middle class who had money to spare and at first made it a time of family events with presents and feasting.
They were inspired by the writings of Dickens and his ideals.
Today in the twenty-first century admittedly Christmas celebrations have started to move far away from what the Victorians envisioned Christmas to be. Back some would say to the Saturnalia.
Let’s face it when stores can make forty percent of their years profits in the weeks leading up to Christmas it should tell us we are moving far away from that birth in a Bethlehem stable.
Do people really need an extra gadget. Do they have to spend two hundred, three hundred, a thousand dollars on Christmas gifts?
I like celebrating Christmas. I like my family around me. I even like getting gifts, who doesn’t. But I’m content with what I have.
To me Christmas is sharing and listening to the Christmas story all over again.
In our house we have a tradition. Christmas day morning we get up and read the Christmas story from Luke. It’s a tradition we’ve had since our children were young.
Today my youngest is in his late twenties and still we read the story.
The story means a lot to us. It is the day when God the creator of heaven and earth chose to come into his creation and experience all that it is to be human.
To present us personally with a choice. A choice Jesus spoke of in John 3:16-17 when He is recorded as saying,

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,

 that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,

 but to save the world through him.  

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, 

but whoever does not believe stands condemned already 

because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”  

The choice is yours dear reader. Do you believe that Jesus truly in the one and only Son of God?
That he came to earth to die for your sins?
Think about it.
Email me with what you think at nealsbeliefs@gmail.com.

Christmas

Christmas
And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.
This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria.
So al went to be registered everyone to his own city.
Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth into Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David,
to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child.
So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered.
And she brought forth her first born Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
                                                                                       Luke 2:1-7
Christmas. I have been asked why we celebrate Christmas, especially since the bible gives no date for his birth and experts say it more than likely wasn’t December 25th.
Pope Julius I set the date in the fourth century with the best of intents. Hoping to Christianise the Saturnalia a pagan celebration.
According to what I’ve read by 529 December 25th was a civic holiday.
Throughout the history of Christianity Christian fathers in their wisdom have tried to put Christian meaning to pagan things, the Christmas tree, mistletoe, holly, even carols.
For the most part they succeeded. Not many people in the twenty-first century know what mistletoe or holly meant to the Druids or other pagan groups.
Christians have also been responsible for banning Christmas celebrations.
During the reign of Elizabeth I of England (1558-1603) the puritans banned Christmas celebrations right down to the eating of mince pies. Partly because such celebrations tended to be quite raucous and drunken affairs.
The puritans believed in a strict moral code with copious amounts of prayer.
This ban on Christmas lasted until the Victorian era who broke the ban with a vengeance. Giving us what is essentially our modern Christmas an odd combination of Christian and pagan ways.
Looking at Christmas as we approach Christmas 2013 it seems like in the west the pagan ways are winning.
The world has really stepped in with its call to give bigger, brighter and more expensive presents. Forgetting altogether that it is Jesus’s birthday we are celebrating and it is to him we should be giving our gifts of praise.
I as a Christian for over forty years like Christmas. I don’t like the consumerism force upon us in the western world.
Do we in the west really need another gadget in our home? Do our children need designer toys that cost way too much?
I like my family around me, it’s a feel good thing. We exchange gifts but shun the expensive.
I know my wife and children love me and just as importantly love and serve the Lord their God with all their hart and soul.
And that’s what Christmas is all about. Remembering who Jesus is. Serving Him to the best of our ability and rejoicing over the God of our salvation with our family and friends.
So as we enter the Christmas season we need to heed the words of one of the founders of the Greek Church St Gregory Nazianzen who in 389AD warned us about going to excesses in our celebration.
We need to join with the psalmist who wrote,

Praise the LORD. 

Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. 

Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. 

Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, 

praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, 

praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. 

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. 

Praise the LORD. 

                                                                                          Psalm 150: 1-6
Think about it.

My Beliefs

Someone asked me what I believe here in its simplest form is what I believe,

I believe Jesus as recorded by the apostle John when he says, 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, 

that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, 

but to save the world through him.  

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, 

but whoever does not believe stands condemned already 

because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 

                                                                                                   John 2:16-18
I believe Jesus is the only way to heaven. Jesus saying,

“Jesus answered, 

“I am the way and the truth and the life. 

No one comes to the Father except through me.” 

                                                                                              John 14:6

I believe we are saved through faith. The words of the apostle Paul stating.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves,

 it is the gift of God—  

not by works, so that no one can boast.” 

                                                                                Ephesians 2:8,9

I believe the words of the writer of Hebrews when he writes,

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, 

because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists 

and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” 

                                                                                          Hebrews 11:6
I believe Faith is,

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for 

and certain of what we do not see.” 

                                                                                Hebrews 11:1
I believe,

“If we confess our sins, he (Jesus) is faithful and just

         and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 

                                                                                                              1John 1:9
Think about it.

Questions? email me at nealsbeliefs@gmail.com

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.  

This is what the ancients were commended for." 

                                                                                                            Hebrews 11:1,2

Faith in God perhaps the hardest thing for anyone to have. It’s hard for most people to follow someone or something they can’t feel, see or touch.
Yet that is exactly what God asks us to do. Ephesians stating,

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—

and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  

not by works, so that no one can boast."

                                                                                                          Ephesians 2:8,9
God presents for us in the Bible the way to salvation. He shows us through the works of the patriarchs and the apostles how to get to heaven and it all comes down to one word, faith.
Hebrews stating,

And without faith it is impossible to please God, 

because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists 

and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. 

                                                                                                               Hebrews 11:6 
The question always come down to faith but not necessarily blind faith. The Bible gives us enough facts that we can make an informed decision. All we have to do is examine them.
Have you? Have you actually taken time to read the Bible?
I’m told it takes between eight-eight and a hundred hours for the average person just to read the bible. But just reading it is not enough. One needs to study it and make ones own conclusions.
I truly believe that if a person studies the bible with out putting any preconditions on what is being read that person cannot help but come to the conclusion that there is a God and that He truly loves them and wants them to spend eternity with Him.
So here’s my challenge. Take time to read the Bible. Read and study it for what it is, a book of faith that points the way to heaven and make your own decision.

Who is Jesus?

“In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways,  but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.  
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.  
So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. 
For to which of the angels did God ever say,
 “You are my Son; today I have become your Father’” ? Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son” ? "
                           Hebrews 1:1-5
Who is Jesus?
He is the very Son of God. “
”The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being.” states the writer of Hebrews.
It is he who provided purification of our sins. Sitting down at the right hand of God.
Over the years I have heard of some religious groups saying Jesus was an angel. The writer of Hebrews here puts that argument to rest by saying
“he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. 
For to which of the angels did God ever say, 
“You are my Son; today I have become your Father’” ? Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son” ? 
Angels are flawed. An angel could not have paid the price for our sins. The only one who could come to earth and live a perfect life despite all the temptations and could pay the price for our sins is the very Son of God. The second person of the trinity.
The writer of Hebrews noting that it was “through whom he made the universe.” Again angels did not create the universe they themselves are created beings.
John wrote,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  
He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” John 1:1-3.
Jesus was there on the day of creation. He took part in the very creation of the universe. Therefore it is obvious that he was God.
Genesis 1:26a states, “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness,...” the “in our image” is a further reference to the trinity of which Jesus is a part.
He had part in creating man.
The facts with respect to who Jesus are very clear, Jesus is God incarnate. The whole New Testament testifies to this. John 1:14 stating,
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
The apostles and the various writers of the New Testament all agree on this.
Jesus himself stating “I and the Father are one.” John 10:30.
There is therefore no room for us to question who Jesus is. The Bible makes it clear that He indeed is God and asks us to believe also.
Think about it.

Pray,Pray,Pray

“Then he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,  
because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.’ “Then the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’  
I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man’s boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs. 
“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  
For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” 
       Luke 11:5-10.

Here Jesus gives a simple statement of truth about prayer. He urges believers to be persistent in their prayers to God. Assuring them that their prayers will be answered by God.
I think however there must be a caution here.
When we pray we must pray for the right things and we must pray in accordance with God’s will.
All too often I have seen Christians praying to be millionaires or for fancy cars or luxuries they don’t need. And when God doesn’t answer their prayers they wonder why.
Don’t get me wrong there is nothing wrong with asking God to provide a good income for us. It’s when we get greedy and start asking for things in excess.
The Lords prayer states, “Give us each day our daily bread” (Luke 11:3). 
What Jesus is saying here in Luke 11:5-10 is that we need to pray continually asking for what we need. Keeping the lines of communication open between ourselves and God.
God knows if we need a Rolls Royce. He also knows that most times all we need is small sub compact  or for that matter no car at all, allowing the extra money to go into ministry or other things of importance in our life.
  God  also knows what we can handle. All one has to do is listen to the horror stories of some people who won millions in the lottery, only to find themselves unable to handle the money and end up broke.
We serve a good God. Who answers our prayers according to His will.
And we as Christians need to draw near to God. Through prayer and studying the Bible. Thus when we pray it will be more in tune to God’s will than our own.
 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  
For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” states Jesus.
So the lesson is this we need to be continually asking God for what is best for our lives. We need to seek after God’s perfect will for our lives, and we need to be continually knocking on heavens door in order that it will be opened and we will receive full measure of what God has for our lives.
Think about it.

Praise the Lord

"The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. 

He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 

he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, 

for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and

 I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. "

                                                                                                         Psalm 23

Over the last couple of years my wife and I have gone through a lot with respect to our health. I had cancer surgery that was successful. However I developed to quote the doctor, “large blood clots on my lungs and in my groin” I should have died but by the grace of God I didn’t.
My wife already having some minor health problems ended up in hospital, in intensive care for a week then six more weeks in hospital. When she came out she couldn’t walk. Today she get around using a walker for short distances and a wheel chair for longer distances.
Someone asked me why would God let you go through such things. I told him that it was simply a part of life.
We live in a world filled with illnesses. I know over the years I’ve been exposed to carcinogens. And at times my wife and I don’t eat right.
The food we eat depending on where it comes from has been in contact with chemical fertilizers or pesticides. We over the years have breathed in our fair share of pollution. Such is life in the twenty-first century.
Still God has been good to us. He has been their for us in our darkest days.  
Years ago when our then eight year old son let go of my wife’s hand and dashed across a highway and was hit by a car doing eighty kilometres an hour God was their.
My son was in a coma for a week. All we could do was pray and have our friends pray.
The doctors told us the longer in the coma the worse the potential outcome. Today he’s in his mid thirties and normal. No one can tell that he was in such a serious accident.
My younger son earlier this year was helping build an orphanage in Kenya. He fell from a ladder and broke both bones in his left leg.
Amazingly he was near what some have called the finest hospital in Africa. Not only that there was a top bone specialist from England there for other reasons. He fixed my son’s leg.
The Canadian doctors telling him it couldn’t have been done any better here in Canada.
God is truly good and no one can convince me otherwise.
I know that as long as I continue to follow Him he will lead me by those still waters even in the midst of adversity.
As a result I will echo the words of the psalmist when he says,

“Praise the LORD. 

Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. 

Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. 

Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, 

praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, 

praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. 

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.”

                                                                                           Psalm 150

November 11th

Today is remembrance day in Canada. The day when we remember not only those who paid the ultimate price in war, but those who served in the armed forces in two world wars, Korea, Afghanistan and as peacekeepers around the world.

On a plaque at a Korean War memorial in Peel County Ontario Canada there is a quote from Romans 14:19

“Let us therefor follow after things which make for peace.”

We remember them by wearing a red poppy.
However I noticed there are people out there passing out white poppies claiming to be for peace. Claiming the red poppy stands for war.
These people, as sincere as they are, are misguided and miss the true meaning of the poppy.
Any soldier will tell you they hate war. War brings about only suffering and death. No one in there right mind would want such a thing.
I would go as far as saying those involved with the white poppy campaign have done little more than protest about war and injustice.
The veterans on the other had put their lives on the line, some even giving the final sacrifice to ensure the freedoms we have today.
They by giving selflessly of their lives, have done more than any protest or letter writing campaign no matter how well meaning to further the cause of peace.
Hitler was not, nor could he be defeated by demonstrations. Many did demonstrate against him only to find themselves in concentration camps or murdered.
Neville Chamberlain the British prime minister of the day, with the best of intentions returned home with a piece of paper signed by Hitler and proclaimed "I have returned from Germany with peace for our time."  While behind his back Hitler is reported to have said it is only a piece of paper, and within a year had plunged the world into world war two.
Sometimes sadly there is no alternative than to go to war.
Can you imagine what it would have been like had those, then young Allied men and women refused to go to war against such evil or failed in their endeavour?
Winston Churchill the man that replaced Chamberlain put it this way,
“But if we fall, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.” 
 The ramifications of the Allies losing the second world war are almost impossible to comprehend.
Certainly those who are giving out the white poppy and indeed many of us born after the second world war may never have been born.
Dear reader,
 on this day let us give thanks to God for our freedoms and for the men and women who served and those who serve today in our armed forces.
For it is to them, every man woman and child in this country and every country that enjoys freedom owes an unimaginable debt of thanks.
May God bless them in all they do.

Choice

Read John 18

Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?”

  Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king.

  For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world,

 that I should bear witness to the truth.

  Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” 

 And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, 

“I find no fault in Him at all.

“But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. 

 Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”

Then they all cried again, saying, “Not this Man, but Barabbas!” 

 Now Barabbas was a robber.

                                                                                                     John 18:37-40
“Pilate  said to Him, What is truth?” this phrase that has echoed down through the ages.  “What is truth?” the words of Pontius Pilate Governor.  It is something everyone who lives must ask about Jesus.
Pontius Pilate made a judgment on Jesus, he said, “I find no fault in Him at all.”
Pilate gave the crowd the chance to free Jesus.  But, as far as is recorded no one said release Jesus.
Represented in that crowd were three groups, the religious leadership of Jesus’ day, who claimed to know the Scriptures. The average person, standing in the crowd, and the secular government.
The representative of the secular government did what all governments do ‘bowed’ to political expediency.  Not wanting a riot, Pilate acquiesced to the demands of the crowd and gave into their demands.
The average person in the crowd did what the average person did in the crowd, not think.  Just followed taking on the mentality of the crowd.  Demanding without any thought, the death of an innocent man.
The religious leadership did what they did best, followed their dogma, their distorted beliefs, their self righteousness.  They played politics for fear that if the truth be known, they’d loose their position of power.  And as a result, they too committed an innocent man to death.
Something to think about
Truth was lost that day, but as Scripture says:

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, 

to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

God had a purpose and a plan for Jesus’ life, the plan is stated earlier in the Gospel of John, when it says in John 3:16-18:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes

 in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

     “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, 

but that the world through Him might be saved.

“He who believes in Him is not condemned; 

but he who does not believe is condemned already,

 because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

While sinful men perverted the truth and condemned the innocent son of God to death. God’s purpose was fulfilled. Christ died for our sins.
Thus giving us the same choice as those who condemned Christ at his trial had. To accept Him as Lord and Saviour or reject Him.

A Note to Christians in the LGBT Community

A note to Christians in the LGBT community

Authors Preface
I know when it comes to the word ‘sin’ with respect to the LGBT community, especially when it comes from a ‘Christian’ it raises very big red flags.
With many, particularly in the evangelical community centering out homosexuality as a so called ‘special sin’. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Remember Paul wrote, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” That all means everyone. From Billy Graham, to the pope, to the woman and man on the street. “All have sinned”.
What I have written here are what Christians believe. What defines a Christian. If you believe it and have prayed and asked Jesus to come into your life then by any Christians definition you are saved. You are a Christian.

A Christian believes John 14:7

  “ Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. 

No one comes to the Father except through me.” 

                                                                                             John 14:7
A Christian believes Romans 3:23-26

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 

 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 

 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, 

through faith in his blood. 

He did this to demonstrate his justice,

 because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished

 he did it to demonstrate  his justice at the present time, 

so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”

                                                                                                  Romans 3:23-26

A Christiana believes that we were once slaves to sin. And that sin leads to separation for ever from God.
A Christian believes that the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus.
A Christian believes Ephesians 2:8-10

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--

and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--  

not by works, so that no one can boast. 

For we are God's workmanship, 

created in Christ Jesus to do good works,

 which God prepared in advance for us to do."

                                                                                       Ephesians 2:8-10
A Christian believes that it is by faith we are saved it is a gift of God. That we cannot work our way heaven.
That once we accept Christ by faith he comes into our lives and transforms us to his ways.
That if we truly have accepted Christ, we will want to do what he wishes and that the change in our life will be evident to those around us.

A Christian believes and obeys Jesus when He said,

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  

For in the same way you judge others, 

you will be judged, 

and with the measure you use, 

it will be measured to you.”

                                                                             Matthew 7:1,2
Christians are not the judges of the world.

Christians are the presenters of salvation to the world. Matthew 28: 18-20 clearly states this.
 “Then Jesus came to them and said,

 "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, 

baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

 And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Becoming a Christian is a conscious choice. One we must make when we fully understand what we are doing.
It is not incumbent on if our parents were Christian. It has nothing to do with the lifestyle we live.
It is all about a decision we as an individual must make, be we from the LGBT community or the heterosexual community.
I am certain there are as many heterosexual people, including many pastors and evangelist that will find themselves in hell much to their surprise.
Contrary to what many,... most, of my friends in the evangelical community think, I believe there are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Christians.
After all becoming a Christian is simply believing what I have quoted above and saying a simple prayer asking Christ into ones life. A prayer like this.

Dear Heavenly Father
I recognize that Jesus is your one and only Son that he came to earth to die a sacrificial death for the sins of all mankind.
I admit that I am a sinner as are all people. I therefore accept Jesus as my Lord and his sacrificial death for my sins.
Please Lord Jesus come into my heart and life this day. Direct my path from this day forward.
Amen.
If you have believed all I have written above and have prayed this prayer they Jesus will come into your life and if you let Him will direct your path in life.
If you already are a Christian let your light shine to those around you. Point people to Christ both in word and in deed.

Give Thanks

“Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. 

Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 

Know that the LORD is God. 

It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; 

give thanks to him and praise his name. 

For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;

 his faithfulness continues through all generations.” 

                                                                                          Psalm 100

As I write this it is thanksgiving morning in Canada. A time when we can reflect and give thanks to God for all we have.
I am not a Canadian I am simply a landed emigrant although I’ve spent most of my life here.
As a result I have been blessed richly by this country.
Thanks to the freedom of worship in this land I was introduced to my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
I was through serving the Lord introduced to my wife whom I have been with for thirty-four years.
As a result we have two wonderful children both of whom are serving the Lord in various capacities.
While there have been difficulties from time to time life has still been good to me and my family.
We know God will not forsake us. We know he loves us and will take us safely through even the worst storm. Which he has.
My oldest son when he was eight was hit by a car and lay in a coma for a week. With the doctors telling us every day he was in the coma meant that he may not recover fully.
After much prayer, God answered us and he today is in his mid thirties perfectly normal and planning his wedding.
My younger son just recently fell twelve feet from a ladder in Kenya and broke both bones in his lower leg.
He just happened to be near one of the best hospitals in Africa and there just happened to be one of the best bone specialist from England available to fix his leg.
He did an excellent job according to the Canadian doctors my son went to upon returning to Canada.
That to me is God.
Over the last two years both my wife and I have had to have life saving surgery after being rushed to hospital.
Surgery we came through with out any problems.
Not only that thanks to the Canadian health care system we didn’t have any medical bills.
The God I serve is a great and mighty God and I for one am thankful for all he has done for me and my family.
Above all I am thankful that God sent his one and only Son Jesus Christ to die for my sins. That I upon accepting Him into my life am assured of my salvation and a place in heaven.
Dear reader do you have that assurance.
Do you know for certain that if you were to die to day that you would get to heaven?
Jesus said “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6. 
The apostle John wrote, “If we confess our sins, he (Jesus) is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9.
All we have to do is pray a simple prayer and ask Jesus into our lives a prayer like this,
Dear Heavenly Father
I recognize that I am a sinner. That I have done things wrong in my life and fall short of what you want for my life.
I recognize that Jesus Christ is your one and only Son who came to this earth to die for my sins. To save me and show me the way to heaven.
I accept Him as my Lord and Saviour.
Please dear Jesus come into my life today. Cleanse me from my sins.
I give you permission to work within my life conforming my life to your ways.
Amen.
If you prayed that prayer and truly mean it then you can be assured of getting into heaven. It really is that easy.
Now I would urge you to get a Bible and read it. Also pray and ask God to lead you to a bible believing Church. One that believes you are saved by faith according to Ephesians which states, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—   not by works, so that no one can boast.” 
Ephesians 2:8,9
And may God bless you.

What Jesus said about Himself

"Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."  John 14:5,6

Jesus makes it clear in the above statement. There is only one way to haven, through him.
You hear people all over the world today stating that there are many ways to heaven. But Jesus clearly states there is not.
The only way to heaven is through him. There is no middle ground. He states “No one comes to the Father except through me.” it couldn’t be any clearer.
This is an incredible claim yet it is the base of what Christians believe. We cannot deny or modify it as it is a clear statement of the author and finisher of our faith.
Getting into heaven is an act of faith in Jesus Christ it is not an act of works. In Christian thought no one can be good enough to work their way to heaven. They always fall short even if it’s in the smallest of ways.
The apostle Paul writes, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
                                                                                                          Ephesians 2:8,9
God however is an inclusive God. He does not care who you are, what lifestyle you live, your ethnic origin or your status in life.
He cares only for you.
My challenge for you the reader is to read the new Testament and see what God through his Son Jesus Christ has to offer you.

Jesus is God

Read John 10

“I am the good shepherd; 

and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.

“As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father;

 and I lay down My life for the sheep.

“And other sheep I have which are not of this fold;

 there also I must bring, and they will hear

 My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

“Therefore My Father loves Me, 

because I lay down My life that I may take it again.

“No one takes it from Me,

 but I lay it down of Myself,

 I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.

  This command I have received from My Father.

Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings.

And many of them said, 

“He has a demon and is mad.  Why do you listen to Him?”

Others said,

 “These are not the words of one who has a demon, 

“Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

                                                                                                             John 10:14-21
Who is Jesus?  This is the question you and everyone who hears about Him must answer.  It is a controversy, that has been around since Jesus started His ministry.  No other spiritual leader in history, has made such claims.
Jesus claimed to be God.  Those who opposed Him point that out as recorded in John 10:32,33:
Jesus answered them,

 “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. 

 For which of those words do you stone Me?”

The Jews answered Him, saying,

 “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because

 You, being a Man, make Yourself God.”

If Jesus was not God, He had to be as C. S. Lewis stated “a lunatic, as mad as someone who thinks he is a poached egg.”
Calling Himself God, or claiming to be equal to God, was going to get you killed in the days Jesus walked the earth.  The only other possibility, is that He was who He said He was.  The choice is that simply.
Something to think about:
                  John 10:21 states:

"Others said,

 “These are not the words of one who has a demon, 

“Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

John 10:40-42 goes onto state:

And He went away again beyond the Jordan 

to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed.

Then many came to Him and said, 

“John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man are true.”

And many believed in Him there."

Question: Who do you think Jesus is?

Unifying Love

Read John 17

I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me 

through their word;

“that they all may be one

 as You Father, are in Me,

 and I in You; 

that they also maybe one in Us,

 that the world may believe that

 You sent Me....

“I in them, and You I Me that they maybe made perfect in one, 

and that the world may know that You have sent Me, 

and have loved them as You have loved Me.

“And I have declared to them Your name,

 and will declare it,

 that the love with which You loved Me

 maybe in them,

 and I in them.”

                                                                       John 17:20, 21-23, 26
Here in Chapter 17 of John, Jesus prays for Himself, the disciples and in verse 20 to 26 for all believers.
He prays for their unity in love.  That the love of God, be in them, as it was in Christ.
We, as individual Christians, must first of all know what we believe and why we believe it.  That is why we must study the Word of God, and sit under a good teacher, we trust.
Then, it is absolutely, imperative, that we find a church congregation that believes as we do or as close as we can find.  A congregation where we feel God would have us work.  And we must submit ourselves to that group.
In order to do this, we must think, and pray.
A Bible School teacher once said to me, “most Christians think with their heart and forget God gave them a brain for that purpose.
They think their hands are only to use to pick things up with, not put together in prayer, and that their ears are the only thing they hear with.”
What he meant was, many Christians go to where they feel good, not necessarily, where God wants them.  That they never pray and seek God’s guidance about which church they should attend or what they should do.  They listen to others and what comes in through their ears, not what God is telling their heart.
Here Jesus talks about the unity of the believers, about them being one.  And He asks:
“that the love with which You loved Me  maybe in them,  and I in them.”
Something to think about:
I go back to the words of the Apostle Paul in 1Corinthinas 13:4-8a
“Love suffers long and is kind: love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil. does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”
This is what Jesus prayed for, for all Christians. This is the kind of love we must show to both our brothers and sisters in Christ and the whole world.

What Really Matters

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.... 

                                                                          Genesis 1:1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, 

and the Word was God.  

He was with God in the beginning. 

Through him all things were made; 

without him nothing was made that has been made...

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. 

We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, 

full of grace and truth. 

                                                                                       John 1:1-3, 14

Perhaps one of the most controversial parts of the Bible is the Genesis chapter one, the creations chapter.
Non Christians point to it and say how could the world be made in six twenty-four hour days. They claim it took aeons.
Frankly I could care less. It doesn’t make any difference to my faith if the world was made in a hundred forty-four hours or a hundred forty-four billion years.
I believe the universe and everything in it was created by God. AND more importantly I believe that Jesus is God.
That he came to earth to live among His creation, to point mankind to heaven.
Jesus said of himself,

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, 

that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  

For God did not send his Son into the world 

to condemn the world,

 but to save the world through him.  

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, 

but whoever does not believe stands condemned already 

because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. "

                                                                                                     John 3:16-18
God gives us a free will but he makes it clear that we have only two choices in this life.
To either accept Jesus for who he says he is. The very Son of God the Saviour of the world, or to reject him as a liar who has perpetuated the most monumental lie in human history.
The choice dear reader is yours.
Do you believe Jesus is Lord and God. The creator of the universe who came to earth to pay the price for your sins?
If you believe, then the question is, if you were to die tonight are you certain you would get to haven?
If not hear is a prayer you may want to pray.
Dear Heavenly Father
I know that I am a sinner. That I fall short of what you want for me in my life. 
I recognize that Jesus is your One and Only Son. That he came to die to take away my sins.
Please forgive me of my sins.
Please Lord Jesus come into my heart and life this day. Lead me and guide me from this day forward.
Amen

If you prayed this prayer and really meant it then Jesus will come into your life. I urge you to read the Bible. Start with the New Testament and read through the whole Bible.
Pray before you read each chapter that God will reveal Himself to you and that He will reveal what you are reading means to you personally.
The next thing is to pray and find a good church in your area.
I personally would recommend a good Baptist church as I have found their teachings to be very well balanced and in line with the word of God.
But above all of this Pray, Pray, Pray, that God would lead you to the right church or group of believers that can help you grow in Christ.
And remember always that with God in your life, if you let Him, He will change your life in a wonderful way.