The Galilean has WON!

If you haven’t worked out the title yet, read on and you will!!!

Yesterday’s theme as church gathered around the Word of God was best summed up by these words, ‘A relationship with God is the most important relationship you can have. Embrace it EVERY DAY!’ This message was forcefully brought home to me later in the “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” NO, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8: 35-39..
day as I once again sat with a grieving family whose father had just passed away.. An expression often hear at times like these is, ‘I am sorry for your loss’ or ‘so and so has lost their father’ BUT no such thing could be said of the one who has died but who in life has not just heard those words above BUT they have become a reality in their lives and so upon death it is NOT that they are lost, for we know where they have gone and it is certainly not that we lose them for ‘in Christ’ we shall see them again. In his letter to the Romans believers who faced relentless persecution and the constant threat of death he wrote,
Wow are they not powerful words??? 
You see Paul penned those fantastic words assured himself that having been confronted with Christ, and exchanged all his religious credentials and intellectual acclaim and every ounce of self-achieved worth (Philippians 3: 4-6) for the life of Jesus Christ..He gained a whole new life that would last the whole of eternity…HOW LONG IS THAT??? FOREVER!!! 
No wonder that having experienced the reality of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, Paul said of all those other things, they were just ‘rubbish’ (Philippians 3: 8) OR as the King James Version renders it and rightly as ‘dung’,  in other words utterly useless, of NO worth or value.

My friend Ian Macleod pens ‘A thought’ on Saturday nights and last Saturday he wrote something powerful, after quoting this verse, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Mark 8:36 and according to the testimony of Paul..........................the answer is EVERYTHING!!!

I urge you to read Ian’s thought provoking word which, with his permission I am adding to the end of this blog..For you see if you are depending upon ALL that Paul ‘once upon a time’ depended upon then you are literally living out your own fairy tale? Because when it comes to the end nothing of that will count and nothing of that will stop you getting to that place where YOU will face that last enemy…DEATH!! That was my own testimony years ago as I tried to go to sleep in a Hospital bed and quite honestly, it literally scared the life out me, that I feared even to sleep…BUT now I know Jesus Christ and I fear neither sleep nor death for HE has conquered death and the fear of death, as Paul once again wrote, this time to the Corinthians believers, “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (have died). For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.  Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. For “He has put all things under His feet.”……  So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory. “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 
 1 Corinthians 15:20-57                                                                                                  
Victory in Jesus stands at the heart of the Gospel, many think and have you to beleive that when Jesus spoke the words, “It is finished” from the Cross, it was cry of defeat BUT oh No!, it was not, it was shout of victory…and it was only ONE Greek word..”TETELESTI” that declared triumphantly, victory was won, Jesus did it all, paid it all, beat it all, death, the grave sin and Satan beat them ALL..that word shook the world.. ”and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened..” Matthew 27:51-52 ….and can shake your world up still?

I heard an old, old story,
How a Savior came from Glory.                 

 

How He gave His life on Calvary,
To save a wretch like me.
I heard about His groaning,
Of His precious blood’s atoning.
Then I repented of my sins,
And won the victory!
Oh victory in Jesus!
My Savior, forever!
He sought me,
And bought me,
With His redeeming blood!
He loved me ere’ I knew Him,
And all my love is due Him.
He plunged me to victory,
Beneath the cleansing flood!

The opening title, “You have won, O Galilean” was said by Emperor Julian, having attempted to reverse the official endorsement of Christianity by the Roman Empire.
AND HE CERTAINTLY DID!!

You want to experience this victory over your life and over death then you must have a relationship with that same Jesus..Oh yes the one who died on that Cross over 2000 years ago and if that had have been all, well I would never be writing this at all BUT as the Scriptures declared and the hundreds witnessed and testified to (EG ! Corinthians 15: 5-7) "God raised Him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was impossible for Him to be held by it.” Acts 2:24. Jesus lives and there is salvation (whereby we are adopted (Galatians 4:5) into HIS family = relationship!) in NO ONE ELSE, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we MUST be saved (only by which can we become Children of God (Romans 8:15-18))” Acts 4:12.

I am conducting another funeral now on Wednesday. I have attended or conducted a lot of funerals, sadly not all of them will be like the funeral on Wednesday.. Most will be in an atmosphere of uncertainty because the person has died with NO testimony of this essential relationship with the living God. BUT when we know, then those who are left behind… oh yes they cry, they know pain because there is the human separation, but as the Bible declares, they do not “grieve as others do who have no hope.”
To those of us who have entered into this vital relationship with God, Jesus has gone before us into heaven and is right now preparing a heavenly home for us, where we will be with the HIM and a great and glorious company of all of God’s people..Note the company is God’s people, NO ONE else will be there..that is why it is hugely important and extremely urgent that, as I finish you  understand what Jesus was saying here, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28.
We always talk about the God of love and He is BUT He is also the God who is Holy and will judge righteously..And if you do not know Him personally, then you should fear Him and fear death for without Christ in your life, you tell me from this verse
WHERE it will ALL end for YOU??? 

Now you know why I am asking you to read Ian Macleod’s word from Saturday that I attach here below……

My mind is set on a verse tonight which I would like to share and give a practical explanation of it in simple terms which we can all understand. And just for info, when Jesus mentions “a man”, it means ‘mankind’ therefore relates to a person, both male and female.
Jesus said, “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul” (Mark 8:36)
 When I think of this verse, I do it in this way; a way that is so easy for us to understand in a simple profit and loss ledger.
The debit (D) side is what we will lose at death and
The credit side (C) is what can be gained.
So here we go…
So let’s address the question then. What’s more important to you this evening than Jesus?
You have your relationships and families. You can’t take them when you die - D
You have your neighbours and your friends. You can’t take them when you die - D
You have your job, your car and your money. You can’t take them when you die - D
You have your home and your land. You can’t take them when you die - D
You have your holidays, shops, clothes and your lifestyle. You can’t take them when you die.
You have your dreams, your hopes and aspirations and all the important issues you fight for. You can’t take them when you die - D
You have power, pride, wisdom and good works. You can’t take them with you when you die - D
You have the offer of the Gospel, the mercy of God and the hope of salvation. You can’t even take them – they’re only on offer while you’re here on earth - D
That leaves you with only one earthly component. Your body! You can’t take that either. You’re even stripped of the body that means so much to you – at least for a time - D
 Everything is taken from you. - D
 You go into death with only one living and real element of your being.
Your soul!!
All the things that this world offers you can never make you truly happy. They’re all temporary; they’re fading, perishing and passing away.
Your soul is so precious that it required God in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ, to come and pay the ransom for it. (C)
So it leaves the question – Is that all that can go in the credit column?
Just Jesus?
That’s the burning question, and that’s what I leave with you to think about tonight.
Because the more I think about this the more I realise how precious Jesus Christ is and how thankful we all ought to be that He answers our true call for mercy and pardon.
 The only really important thing for all of us is to have Christ at our side and to ensure that he is our personal Saviour here in life and for eternity. His word says, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7).

Thanks to Ian Macleod
(Evangelism Coordinator at Western Isles Free Church Presbytery)

Watch the news tonight. Read your paper tomorrow. Click unto MSN News right now, all you see, all you read is that life is fragile and extremely uncertain..From whatever cause, there is a grim statistic that will include me in the numbers eventually, every hour that passes, 6305 people die in this world!!! 
SO………..“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near (while you have life).” Isaiah 55:6

¿Cuánto cuesta?

¿Cuánto cuesta?

I learned this question in Spanish very quickly..’How much does it cost?’ I need to know if I can afford it before I buy it!!! Jesus said something like this about our salvation didn’t He? Oh yes He did in Luke 14:26-33 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.  So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”

Over the past weekend we have been following the terrible events in Nairobi, where terrorist took over a shopping mall and in doing so killed numerous people, including children, injured many more and held hostages captive for hours. The stand-off continues this morning (Monday 23 Sept.). Yesterday another massacre took place in another country, this time Pakistan where Taliban suicide bombers blew themselves up outside and inside a Christian Church in Peshawar City killing 75 people and injuring many more. The morning service had just ended at All Saint’s Church and the victims were leaving to return home. Their crime according to the terrorists???
They are Christians in a Muslim Country!!!!

We didn’t hear much of this attack, it did not appear as the headlines on any news report that I saw or heard and today it will likely be pushed to middle pages of our newspapers..
In Tenerife and likely in the best part of the United Kingdom too we will hear more talk today of the great victory of City over United in the Manchester Derby yesterday?

While all this was going on yesterday, the majority of those who will read this blog went off to Church. You prayed, you sang, you heard the Word of God read and preached. You enjoyed fellowship with other Chirsitans. You went home, enjoyed your Sunday dinner, and relaxed in the afternoon and today you have woken up and praising God for another new day..

How blessed we are to live in countries where to be a Christian is ‘easy’ to live our lives of faith is to do so without fear!! Yet there are in many countries around the World, Pakistan, North Korea, Iran but to name a few where brothers and sisters are living and dying for their faith!!
Do we know anything of this at all???



To quote the words of Amos, “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria” 6:1  or as the hymn writer Isaac Watts puts it, “Must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease, while others fought to win the prize, and sailed through bloody seas?”
The hymn those words come from is of course, ‘Am I soldier of the Cross’ maybe not the most appropriate thing to say today, when our image of soldiers in Kenya dressed in battle gear and armed to the teeth, yet an analogy that is pictured throughout the New Testament and is apt today. A soldier, after all, is always ready for battle, always prepared, always listening and waiting for his Commanding Officers orders and prepared also to receive the consequences of following those orders, even to the giving of one's life.
We can almost distance ourselves from the events of continents far away and far removed from the community and culture we live in but someday soon we, even in our democratic nations are going to be called to stand up and pay a cost for our faith!  You may well have missed this last week for it certainly never got onto any news bulletin that I know of but did you know that in Scotland on Wednesday last (18 Sept) a Josh Williamson was arrested by Perth Police for preaching the Gospel. After being cautioned he was released but only after being warned NOT to preach again on the streets of Perth.


Wow..Acts Chapter 4 all over again!.in Scotland

and it is not going to be long before we all must face up the reality of do I obey man or God???
(http://www.joshwilliamson.org/home/86-arrested-for-preaching-the-gospel.html)

For too long we have been selling a cheap Gospel that never speaks of the cost..Even in preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ and His amazing saving grace we lavish our words on God’s FREE gift but seldom, except for Easter perhaps, do we focus our thoughts on the awesome cost, God’s precious Son’s life! BUT when it comes to discipling people we must never neglect to tell them whilst it cost them NOTHING to be saved, it may well cost them EVERYTHING to live for HIM!
Are you ready for that??
Chapter 14 of Luke’s Gospel ends with these words that should cause us to search our hearts deeply before answering that question,
“Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?  It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”  

Our prayers go out to all the families mourning today in Kenya and in Pakistan for the injured and for the traumatised children and for the Lord to strengthen us for the days ahead.

This Sceptical Old Pastor!

This Sceptical Old Pastor!  

The title comes from another.. words similar to those written of Fredrick Buechner, who called himself “this sceptical old believer, this believing old sceptical”. (It was my good friend Stuart Pascal who spoke so passionately about Buechner that inspired me to obtain one of his books and I’m glad on both counts!) Though the title is from another yet it speaks so well of my own heart and from what I understand of Buechner and others it seems he and I are not alone and many a Pastor/Preacher could well describe themselves similarly…Hence the reason I tell this story..For it is, I feel, more a story than a blog but I trust that there will be encouragement derived by all who read it!

Sundays are always days of doing and of organisation. Despite good preparations being made beforehand things always seem to need adjusting or amending.. In our particular situation it is even more emphasised as we must set up the room in which the morning service is to take place, from scratch, as it were, every Sunday morning. We get there early, well Martins and Oliver, earlier than the rest of us, two of the greatest assets of our little church. They busy themselves getting the seating arranged and everything else in its proper place while others of us get the technology ‘stuff’ up and running. It is all quite straightforward really and everyone now is accustomed to doing what they do and knowing where what goes where..We set aside a time of prayer before the service is to begin and try to be in prayer by 10.30! However, despite all our best efforts and hard work, this seldom happens, something inevitably goes wrong? Something doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do or even worse the keys of the room cannot be found anywhere! The plain fact is, no matter how early we get there, it seems we end up ‘chasing our tails’ THAT IS…UNTIL yesterday?????

Fifteen minutes was all it took? The room had been more or less set up for us by the Hotel staff (Not normally done!!!) and everything else just fell into place perfectly.. Everything did as it was supposed to do, switched flicked turned on or off what they were meant to and we were ready to worship and we were ready to go to prayer..10.30am we began to pray and to praise God for another opportunity to gather as church and bless His Name.. What a beautiful start to this Sunday morning!!!
                                                                        THAT IS…UNTIL 11.00am?????

Well everything began to go wrong!!! The keyboard through which we play our music refused to work. So we read the Bile text for the message. Still no sound! So we prayed  and we prayed a bit more, but the praying was getting a little strained to say the least, as we competed with the noise of banging and metallic sounds from the ones trying to get the keyboard finally to work and I’m not sure if we were really wholeheartedly into the prayer with most having one  eye upon heaven and the other open and upon the defunct box that was supposed to be playing music…It was getting really irritating, well that’s what was going on in my mind and then suddenly there was a familiar sound!! The keyboard was doing what it was supposed to be doing. Hallelujah!!!
Let’s sing, let’s praise God! Appropriately, I think, ‘Be thou my Vision’ BUT then it went all wrong again and the words and the verses being projected on the screen for us all to follow where somehow unfamiliar and all mixed up..This has become farcical almost and my heart was sinking deeper and deeper..How can God be glorified in all this mess? I was wondering in my mind at this stage was there anything that I or we could do this morning that could redeem the situation?? AND before you shout down the internet at me, I know, I know, it’s all me, me, me. Where’s God in all this???

Unknown to me, at the time, I was being given a lesson that I needed to learn. The problems and the growing irritation in my head, and the questions I was asking myself spoke of a greater problem within my soul. I had become that ‘Sceptical Old Pastor’! That even though I know with all my heart that God had brought Lorraine and I to Tenerife for ‘such a time as this’ and even though we had been given evidence upon evidence of God’s blessing upon ourselves since we have come, I had become ‘a believing old sceptical’ like Buechner not really expecting God to do anything miraculous with the Church! I confess that even though the work is still just in its infancy, I had already got into that place of ‘going through the motions’???                        THAT IS…UNTIL?????

…yesterday and God grabbed my attention and got my attention!! For out of the chaos and confusion God did a miraculous thing, and it was in spite of me and in spite of all the mistakes and all that went wrong,  God did a work amongst us all and the Holy Spirit broke through and ‘we beheld His Glory’!!!
I spoke on ‘The Power of Surrender’ wow, now even that was of the Holy Spirit. In the congregation was a couple from Holland, Peter and Elena and their little daughter, Marina.

Elena will tell her own story in another place (You will be able to read Elena’s testimony by returning to CCC Homepage) But Elena has been questioning her need to be baptised for a long time. For 6 years she has been asked by mentors and Pastors, ‘Why have you not been baptised?’ Elena, afterwards told me she knew the need to be baptised, she knew the scriptures but was waiting for the Lord to convict her that this was something she must do for HIM! Not because the church or the pastor or another Christian said so BUT because God said so!  It was immediately after all the chaos that Elena felt the conviction of God and as she sang and listened to the Word of God she surrendered herself afresh to the Will of God and leaving the church she wept! She didn’t really know why she didn’t say more to me before leaving but when she and Peter got back to their Hotel she got Peter to phone me.. We met up later in the afternoon and Elena told me her story with tears flowing down her cheeks.‘I must be baptised right now” and so she was, just off the beach in Las Americas, I had the great privilege of being part of what God did in that young woman’s life yesterday morning.

I’m no longer that ‘Old Sceptical Pastor’! I was reminded so vividly yesterday morning that God did this in my life, 28 years ago.. He still does this in lives today and He can still do this in lives tomorrow. In the middle of chaos and confusion, when we think that there is no hope, God is at work, God can work because it’s at those times when all we have done has amounted to nothing, BUT God says it’s not about you, it’s not what you do or can do it’s about what I do and out of chaos and confusion and what seems defeat HE brings about order and beauty and transformation, now that’s what I call miraculous. That is the Power of Surrender…finding yourself in the place where YOU believe and see the God who still does miraculous things!!!

There were at least TWO people who put their hands up in Surrender yesterday and today is the beginning of a whole new adventure CONVINCED that God has more of the miraculous for both of them to experience!!!!