The cost of anger!

 

There once was a young boy with a very bad temper. The boy's father wanted to show him that he could overcome his tantrums and decided to encourage him to change, so he gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper he must hammer a nail into their wooden fence.

The first day of this lesson was not a good one for the boy, and by the evening he had lost his temper thirty seven times.  As he looked at the nails he had driven into the fence, he felt quite ashamed.

Over the course of the next few weeks, the boy began to control his anger, so the number of nails that were hammered into the fence each day dramatically decreased.

It was not long before the little boy discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.

Then, the day finally came when the little boy did not lose his temper even once, and he became so proud of himself, he could not wait to tell his father.

His father was delighted, but he now suggested to his son that he should now pull out one nail for each day that he could hold his temper.

Several weeks went by and the day finally came when the young boy was able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.

Very gently, the father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence.  Together they stood and looked at the fence which was now covered by the marks of the nails.

"You have done very well, my son," said the father smiling, "but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same."

The little boy listened carefully as his father continued to speak.

"When you say things in anger, they leave permanent scars just like these. And no matter how many times you say you're sorry, the wounds will still be there."

We all do things and say things that we may regret later, but sadly we cannot go back and undo them.  Our actions leave a mark on our lives just as the nails left a mark on the fence.

The father in today’s story used nails to show his son what his temper meant. As a Holy God looks upon our shortcomings He shows His plan using the same means – nails.  But these nails were not hammered into a fence, but into the hands and feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our failures cannot be undone, but Jesus died so that they might be forgiven.  Through faith and trust in Him we can know that God the Father has dealt with it all and completely blotted out every mark.

But the nail marks remain and will forever remind us of the amazing love of God shown to us through Jesus Christ the Lord.

Key Bible Verses

Psalm 37:8

Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

Acts 13:26-41

“Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm,

“‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’

And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way,

“‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’

Therefore he says also in another psalm,

“‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’

For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption, but he whom God raised up did not see corruption. Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets should come about:

“‘Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish; for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.’”

DAILY MESSAGES WITH MEANING (19/01/26)

Written by STEPHEN TRESEDER 

All photos courtesy of Unsplash 

Do you know God as your Father?

 

To be rejected and left alone is a dreadful experience and one which can cause and leave deep emotional and psychological scars for life in those abandoned.  Simone Lang was an Australian school teacher who spent some time in India.  There, she taught in a Christian school to help educate the poor and those who could not afford to go to the state schools.  In the school was a little boy by the name of Jonathan and he lived in a nearby children’s home. 

She got to know the little boy, and gradually he opened up his heart to her as she conversed with him.  His parents had abandoned him when he was three years old and had left him at the children’s home.  They had abdicated all responsibility for him and had left him to be brought up by others who would try to show him some sort of love and kindness.  His parents were still alive and one day he received a letter from them stating that they would come and visit him on a particular day, namely the first day of December.  This gave him a wonderful feeling and he shared his excitement of looking forward to seeing his parents with Simone. She realised that this would be a wonderful day for this little boy. 

Forgiveness - Is it possible?

Is forgiveness a mountain that is too hight to climb?

In whom we have redemption through his blood, the 

forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

The Bible - Ephesians 1:7

So what's the verdict?

Really there are a number of questions which we need to answer to answer the main question - Forgiveness - is it possible? I'll address them one by one: 

Why do I need to be forgiven?

Are guilty feelings just manufactured by how we are brought up? Are they just a legacy from more religious days? Are these just hang ups that we should be clear of now that we live in a more liberal society? 

These are good questions.  Let me start with what the Lord Jesus said. He believed that we all need forgiveness and that His Father, God, is the person that we need to go to for forgiveness. If you have ever said the Lord's prayer you will know this to be true. 

The Lord's Prayer - Matthew 6:9-13

9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

The Lord Jesus added:

14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

So the Lord Jesus believed that:

1. we need forgiveness, 
2. it can be obtained by prayer to his Father and,
3. the evidence that we really have it will be seen in whether we are prepared to forgive others!

Who have I wronged when I do wrong? 

The Bible teaches that God is our Creator, our Judge and the setter of the rules.

God summarises and concludes in the letter to the Romans chapter three that 'there is none righteous, no, not one' (v10) and 'there is none that doeth good, no, not one' (v12). You might think that this is very tough but remember the God as Creator and the Almighty is the 'setter of the rules'. God is not saying that no one ever does any good or that no one ever gets anything right but He is saying that we are not characteristically right (we are morally wrong and sinful) and we are not consistently good in what we do.

Could God not just forget sin and ignore it; after all he is a God of love isn't he?

God is a God of love but that is only one aspect of His character. He has other qualities that sit comfortably with the fact that 'God is love".

God is just and fair. In Psalm 97:2 he describes His throne (his seat and style of administration -  'righteousness and justice are the foundation of his (God's) throne'. In Genesis 18:25 we discover that from the earliest civilisations of planet earth God was described as 'the judge of all the earth' and he always does what is right i.e. He is righteous. 

Men in the Bible realised that their sin was essentially against God. It affected and indeed wronged others but it was against God as it broke His Laws. In Psalm 51 King David confessed - 'against thee, thee only, have I sinned'.

God has appointed His Son, The Lord Jesus as the judge in the final court. There will be no appeal procedure in place, John 5:22 and Acts 17:31.  He has not only been appointed to  judge the world one day but presently He is the Saviour of the world (John 4:42).  His offer today is one of forgiveness (Matthew 9:6). This is only possible because he 'died for our sins' in full and final payment to God for all wrong and evil.


In life only the person who has been sinned against is in a position to offer forgiveness. So it is with God. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God (Roman 3:23). It is God we have wronged and He chooses to offer forgiveness through His Son, Jesus Christ.

What if I don't have the means to pay; I just can't meet God's demands on my life?

This is where the grace of God comes in. God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us, Romans 5:8. God doesn't ask us to pay, he offers forgiveness on the basis that His Son has already paid through the death of the cross. 

Your move!

God calls for a response from you. The words repent, confess, call, trust, believe, come,  and receive Christ all come to mind. You cannot acquire forgiveness on the back of a good or religious life but you can receive it by faith in Jesus Christ. 

I leave you with the words of Acts 13:38,39 - 38 Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39 And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.

To access podcasts and videos explaining the good news of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ visit www.seekthetruth.org.uk

This site will give you access to Bible Teaching Audio's and Video's as well.

Father’s Day

All photos courtesy of Unsplash 

Father's Day is a relatively modern celebration compared with Mother's Day. It originated in the US by a woman called Sonora Louise Smart in Washington. After her mother died in childbirth with her sixth child, her dad brought up the family.

In 1909, Sonora heard a speech in church about Mother's Day and thought dads should also be celebrated. Several local clergymen accepted the idea and it is believed that 19 June 1910 was the first unofficial Father's Day.

In 1966, US President Lyndon B. Johnson decided the third Sunday in June should be Father's Day but it did not became official in the UK until 1972.

I especially want to acknowledge fathers today, or those who are like fathers to us - we hope that today is a very special day for you and for those who love you.

Lost & Found!

Photos courtesy of Unsplash

A man had a hundred sheep and lost one. A woman had ten silver coins and lost one. A father had two sons and lost one. I think we have all had that horrible feeling when we discover that we’ve lost something. 
 
What a sense of relief when you find it at last. You always find it in the last place you look!  If it’s a door key or a bank card, that could be a big problem, but what a delight to find something, even when it is less important.
 
The hundred sheep, the ten silver coins, the one son, all appear in a story Jesus told one day – it’s worth reading again in Luke chapter 15. Great efforts were made to find what was lost, and great joy when it was found. Whether it was a 1% loss or a 10% loss or a 50% loss, the joy of finding was so real it had to be shared with others.

Research your Family Tree

All photos courtesy of Unsplash

 

In recent years there has been a major increase in people’s interest in researching their family trees. As the interest in celebrities rises, so does the fascination with programs that explore their backgrounds and ancestors.

 

The BBC genealogy documentary series ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ regularly attracts an audience of more than 6 million viewers. It is now in its 17^th series. ITV is running DNA Journey (2019 (1) and 2021 Series (3)), and so the list goes on.

 

While we dig into famous celebrities' ancestry, there is a lot of controversy about the origin of the most famous person in history – Jesus Christ. Christians believe that Jesus is God’s Son. In the New Testament, Jesus frequently referred to God as his “Father” (see John 5:17). In the next verse, we read that the Jews sought to kill him because they understood that he was claiming to be “equal with God”. In John 10:30, Jesus describes himself and his Father as being one in essence, that is, divine, and as a result, we read in verse 33 that the Jews once again try to stone him. 

Lost & Found!

Photos courtesy of Unsplash

_{A man had a hundred sheep and lost one. A woman had ten silver coins and lost one. A father had two sons and lost one. I think we have all had that horrible feeling when we discover that we’ve lost something. 
 
What a sense of relief when you find it at last. You always find it in the last place you look!  If it’s a door key or a bank card, that could be a big problem, but what a delight to find something, even when it is less important.
 
The hundred sheep, the ten silver coins, the one son, all appear in a story Jesus told one day – it’s worth reading again in Luke chapter 15. Great efforts were made to find what was lost, and great joy when it was found. Whether it was a 1% loss or a 10% loss or a 50% loss, the joy of finding was so real it had to be shared with others.}

Is God brutal?

All photos courtesy of Unsplash

Many people today think that God was brutal and ugly in the Old Testament and that thankfully, Jesus arrived on the scene in the New Testament to rescue His reputation. Getting our attitudes about God straight is very important. It is tough to love and follow a ruthless God with His power and abuse in His relationships. It is bad enough that some people have dads like that, let alone a Father in heaven who perpetuates the problem.

So, here is the good news. Take a deep breath. We do not need to feel that way about God anymore! When the real God stands up in the Old Testament, His actions and attitudes consistently exhibit an unusual depth of grace in the face of deep offences against Him and His law.

Exotic Love - 1 John 3: 1-3

The section of scripture that I have posted today is rich with truth about the character of God. 

God is called 'Father' in the first verse. John is writing to people who are followers of Jesus Christ i.e. they are believers. When they first turned from their sin (repented) and confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord they were automatically born into the family of God. They immediately became a child of God and so called God, Father. This is true of all believers, which is quite amazing. 

John is so delighted when he thinks about the type of love that God gives to His children. Someone has described it as exotic love that is completely foreign to the human heart.

Despite the fact that those of us who are saved are children of God we are not yet 'the finished article' as far as God is concerned. We will always fall short of being what God wants us to be. This will be true until we get to heaven. In that day we will fully understand what the Lord Jesus is like because by then we shall be like him. That's another amazing truth!

The section ends by encouraging Christians who eagerly await the coming of the Lord Jesus to keep themselves pure just as the Lord Jesus is pure. This will mean that we must live our lives in way that pleases God. To do this we need to be careful about what we get involved in, what we read, watch and think about. The glorious fact is that our Saviour is pure and we are going to be like Him one day.

1 John 3King James Version (KJV)

3 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

Keep visiting www.seekthetruth.org.uk for links to video bible teaching, bible based podcasts and broadcasts of bible teaching on 1st Corinthians.