Is this the middle of summer?”

Midsummer’s day has arrived – hopefully a token of warmer days to come, but not too hot we hope for comfort’s sake! Although midsummer brings us the longest daylight hours, it doesn’t seem to us that this is the middle of summer! Very little of our summer appears to have arrived yet, but we do hope it will last a while.

Just as midsummer’s day is not like the middle of our summer, midday doesn’t feel like the middle of the day either, even though the sun is at its highest overhead. For most of us in this part of the world much more of our day comes after midday, even stretching to midnight sometimes, and that’s not the middle of the night either!

We know that “mid” does not always mean “middle” or centre. But halfway or “the middle” is often a significant point to reach in projects we plan, in journeys we make, in holidays we enjoy, in books we read, and so on.

In a book I love to read the middle point is very interesting. The book is the Bible. It’s a big book with 1,189 chapters and 31,102 verses. The middle verses are the first two in Psalm 103. They say, “Bless the Lord O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all His benefits.”

It’s easy to forget about God and how good He is to us. This Psalm reminds us of how He cares for us daily, providing what our bodies and minds need. It also reminds us of His love in providing eternal salvation to our souls when we put our trust in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you done that? This midsummer why not take time to read this Psalm and reflect on all that God has done for you?

Written by a Guest Blogger

All photos courtesy of Unsplash

Lesson from 'The Sun'

Recently, I heard a quote from a preacher who lived in the 1800s. His name was Charles Spurgeon. He loved the Bible and preached thousands of sermons from it. But more importantly, he loved the God of the Bible and believed in Him. 

I heard a quote about the Sun. Charles Spurgeon believed it was a significant part of God’s incredible creation. 

It is an incredible fact that the Sun, which our planet orbits, is 15 million degrees Celsius at its core and a mere 5,500 degrees Celsius at its surface. This vast, enormous ball of glowing gas produces more energy in 1.5 millionths of a second than all 7 billion humans will use in one year. Yet when we consider our planet, the poles are frozen, and the equator is almost too hot to live on, but we live on bands of the earth with the right temperature for life. If our planet was closer to the Sun, we would all burn up; if we were further away, we would all freeze. God has placed the world in precisely the right position for life. 

God can really change your life!

 

Photos courtesy of Storyblocks

It is reported that there are 7.5 billion people living on planet earth today and sad to say not many of them could say that they have never misappropriated something that belonged to another person i.e. that they have not committed theft.  Possibly, the same could be said about lying but that is another subject.  The eighth commandment is “Thou shalt not steal”, the sixth is “Thou shalt not kill” the seventh “Thou shalt not commit adultery”, so God is precise in giving us an exact code of moral conduct for life.  The definition of theft is to dishonestly appropriate property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it.  The word ‘theft’ covers many acts of misappropriation, larceny (theft of personal property), robbery, fraud (identity, benefits, expenses, mortgage, insurance, etc), embezzlement, and burglary.  The writer received six strokes of the cane at senior school for stealing apples from the school orchard, therefore, identifying himself with any other person that has violated the eighth commandment.  Other acts of misdemeanors before my conversion would be too shameful to share.  

Don't be late - be on time!

All photos courtesy of Unsplash

I don’t know about you but I hate being late for anything. I’m one of those people who is always 30 mins early for appointments and events.

As someone who works for the health service, I found it interesting to read that according to the NHS (nhs.co.uk 2/1/19) 15.4 million people were late or missed an appointment with the GP service. This equated to almost 5% of all appointments costing the NHS £216 billion.

There’s a story in the Bible regarding a man called Noah and how God told him to build an ark for refuge and safety. God had revealed to Noah that He was going to judge the world for their wicked behaviour. So Noah listened to God and built an ark (a humongous boat). For over 100 years Noah pleaded with people to come into the ark to be safe from the coming judgement. 

At the appointed time God shut the door and His judgment fell on the world.  Apart from Noah, and seven members of his family, the whole population of the world was wiped out in a worldwide flood.

Are there lessons that can be learnt from this story?

Firstly the Bible warns that God is angry with human wickedness and cannot ignore it. He must judge wrongdoing because He is just and righteous. The New Testament Bible says that ‘it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment,' Hebrews 9:27

When we die, as we all must, God will judge us for our sins because there are moral consequences to our behaviour. Sad consequences but fair and just. As the Bible says 'the wages of sins is death,' Rom. 6. 23.  But don’t stop reading now; there is hope and an offer of guaranteed forgiveness and salvation, the rest of the verse says ‘but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord’.

Just as in the days of Noah so God, today,  has provided an alternative to judgment. Between BC 06 and 04, God sent His son into the world. He was not born to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved, John 3. 17.

When Jesus Christ came into this world He lived a pure and spotless life and then died on a cross for our sins;  not for any sin of His won for the Bible makes it clear that He could not sin, Heb 4. 15. Prior to dying on the Cross He was extremely badly treated. He was whipped and spat upon. Nails were hammered into His hands and feet and then He was crucified. There were then three hours of darkness when God ‘laid on him the iniquity of us all,’ Isa 53. 6.  Jesus experienced the judgment we deserved for sin. But how do we know that it was enough? On the 3rd day, Jesus rose from the grave demonstrating that God was satisfied that death was conquered and salvation was now available to all.

How do we get saved?

So how do we get saved from the judgment of God – By believing in His Son. By believing that on the cross He bore our sins. He took the punishment so that we could ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and . . . be saved,’ Acts 16. 31. We need to confess our sins to God in repentance and follow Him ‘If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved,’ Rom 10. 9.

Saved from what? 

From the judgment of God for our sins. Without salvation, we will go to the place we deserve which is Hell, but if we are saved we will go to be with Him in heaven. It was Jesus’ desire that ‘Where I am you may be also,’ John 14. 3.

When do I need to be saved?

The Bible says ‘Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation,’ 2 Cor 6. 2. Once we die there is no further opportunity to get saved. You would be lost for all eternity. We don’t know when we are going to die which is why this is such an urgent matter. The Bible says ‘For what is your life? It is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away,’ James 4. 14.

Don’t be late or miss the opportunity 

One hymn says:

 

Time is gliding swiftly by,

Death and judgment draweth nigh,

To the arms of Jesus fly,

Be in time.

Oh, I pray you count the cost,

Ere the fatal line be crossed,

And your soul in hell be lost,

Be in time.

Sinner, heed the warning voice,

Make the Lord your final choice,

Then all Heaven will rejoice,

Be in time.

Come from darkness into light, 

Come, let Jesus make you right,

Come, and start for Heav’n tonight,

Be in time.

 

Be in time, be in time,

While the voice of Jesus calls you, be in time.

If in sin you longer wait,

You may find no open gate,

And your cry be just too late, 

be in time.

Co-authored by Kerry Robinson

An open letter - please read!

 

Photos Courtesy of Unsplash

This is a letter that I wrote nearly ten years ago. The point I was making is just as relevant now as it was then. Thanks for reading this.

Dear John,

Notebook – The Independent 26.5.2010

My imagination was engaged as I started to read your piece on ‘The Bible Society’s debt to Arthur C Clarke?’ You had obviously carried out some good research about the Bible Society and highlighted some key statistics that would be very interesting to many people. I was then amazed that you chose to so violently misrepresent the teaching of the very book that the society has spent so long translating and making available to the world. For example, you chose to ignore that the Bible and Christianity have developed more education programs, opened more hospitals and changed more societies for good than the current world atheistic belief has ever done. Societies that have been successful (in theory) in establishing an atheistic state have generally produced as corrupt societies as capitalist ones but have neither been ultimately successful nor survived in the long run. All of this, however, only looks at the outcomes of the opposing world views without actually discussing the views' validity or plausibility.

Consider for a moment the genuineness of the biblical documents; you call them ‘stories, myths, legends etc. I would have imagined that a man of your intelligence would accept the validity and historicity of the Bible. Even Professor Dawkins accepts the validity of the record and recommends that every child should read it (“Richard Dawkins, the atheist author of The God Delusion, believes that children should grow up reading the Bible”. The Times May 10^th 2007) even though he does not like what it says. The biblical record has been consistently proven to be accurate in terms of history and archaeology and even in the realm of science. However, the modern scientific world view is split between evolutionary belief and the biblical record of Creation (see The Genesis Enigma: Why The Bible Is Scientifically Accurate by Dr Andrew Parker, published by Doubleday). In terms of the New Testament record, especially regarding the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth and the claims to his resurrection, there is clear evidence and logic that it speaks the truth even if many do not wish to follow through with the logical question that ‘if this actually happened what does it mean for me?’ Many clever people have attempted to discredit and disprove the historical accuracy of the account of the resurrection of Jesus Christ but have been persuaded by the evidence that he must have risen from the dead (A couple of examples come to mind; see the end of the letter for details). How individuals respond to that information is up to them, but I believe that the evidence is there to be found.

As far as the conclusions you come to regarding the Old Testament, I understand your concerns and the issues you have with what seems to be the severity of the God of the Bible. I am unsure if you have read the whole biblical record and sought to understand the complete picture before coming to a conclusion. A careful analysis of the Bible will show that among many things, God is both holy (just, righteous, morally pure) and loving. One characteristic does not cancel out the other; in fact, his goodness and love of what is right demands that he deals justly with acts of sin and wrongdoing. Where people assume that God is acting out of order, a careful analysis of the facts will persuade them that he was acting to maintain what is right. If a judge in our times was confronted with evil behaviour, child abuse, rape and a whole range of anti-social behaviour that was illegal and detrimental to the good of society, we would not question his ‘goodness’ when he passed sentence and enforced a punishment that met the severity of the crimes. But when facing the examples of God’s judgment on nations that practised the very same activities, we question his goodness because he acts justly and righteously to deal with behaviour that breaks his laws and damages society. I am not sure if we are being consistent in our approach to the issues.

Ultimately God has revealed Himself in the Bible and is warning us that we are in danger of his coming justice and judgment due to our moral defection and sin (all of us). He had made provision for us all to flee from his coming judgement through the sacrifice of His own dear Son, Jesus. His offer to clear the legal case against us and offer us pardon, forgiveness and salvation is still on the table. That doesn’t sound like a vengeful, demanding, capricious, homophobic, merciless and tyrannical God to me.

I am requesting that you print this letter in ‘The Independent’, in full, without amendment and editing. Hopefully, the result will be that people can see that there is an alternative argument to the one you put forward and can decide for themselves where the truth lies.

With thoughtful and kind regards,

Stephen G Baker

The note referred to examples of legal minds who disproved the resurrection and were convinced that it must be true – this is a limited list; there are many more examples.

Dr Greenleaf, Royal Professor of Law at Harvard University, was one of the greatest legal minds that ever lived. He wrote the famous legal volume entitled, A Treatise on the Law of Evidence, considered by many the greatest legal volume ever written. Dr Simon Greenleaf believed the Resurrection of Jesus Christ was a hoax. And he determined, once and for all, to expose the "myth" of the Resurrection. After thoroughly examining the evidence for the resurrection — Dr Greenleaf came to the exact opposite conclusion! He wrote a book entitled, An Examination of the Testimony of the Four Evangelists by the Rules of Evidence Administered in the Courts of Justice. In which he emphatically stated:

"it was IMPOSSIBLE that the apostles could have persisted in affirming the truths they had narrated, had not JESUS CHRIST ACTUALLY RISEN FROM THE DEAD, . . ."
(Simon Greenleaf, An Examination of the Testimony of the Four Evangelists by the Rules of Evidence Administered in the Courts of Justice, p.29).

Greenleaf concluded that according to the jurisdiction of legal evidence, the resurrection of Jesus Christ was the best-supported event in all of history!

And not only that, Dr Greenleaf was so convinced by the overwhelming evidence, he committed his life to Jesus Christ!).

Dr Benjamin Gilbert-West and Lord Littleton were from Cambridge. So fed up with Christianity, they wanted to destroy it; they took a leave of absence to study and write a book to refute both the resurrection and Saul of Tarsus's conversion. As a result of their study, they too became ardent believers and wrote: "Reject not, until you have examined the evidence."

Dr Frank Morrison, a lawyer and engineer, was brought up in a rationalistic background. He liked Jesus but thought the resurrection was a myth that was tacked on. He, too, wanted to write a book to refute it, but he, like the others, committed his life to Christ in the process of writing. His findings are in the book "Who Moved the Stone"?

Absolute Truth = Absolute Safety! - Ephesians 1:13a

Absolute Truth = Absolute Salvation

Scripture for the Day

In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth,

 the gospel of your salvation

Ephesians 1:13a

Explanation

Yesterday we talked about the second part of this verse in the Bible. Today we will look at the first part - we really should have done it the other way round! 

Becoming a Christian is basically a matter of trust. Trust in Jesus Christ. Recognising that He is who he claims to be - the Son of God. Taking Him at His word and relying on His power and ability to save! 

So how do you know that you can trust the Lord Jesus? It's an important and relevant question. You are not going to depend on someone if you don't trust them. You only rely on someone to the extent that you trust them. So why should we trust the Lord Jesus. 

The second line in our verse helps us in this respect. It says that new Christians only trusted the Lord Jesus to save them after they heard 'the word of truth'. I wonder what that is talking about?

It is helpful to research the bible to see if the expression is used elsewhere. In John 17 the Lord Jesus is recorded as praying to His Father. He is asking God to make his disciples holy. As he addresses His Father, God Jesus says 'sanctify them (make them holy) through thy truth, thy word is truth'. We learn from this verse that the word of truth = the word of God. 

So people become Christians when they realise that the Lord Jesus is trustworthy and can be depended upon to save them. They discover that this is the case through listening to and considering the word of God. Another verse in the Bible says 'Faith comes by hearing...the word of God'. Yet again we read in a letter to Timothy in the bible that 'the scriptures (the word of God or the word of truth) are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

The Bible sets out the details of the life of Jesus. History will either confirm this to be true or it will prove it wrong. There is more information about the life of Jesus Christ than any other historical figure. You can read all of the 39 non biblical historians to see if the Bible is telling it as it is or spinning a yarn. I am convinced that the Bible is true. History declared Jesus to be unique and different. His conception, his powers, his perfection of character, his death and his resurrection are all based on historical, eyewitness evidence. 

It is the the truth!

No wonder the final phrase in our verse states that this is the 'gospel of your salvation'. It is good news about the saving grace of God. 

How are you getting on? Are you saved? Have trusted Him yet? Don't leave it too late!

This is the big issue!

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.

Who did Jesus claim to be?

Can I say first that the Lord Jesus was most humble and unassuming!

You will search in vain to find any proud, arrogant, assertive statements about himself. 

BUT you will never find a denial about who He is. 

All of this is a fulfilment of another bible prophecy - Isaiah 42:2 "He shall not cry, nor lift up, not cause His voice to be heard in the street". 

Note when He had carried out a miracle he often instructed the person not to go and broadcast what had been done, see Mark 7:36 "And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more He charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it".

THE LORD JESUS LEFT ANY RECOGNITION AND ACCLAIM TO BE GIVEN BY HIS FATHER, GOD, MEN AND WOMEN WHO RECOGNISED HIM FOR WHO HE IS - HAVE YOU?

God spoke from heaven - "this is my beloved Son/Thou art my beloved Son as recorded in Matt 3:17, Matt 17:5, Mark 1:1, Luke 3:22, 2 Peter 1:17

Men said - Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God - Matthew 16:16

Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel - John 1:49

I perceive that thou art a prophet - John 4:19

Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ - John      

                        4:29

This is indeed the Christ the Saviour of the world - John 4:42

You have to decide who you think Jesus is? This is not an option! Either you decide in life and come to know Him as your Lord and Saviour or you leave it or ignore it and find out that He is the Son of God when it is too late to accept him as your Saviour. 

For more information and further explanations of the message of the bible via videos, blogs and podcasts please visit www.seekthetruth.org.uk

One thing that really drives me mad!

I really don’t know about you, but one of the most maddening things that I find about people is that they don’t listen and don’t follow instructions. We all know that happens so often in everyday life. We know that people are told things and they don’t even listen. It could be to do with our health or our money but we often ignore the advice that we are given. Or sometimes people are given guidelines but they ignore them and just do it their own way.

I am writing to point people to what God says in the Bible. But God wants them to listen and to follow His instructions for life. For instance Jesus said one day, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by Me” (John 14.6 – the Bible). If you follow that instruction you will become a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ.

If you come to understand that Jesus is the Son of God you’ll believe what he said. He said I am the way to God, you can’t come to God any other way. Why then do people go to religion? Why do people try all sorts of different things? One reason is that we all have a deep desire to know the truth. We also have an innate impulse to recognise and worship a greater being. Many years ago Dr Billy Graham asked an anthropologist why do all humans worship, no matter the culture, the civilisation, the time period or the level of intelligence or sophistication? The conclusion was nature not nurture - it is in our nature to do it. 

Peter (one of the early preachers) he said, “Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men where by we must be saved” (Acts 4.12 – the Bible). Peter doesn’t give you a choice or alternatives. He says on the authority of what God has said in the Bible there is no other way of salvation.

We need to be rescued, we need forgiveness, we need to be brought to God and there’s only one route because God decided it and it’s through faith in Jesus Christ.

Would you rest on the work Jesus did when He died on the cross. I wonder if today you would simply hear the voice of God and refuse to harden your heart and do what He says:

• Turn from your sin
• Obey the gospel
• Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

I know that for most this all seems very narrow minded and prescriptive! Somethings in life are like that! You don't get a range of options on how to deal with cancer; you follow the tried and tested route to get rid of it and hopefully survive and enjoy life for a little longer. The same can be said for many things in life. The issue of your soul, your spiritual health and God is so important that to be safe you need to go down the prescribed route. God says if you follow my instructions you’ll be saved. I trust that God will richly bless you today.

To get a link to videos, podcasts and blogs go to www.seekthetruth.org.uk