6 things we cannot do without

 

Somehow this coronavirus has changed nearly everything for us - working life, family contacts, church activities, shopping patterns and much more. We are really missing some of these, but we are learning to cope and are adapting remarkably well. When things get back to (more) normal, will we still benefit from the lessons we are learning just now?

 

We are learning that there are many things we can do without, and that many other things are more important than we thought, things that perhaps we have been taking for granted. For example:

Why does life hurt so much?

It’s our aim in this article to address some of the questions that people ask in life and to discover what the Word of God (the Bible) has to say about it. We place real confidence in the Bible because we have become convinced that the Bible is God’s communication to men and women and we wish people to benefit from what God has said.

I’m sure that most would agree that life hurts! That hurt can be caused by the normal progression from youth to old age and all the problems that come with ageing. Sickness also brings its heartaches! Natural disasters are devastating and destructive! To say nothing of the dreadful treatment that people endure at the hands of their fellow man. War and acts of terror produce unimaginable horrors. I’m sure that at times we all question why life is such a difficult and a hurtful experience.

Is there an appropriate response to this? The first thing I’d like to say is that “it's not personal”. What I mean is that we are not usually suffering as individuals because of something specific we have done. Before I go any further let me qualify that statement.  There are times in life when we do reap what we sow. There actually are consequences to our actions! But all the awful things that happen in the world are not usually the direct result of our personal actions.

My main thought when I say it’s not personal is this: ;people don’t die as a result of some sinful thing that they have done; old age doesn’t come because you did something wrong. The fact that we die, that we have sickness, that we grow old is explained to us in the Bible. The bible states that all of these conditions and circumstances exist because sin came into the world. As a result of Adam, the first man in the world, disobeying God the floodgates to all that was evil and damaging were opened. The fact that all of this is the result of the first man’s rebellion to God is explained by the biblical statement “by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin”,; Romans 5:12.

The Bible clearly teaches that God gave man a choice:

Obey Him,

Enjoy His presence,

Enjoy all that He created for him….

But, there is a but, God warned him that the day he ate of the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that he would die. And that is what happened! Adam didn’t die physically but he died as far as his relationship with God was concerned. He was dead spiritually. Sin, death, pain and suffering became the normal experience of life. He had to work by the sweat of his brow for everything. Childbirth became a painful experience for the woman and the earth was cursed. So life hurts as a result; a fact that we know only too well.

However, what is quite incredible about the biblical story of salvation is that God had already a plan in place. God’s plan to provide forgiveness and to offer salvation to men and women was devised long before time began, 1 Peter 1: 19,20.

God had always planned to send His ‘Son to be the Saviour of the world’. He made sure in the writings of the Old Testament, the first half of the Bible, that we would know Him when he visited earth. In the Old Testament, God told the prophets how to identify His Son. There were specific facts such as what family He would be born into, His distinctive and sinless lifestyle and His mode of death. Normally how people will die is an unknown fact but God was making a point in defining how Jesus would die in advance (see Psalm 22:16, Zechariah 12:10, Luke 2: 34,35 – all of these passages of scripture speak of crucifixion which at the time was unknown and of the piercing of the hands and feet of the Lord Jesus). All of this information was so that when He came we would know Him.

To me the greatest and most amazing thing about this whole thing is that God came to earth in person. He was a real but sinless man. He suffered, He hurt and He endured death to pay for our sin. God wants us to be forgiven therefore the price and the legal penalty for our sin was dealt with by the Lord Jesus Christ when He died upon the cross.

The Bible explains it like this:  “Christ died for our sins.”, 1 Corinthians 15:3, “He was despised and rejected of men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief”, Isaiah 53:3.

Today God offers us not hurt but forgiveness;

Today God offers us love.

The Bible tells us, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life”, John 3:16. The greatest proof of the love of God is that, “God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”, Romans 5:8.

I want to point you to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, if you pray to God, today, confessing your sins He will forgive you.

I trust that you will do this.

May God bless you!

This blog is written by Stephen at

Have you got the Symptoms?

The outbreak and spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) has brought about a large measure of panic throughout the world. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the first case was recorded in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, and since then it has rapidly extended to multiple other countries worldwide, and been declared a global pandemic. It is predicted to have implications upon medical, economical, societal, political and educational spheres on an unprecedented and unparalleled scale.

According to the U.K. National Health Service, symptoms of the virus are similar to those of the common flu, including fever, breathing difficulties, and, in severe cases, pneumonia, and organ failure. The NHS explains that because the Coronavirus is a new illness, there is still much to be learned regarding how it is transmitted, and how it may be treated. As the situation develops, the authorities are continually issuing updates on how best to avoid contamination and respond to signs of infection.

However, there is a disease that is far more concerning and urgent than COVID-19 could ever be; its contamination is more extensive and its consequences are infinitely more extreme. The Bible tells us of a sickness that afflicts every person on earth: "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" Romans 3.23. It is in every single person, for we are all "in sin" from birth, Psalm 51.5. Its symptoms are evident in every aspect of our lives: it infects our thoughts, our words, our actions, our steps, and even the motives of our hearts (see Romans 3.9-19). It is an infection that spreads from head to toe, and it is one that we simply cannot escape from or cure by ourselves, no matter how hard we try. Many people in the world show carelessness and indifference to the seriousness of sin, but this sickness has a one hundred percent mortality rate: the solemn outcome is the same for everyone: "the wages of sin is death" Romans 6.23.

While various treatments and a cure for the Coronavirus are still uncertain and under pressing active research, the Bible thankfully makes it clear that a complete and perfect remedy for the sickness of our sin has been provided. In His death upon the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ "bare our sins in His own body" 1Peter 2.24, and "put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself" Hebrews 9.26. Even though our sin is the most deadly and dangerous disease of all, the blood of Christ can cleanse us from it all: "the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin" 1John 1.7. His love was so great that He was willing to give Himself for us, and take the punishment in our stead. The work is entirely finished, and all we must do is trust Him, Who died for us and rose again, as the Saviour of our souls.

However, time is limited. You need to avail of the cure while there is still opportunity. Would you love to know your sins are completely and eternally forgiven? Because "Christ died for us" Romans 5.8, God can forever forgive and save your soul.

Written by a Guest Blogger for FTMP (Assembly Testimony May/June 2020)

NHS Care or don't care!

What a week! We started back into the daily routines of the week having come back from a lovely time away over the festive period. Our son was complaining about having a bad back but over the weekend things developed and we realised that this seemed to be more that just some side affect of his snowboarding trip to Switzerland. On Monday night we took him to Whiston Hospital, Prescot and played 'the waiting game'. Eventually he was seen by a Doctor, after hours of writhing about in pain. The Doctor decided that he should go home, take 48 hours of antibiotics and wait to see if the infection would subside. It didn't and off to the local GP we went on Wednesday evening. The hospital doctor had assured us that if he was no better we would be admitted directly to the hospital without all the A & E 'waiting game' if we visited the local GP first. We duly paid our visit, sat, watched and listened to the GP call the hospital and book our arrival. A letter from the GP was written, signed and handed to my wife.

On arrival at the hospital no one knew anything about the GP's phone call and we joined the queue and were invited to play guess what - 'the waiting game'. Five hours later we eventually got admitted to a ward and see a Doctor. By this time our son was faint, retching with indigestion, having not eaten since three o'clock (as we expected him to be having an operation that evening) and generally exhausted from the infection that was surging through his body. The Doctor was very good and arranged for an anti-sickness drug, IV pain relief and an IV saline drip. As operating would not take place until the next morning our son was allowed to eat and once he was settled we eventually left the hospital at 1.30 am. 

Thankfully on Thursday everything went according to plan and the operation went smoothly. The medical and nursing staff were excellent and we arrived home (after rapidly consuming hospital bangers and mash - my son, not me!). 

When Friday came we had to arrange a visit to a surgery to have the wound dressed. Imagine our surprise when we were told that there were no slots in the surgeries left. NHS treatment in this country is bizarre. You, the patient, have to do all the running about! No one comes to your house (maybe if your are dying) and you have to argue and push even to get the back up care that is needed after you leave hospital. 

This is not meant to be a letter of complaint but an observation that many people in our society would not be able to survive such a system or to battle their way through these procedures to get appropriate treatment when they are ill especially if they live on their own.

As a Christian I am glad that the care procedure of heaven is not like the one we have in this country. The bible says that for those who care to trust him, God will be with us when we go through 'the valley of the shadow'. That if we call He will answer. That those who are weary and burdened with life can come to him for rest. The provision of that rest was expensive; it was purchased by the death of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus, on the cross. On rising from the dead the words of the Lord Jesus became so pertinent - "I am the resurrection and the life, he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live" (Gospel of John 11. 25). Do you believe this?

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