TEN VERSES EVERY CHRISTIAN MUST MEMORIZE

The Psalmist under inspiration gave us these words:

Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. (119:9,11)

Several truths spring out, namely that YOUNG people should pay attention to God’s Word, and secondly that memorization is how we do it. Young people, memorize God’s Word while you’re still young. It’s far easier than when you reach middle age or older. Believe me, it’s true.

Every single Bible believing Christian should know the following verses as well as their own name!

John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Genesis 1:11
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

John 1:14
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

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.

Romans 10:13
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

John 1:12
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

1 John 5:13
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

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

Galatians 2:20
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

 

CHINESE WHISPERS

As a kid, playing Chinese Whispers was always fun. You would start with a message, which would be passed orally from one person to the next. By the time the process returned to the starter, the message was usually hilariously unrecognizable. The game is illustrative of what happens in our world every day. That which starts out as reality is quickly distorted, either unintentionally or by design, and ends up as error.

What do we know any more? There’s not much news that really shocks us. One reason for this is that we live in a sin-twisted world. The truth is handled so lightly. Just because the evening news reports something, doesn’t mean it’s true. Which begs the question; Can we actually know anything for sure? Thankfully for the Bible believing Christian, the answer is yes.

The word “know” is mentioned 22 times in the 1st epistle of John.

1 John 2:3 “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.” (Bold emphasis mine).

Notice the exact words here. Keeping God’s commandments is NOT the way to know God. That’s putting the cart before the horse. Coming into a personal, real relationship with God through Jesus Christ comes first. Keeping God’s commandments follows naturally. This verse states that keeping God’s commandments enables us to KNOW that we KNOW Him. This is assurance.

Thankfully God has given us His words, in black and white. The Bible is the name of these words. Every word is important. And yes, there are some things we can KNOW. Having a 100% assurance of being a member of God’s family is something every believer can possess.

I’m so thankful that God doesn’t deal in games. He deals in absolutes. We can know that for sure.

 

 

SOMETIMES THERE’S NO REASON TO WAIT

USA. February 2016. Last week I turned off I-75 in Michigan, taking the Clio exit. I came to a T-intersection and waited at the traffic lights. I waited. And waited. And waited. Wondering why there were no other cars beside or behind me, I came to a startling conclusion. There were no other cars beside me because there were no traffic lights to be found, just a stop sign. Dumb Aussie. There was no reason for me to wait. As soon as the traffic was clear, I turned left and headed on my merry way.

I got to thinking about life in general. Usually as believers we have to learn to wait. Waiting on God is very important, and so often we run ahead of God’s will and make trouble for ourselves. However there are other times, when the coast is clear, that we just need to go.

In Exodus chapter fourteen, Moses was at the threshold of the Red Sea. Pharaoh’s armies were fast closing. He said to the children of Israel, “…stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD…”. God responded: “Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:” It wasn’t a time for Israel to stand still. They needed to get going, to skiddadle, to vamoose.

So often in life we dilly-dally. I have an earned Ph.D in procrastination from D.U. (Delay University), whose motto is, “Why do something today when you can put it off until tomorrow?” Sometimes there’s no reason to wait. People need the Gospel message yet so often we rationalize as to why we shouldn’t pass them a Gospel tract. Just do it.

Maybe we need to call and apologize for something we’ve said to a brother or sister in Christ, but we always find a reason to put it off. Just do it.

When the Holy Spirit prompts us to give something special for the work of the Lord, we put it off. Just do it.

Someone really needs an encouraging phone call or text, yet we delay to do so. Just do it.

There’s a time to wait, and a time to go. If uncertain, then wait, but if the light is green, or there’s no light at all, it’s time to go.

TEACHING KIDS. A FEW THOUGHTS ON RESOURCES.

It is imperative that we teach children the Bible. When I was a kid growing in the 60s and 70s, we had Sunday School, Christian Endeavour, Boy’s Brigade, Youth Group, Navigators and so on. There was a constant stream of Bible teaching which has obviously stayed with me for life.  Kids today are neglected. Even today, many of those children who are brought to church by their parents each week seem woefully ignorant of the stories from God’s Word. No wonder we are losing so many kids to the world.

We MUST teach our young people the Bible. It is not an option. We run into problems because kids, in this day and age of miniscule attention span, get bored easily. Many Sunday School teachers find it difficult to connect with kids. We need to use whatever resources we can to effectively convey the truths of God’s Word to our youngsters.

I am in favour, and use all year long, both old and new methods of visuals. It’s amazing how exciting a chalk talk can be. It’s not hard to learn. Keith Thompson has authored a great book on learning to illustrate by hand.

http://www.amazon.com/Sketching-Telling-Stories-Children-Thompson/dp/0310364019

Surprisingly, flannelgraphs are so old fashioned that they actually work. I don’t use them myself, but some churches still do, to good effect. From memory, Betty Lukens is the standard resource.

http://www.bettylukens.com/

OHP (over head projectors) ended with Noah. (Presumably he ran out of extension cord on the ark.) Powerpoint, although technologically old, is still a very effective way of using visuals to assist a Bible message. The possibilities are endless. I came across this site recently, and plan to buy some of their professional graphics for a try out.

http://www.eikonbibleart.com/

Object lessons always work well. Simple objects well explained make for great teaching aids. A straight edged ruler well describes the 10 commandments, showing us how crooked we really are. A tiny amount of dirt added to a clean glass of water shows us how even a “tiny” sin defiles the whole. A broom can be used when recounting the story of the woman who lost her silver coin, and so on. Use your imagination; your kids do!

Remember, you may have the fanciest graphics, but you still have to tell the story. This is where preparation, practice and prayer come into play. If we rush through our preparation, we know it. So too does our audience of kids or teens. They are worth us doing our very best, and of course, Jesus deserves it too.

WHAT I CAN DO THAT GOD CAN’T!

The brain’s memory function is an amazing thing.

With advancing age comes forgetfulness. I may not have much hair left but my memory is still reasonably good. The exception to this is names. Friends I have known for decades often become nameless because I can’t bring up the surname! Are you like this or is it just me? I suspect most of us are in the same boat. Thankfully the required name always surfaces, usually when we aren’t thinking quite so hard about remembering, like at 2am! The brain’s memory function is an amazing thing.

We often sing the little chorus, “God can do anything but fail.” I was thinking about this yesterday after reading Psalm 130. There are some things that God cannot do, or at least that’s what I always believed. God cannot sleep, but then I read that Jesus was in a ship, “asleep on a pillow”. (Mark 4:38) Of course we understand that God the Father doesn’t sleep or even slumber, but God the Son was 100% human being and needed some rest. We know that God cannot fail, but in a sense, Jesus was limited in his works because of the unbelief of man (Matthew 13:58). God has chosen not to overrule the free will of man.

What then can I do that God can never, ever do? I can still remember my past sins. God cannot do this. He has consciously forgotten my past, and those sins, forgiven personally by virtue of the shed blood of Jesus Christ on Calvary, are gone for ever. Sure, I remember them. I’m sure Satan remembers them and uses them to discourage and make us ineffective, but God doesn’t know what they are. Incredible!

“If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee…” (Psalm 130:3,4 )

“As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12)

As believers, we need to move onwards and upwards. As someone once remarked, “When Satan reminds you of your past, tell him about his future!” Don’t live in the past. For the born again Christian, our sins are gone, never remembered again by God Himself. This is a blessing above all blessings.

 

 

THE BODYGUARD

A few days ago I was engaging in some banter with two of my grandsons at dinner time. We love to joke around and, for better or worse, it seems some of my humour has rubbed off on these boys. Maybe it’s the humour-gene? It was a Saturday night and we were also talking about Sunday School and how important it was to the boys; visiting their friends, having fun, learning the Bible stories and most importantly, meeting with God. “Yep”, exclaimed three year old Nicky, “God is always at church. He even sleeps there!”

I then went on to explain that God is so wonderful that He doesn’t even need to sleep. He is “on guard”, 24/7/365! Think of that! He never slumbers, sleeps or is weary. The Psalmist puts it so beautifully in number 121:

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.
The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

How awesome! Jehovah God is my bodyguard! His shadow covers my right hand. He is always there. He is my security.

The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me? (Psalm 118:6)

Christian, are you in the depths of despair today? Maybe you’re enjoying life to the full? Possibly you’re somewhere in between? Rejoice. Those who belong to Jesus are in His constant, never ending, always vigilant, all powerful care.

 

FORGETTING TO FORGET.

Babies are little noise machines, designed to keep parents awake at night, and laughing during the day.

Babies make lots of noises. Lots. From laughing to burping to crying to screaming to cooing. They are little noise machines, designed to keep parents awake at night, and laughing during the day. How often have we witnessed a grandson, in attempting to walk, fall over and bump his nose on the carpet, then start crying loudly. I mean wake-the-dead loudly. Surely he has a triple compound fracture of some bone somewhere, but no, after a while he switches tack and begins to laugh. Or is it crying? Or cryaughing? Sometimes you just can’t tell. Is he sad that he’s fallen over, or happy that he’s still in one piece after the dreadful descent to the carpet?

Ezra records that the young people shouted for joy when the foundations of the temple were laid. The old people wept. The combined noise of shouting and weeping made neither discernable. The young men thought that this was the greatest day of their lives, and it most probably was. The temple was being rebuilt. The old men knew better. They had seen the splendid magnificence of Solomon’s edifice, and by the looks of things, the new would pale in comparison.

So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: (Ezra 3:13)

I tend to side with the young people here. In the first place, it wasn’t their generation that caused God to empty the land. It was their parents and grandparents who sinned, pursuing idolatry and thoroughly expending the patience of a long suffering God. The youth of Ezra’s day never saw the first temple, and did not know what they were missing. The ancients remembered, but forgot to forget the past.

How many times have we thrilled to stories of past missionary endeavours? The Goforths, Taylors, Stams and Careys. How often have we read about the great preachers and their exploits, the Sundays, Moodys, Grahams, Spurgeons. We have even longed for the Philadelphian age to return, but return it cannot. I admit that I am sometimes guilty of longing for the past, but the past serves only as instruction and inspiration for the present. The days of mass city evangelism are finished, at least for the moment. The days of co-operative Gospel campaigns among churches are long gone. The old “temple” is no longer.

The past is gone, but as one has famously stated, “The future is as bright as the promises of God.” Jesus Christ is still the Saviour from sin. The Gospel message is still the same. The Bible is still inspired. The local church still works. Jesus is coming again. Preaching the cross is still foolishness but powerful. God will change anyone to the uttermost, by grace, through faith. Souls are being saved around Australia, and regularly.

We live in difficult times, but no more so than Paul’s day. His motto? “For to me to live is Christ!” I am excited that God is working in this Laodicean age. Many bible believing churches are growing. Converts are being discipled. Lives are being changed. Don’t live in the past. Rejoice in what God has done, then follow Paul’s example and press onwards and upwards.

Older folk, don’t forget to forget the things which are behind.

“…but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before” (Philippians 3:13)

Young people, what an amazing time to serve Jesus Christ! Love Him, serve Him and wait for His return. It’s the greatest life of all.

 

 

 

Birthday. Again.

Two days ago was birthday #52. I know, that’s very young. “Fifty is the new forty” they say, except they forgot to tell my lower spine! Oh well, fifty two years of experience and repeated mistakes! Birthday gifts? I did receive a new Harley Davidson T-shirt. Well, sort of. I chose it, purchased it and wore it for a month, but nevertheless it was washed, wrapped and presented to me last Saturday by my wife who always despairs of finding gifts for the “man who has everything!” Happy days indeed.

A few birthdays back I received a copy of Steve Jobs’ biography. It is a rather large book but as I started to read, I became increasingly uneasy. Steve Jobs, genius, visionary, world changer, died as a fool. It seemed he lived a completely selfish life, and worse still, he was unprepared for the coming judgment and afterlife. What does it matter if you die a billionaire and miss Heaven?

But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? (Luke 12:20)

Friend, only a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the Creator God and Saviour from sin, gives any true meaning to life. It doesn’t matter how much success or greatness or education you have attained. It doesn’t matter how many years of life on planet Earth you have survived. Without Jesus, there is no life.

“For birthdays are mere records of time, not registers of distance. They tell me how long I have been on the road, not how far I have travelled.” (FW Boreham)

Travelling life’s road with Jesus as Saviour is the only way to avoid being a fool for eternity.

 

DON’T MENTION THAT WORD

Peter failed miserably, as miserably as anyone has ever failed.

I can do several things reasonably well. I am an expert at boiling eggs. My technique never fails. I can make toast with the best of them, and I can make a pot of Aussie Madura ™ tea with panache. However, if there is one thing I am very good at, it is failing. I can fail with the best of them, especially when it comes to taking opportunities to share Christ with others.

“And after a little while another saw him, and said, Thou art also of them. And Peter said, Man, I am not.” (Luke22:58)

Peter failed miserably, as miserably as anyone has ever failed. Our Lord even warned him that it was going to happen! Peter failed on numerous occasions. I’m glad God recorded these incidents from Peter’s life, because they help me understand the sins in my own life. We all fail, regularly. Perhaps collectively our greatest failing is in denying the Saviour who died for us. What is it about the name of Jesus? We can speak about God all day long. We can (and should) promote our local church. We talk about others great and small. We identify with our chosen sporting teams, yet the one Name we so often fail to express throughout the course of an average day is the very Name that needs to be spoken; JESUS.

“Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.” (Acts 8:35)

“And some said, What will this babbler (Paul) say? … because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.” (Acts 17:18)

We marvel at the spread of the Gospel in the book of Acts. The early believers preached Jesus Christ, publicly and privately. “He’s risen!” was the catch cry that rang throughout the entire known world. The believers at Antioch were known as Christ-ians, followers of the Risen One. These believers were opposed, persecuted, ridiculed and slaughtered all because they dared to speak the name of Jesus, and what a name it is! Jesus, name above all names! At the name of Jesus, every knee should bow!

Friend, it is imperative that we share Jesus Christ with those whom God brings across our daily path; not even so much our church and ministries, but Jesus. He IS salvation. He IS the Saviour. His name is despised, even hated, but He is the name by which sinners are saved.

“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

Who will take the reproach of Jesus today? Who will be a fool for Christ today? Who will proclaim his beautiful name today?

Name Him, brothers, name Him, with love strong as death
But with awe and wonder, and with bated breath!
He is God the Saviour, He is Christ the Lord,
Ever to be worshipped, trusted and adored.

(Carolyn Noel 1870)

 

THE INEVITABILITY OF JUDGMENT

We often comment on licentious San Francisco and wonder how long before the next earthquake strikes.

We always think that we can sin and get away with it. Like the child covering his eyes in a game of peek-a-boo and believing that no one can see him, we so often have this crazy notion that our sins go unnoticed by God. He can’t turn a blind eye to sin. He is ever holy, just and righteous. Sin has to be dealt with, one way or another. We can either have our sins completely forgiven and forgotten through faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross, or we can ignore our sins, harden our hearts and sear our consciences to the point that God must step in.

2 Kings chapter 24 is one chapter I always dread reading.

And he (Nebuchadnezzar) carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land. (2 Kings 24:14)

God is astonishingly longsuffering. He is incredibly patient. He is immensely merciful, but judgment for sin is inevitable. Israel had opportunity, after opportunity, after opportunity, to repent of their heathen-following ways. God sent prophets to proclaim the truths of righteousness, but in the end, their wicked hearts won out. They thumbed their noses at God, enjoyed their idolatry and adultery, and were eventually dealt righteous judgment by a holy God.

(Is God finished with Israel? Certainly not. Daniel’s 70th week is yet to come. His dealings with His chosen people are far from over, but at this moment, the nation of Israel is blinded in unbelief. The greatest days of Israel are yet to come.)

Reader, sin is what caused Jesus to suffer on Calvary. Sin separates the Christian from blessing, and the unbeliever from God Himself. God must judge sin. We often comment on licentious San Francisco and wonder how long before the next earthquake strikes. It’s only a matter of time. The foul stench of Sodom-and-Gomorrah-like wickedness must be nauseous to God. Sydney is also in the firing line, be it earthquake or some other form of judgment. (How God restrains Himself from raining fire and brimstone upon the Mardi-Gras is beyond my comprehension.) Australia is a wicked nation that has forgotten God. Judgment will fall, sooner or later. I pray that there is enough “salt” to preserve our nation for a time yet.

As believers, we must “keep short accounts with God.” We have to contend with the flesh, this monstrous propensity towards sin. Only by complete reliance on the Holy Spirit can we live a victorious life. Thankfully, when we sin, there is forgiveness on tap. God’s mercies are just plain wonderful!

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

Unbeliever, no matter how low you have sunk in sin, there is a Saviour who loves you. You can personally have the amazing experience of the new birth if you will come, acknowledging your desperate plight as a Hell-deserving sinner, and place your faith in Jesus Christ.

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13)