faith of a Canaanite woman.....(Matthew 15:21-28

Well first of all she is from Tyre and Sidon (v22 - "from that region") so just read Ezekiel 26-28:24 to see her chances of being in God's good books. Then see the attitude of the disciples to her (v23b - "his disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her away, for she is crying out after us"). See Jesus' attitude to her (consistent with Ezekiel might I add - v23a "But he did not answer her a word" v24 "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" v26 "It is not right to take the childrens bread and throw it to the dogs")

But look at her faith....
Jesus is her Lord v22, 25, 27
she kneels before him v25
she cries out to him v22, v23b
Jesus is the Son of David v22
He can have mercy on her v22
He can free her daughter from demons v22
He can help her v25
Jesus has a right to call her a dog v26-27a
Jesus is master v27b
Jesus is such a great master that she would even eat the crumbs from the table v27

So Jesus says "O woman, great is your faith!"

fear of..... (Matthew 14:26-33)

When the disciples were in the boat, Jesus walked on the water... they were scared of different things at different points during this episode... with different results

fear of the spiritual world (v26)......result.....cried out in fear (26b)
fear of the Lord (v28).......result..........walking on water (v29)
fear of the natural world (v30a)......result.......sinking (v30b)

I don't need to tell you which we should do, the results do that themselves

N.B there may be two others going on in this passage... (v24, v32-33) but have not worked that out yet..............

Jeremiah 18:18

"Then they said, "Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor councel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words"

Here we see a people proclaim that words will not perish from the prophet... little do they realise Jeremiah is the true prophet... so set out themselves to do what they want not to be done - "let us strike [Jeremiah] with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to his words"

W. Churchill

Sail on a ship of state,
Sail on O union strong and great,
humanity with all its fears,
with all the hopes of future years,
is hanging breathless on thy fate.

What of my Affections for Christ?

Have been reading through the Religious Affections by one Jonathan Edwards...

"The world was ready to wonder what strange principle it was that influenced them to expose themselves to so great sufferings, to forsake the things that were seen, and renounce all that was dear and pleasant which was the object of sense. They seemed to the men of the world about them as though they were beside themselves, and to act as though they hated themselves; there was nothing in their view that could induce them thus to suffer, and support them under, and carry them through such trials. But although there was nothing that was seen, nothing that the world saw, or that the Christians themselves ever saw with their bodily eyes, that thus influenced and supported them, yet they had a supernatural principle of love to something unseen; they loved Jesus Christ, for they saw him spiritually whom the world saw not, and whom they themselves had never seen with bodily eyes"

He was working from 1 Peter 1:8

Piper's majestic blurb

Read the back cover of "Don't waste your life" by John Piper:

"I want to tell you what a tragedy is. I will show you how to waste your life. Consider this story from the February 1998 Reader's Digest: A couple 'took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30-foot trawler, play soft ball and collect shells....' Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgement: 'Look, Lord. See my shells.' That is a tragedy.... "

He is right isn't he?

Zechariah's King Priest

Zechariah 6:9-13 .....

And the word of the LORD came to me: "Take from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon, and go the same day to the house of Josiah, the son of Zephaniah. Take from them silver and gold, and make a crown, and set it on the head of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. And say to him, 'thus says the LORD of hosts, "Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD. It is he who shall build the temple of the LORD and shall bear royal honour, and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both."'

At his birth...

When Jesus Christ was born he was given a few names to help us understand who he was and that he might get the glory due him. Matthew records his names alongside the names of others in chapter 2:1-2... are we meant to compare them?

Jesus is: humans are:

king of the Jews (v2) - Herod the king (v1)
Shepherd of Israel (v6) - Cheif priests/scribes of the people (v4)
Ruler (v6) - Herod (v7)
a worshipped child (v11) - a mother (v11)

Let us respond like the WISE men : "When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him" v10-11a

Yes but how does that change our lives Jean?

John Calvin did some wonderful work for the Lord. His doctrine helped us realise who we are in Christ: a living child. But did he do any work on how the Christian must live daily?... yes, and how:

"The Sum of the Christian Life: The denial of ourselves

We are not our own: let not our reason or our will, therefore, sway our plans and deeds. We are not our own: let us therefore not set it as our goal to seek what is expedient for us according to the flesh. We are not our own: in so far as we can, let us therefore forget ourselves and all that is ours.

Conversely, we are God’s: let us therefore live for him and die for him. We are God’s let his wisdom and will therefore rule all our actions. We are God’s: Let all the parts of our life accordingly strive toward him as our only lawful goal [“If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s” – Rom . 14:8 “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own” – 1 Cor. 6:19]. O, how much has that man profited who, having been taught that he is not his own, has taken away dominion and rule from his own reason that he may yield it to God!"

May we yield to God

Shepherding anyone's heart

this is a list of questions to consider as you raise a child, it is written by Tedd Trip, but will be great to ask of any Christian you know, especially ourselves...

Relationship to God:

Does he ever talk about God? How does he talk about God? How does he think about God? Is his God small or grand? Does he think of God as a friend, a judge, a helper, a taskmaster? Is he living out of the fullness of seeing himself in Christ or is he trying to worship and serve himself?

Relationship to himself:

What attitiudes towards himself does he evidence? Is he shy or confident? Is he arrogant or diffident? Is he chained by fears? Is he able to extend himself to others? Does he have a false dependance on others? Does he feel better then others or does he feel inadequate around others?

Relationship to others:

What are your childs relationships? How does he interact with others? What sort of relationships does he have? What does he bring out in others? Are his relationships even or is he always in control or being controlloed? Does he fawn for the attention of others? Is he pleasant with other[s] ... his age? How does he deal with disappointment in people? How does he responed to being sinned against? What are areas of relational strength? What are the weaknesses?

Good questions!

A Great Catechism

1. Q. What is your only comfort in life and death?

A. That I, with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful saviour Jesus Christ

a foolish cross?

I was e-mailed this quote yesterday:

"[o]f all the elements of Christianity, the most repugnant is the notion of the Christ who took our sins upon himself and sacrificed his body in agony to save our souls. Did we ask him to?"

then remembered what God said:

"For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing" 1 Corinthians 1v18.

We see that opponants of the cross are fulfilling the Bible

"Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?"
1 Corinthians 1v20

Samuel is a type of Christ

1 Samuel 2v26 - "Now the young man Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favour with the Lord and also with man"

Luke 2v40 - "And the child (Jesus) grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favour of God was upon him"

Luke 2v52 - "And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and man"

Now we just need to work out who Samuel was/ what he did

Eternal life in John 3

Was looking at Jesus today in John chapter 3.

3v3 Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God"

3v4 Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter into his mother's womb a second time and be born?"

3v5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God"

3v6 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit"

3v7 "Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again'"

3v8 "The wind blows where it wishes, and you here its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit"

3v14-15 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life"

3v16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life"

3v36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him".

So after the name of the mission I am about to go on. CHOOSE LIFE!

Games with David P. Field

When listening to a reporter on the T.V or elsewhere make a habit of disagreeing with what they say, for example:

Reporter - "Jack straw will be visiting Iraq today"
Reponse - "No he won't"

Reporter - "There has been a train crash in Reading"
Response - "No there hasn't"

Reporter - "We hope that never happens again"
Response - "No we don't"

Let us learn slowley but surely that just becuase someone says something - doesn't make it true.

Luther on Galatians 2v16

Gal 2v16 "yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified"

So great is his work on this verse that some of his comments needed posting:

"For the sake of argument let us suppose that you could fulfill the Law in the spirit of the first commandment of God: “Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart.” It would do you no good. A person simply is not justified by the works of the Law."

"With Paul we absolutely deny the possibility of self-merit. God never yet gave to any person grace and everlasting life as a reward for merit"

"God sent His only-begotten Son into the world that we may live through His merit. He was crucified and killed for us. By sacrificing His Son for us God revealed Himself to us as a merciful Father who donates remission of sins, righteousness, and life everlasting for Christ’s sake"

Let us agree.

How does the cross work? (Matt 22v13)

Matt22v13 "Then the king said to the attendants, 'Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there wil be weeping and gnashing of teeth"

in a recent talk I noted three points to the sinner's punishment:

1. utter powerlessness: “Bind him hand and foot”
2. utter loneliness: “cast him into outer darkness”
3. aching painfulness: “In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”

We then saw how the cross works as Jesus dies in the place of sinners:

The man Jesus was made powerless: “bind his hands and feet”. ("Put you finger here, and see my hands" - John 20v27)

The man Jesus suffered loneliness – the “outer darkness”: ("And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabacthani?" which means, "My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?" - Mark 15v34).

The man Jesus suffered physical pain – the “weeping and gnashing of teeth” ("In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence").

This is how the cross works, Jesus takes our place.

Enemies in Psalm 22v8

1a “He trusts in the LORD
2a let him deliver him;
2b let him rescue him,
1b for he delights in him!"

Notice that David’s enemies know the covenant name of God, and they know, although presumably do not believe, that Yahweh’s nature is to deliver those who trust him. Strikingly then we are told that David's enemies are members of Israel, but from what we have seen of Israel in v3:

"Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel"

they are not true Israel.

Christians encounter with a man in a cage

During this life I’ve seen a man,
Who slumped, eyes rolled, and with folded hand,
And he sighed as if his heart would brake-
“What means this?” said I, as his body did shake,
“What means this?” said I, as his body did shake.

Said the man – “I am what I was not once”,
To which my pitying reply – “what were you once?”,
“A fair and flourishing professor of Christ was I”,
Saying; “CELESTIAL CITY WILL BE MY HOME WHEN I DIE!”,
Saying; “CELESTIAL CITY WILL BE MY HOME WHEN I DIE!”

“But what are thou now? (for you are not so fair)”,
A groan from his cage “I am a man of despair”,
“How came you to be so bent?” said I,
“I have hardened my heart that I cannot repent”,
“I have hardened my heart that I cannot repent”.

“Why is there no hope for a man of such dress?”
“I have crucified my Lord to myself afresh,
I have counted his blood as an unholy thing,
And never more for his promise shall sing,
And never more for his promise shall sing”.

“For what did you set yourself into this strife?”
“For the Lusts, Pleasures and Profits of this life,
Desire for them led my body to squirm,
Now even those gnaw me like a worm,
Now even those gnaw me like a worm”.

“God hath denied me to repent,
His Word gives me no encouragement
Eternity, eternity I despise my eternity
Once Jesus my surety, I must now burn for he,
Once Jesus my surety, I must now burn for he.”

“Let this mans misery be remembered to thee,
In order that thou from sin would flee”,
“God help me from my lusts to fly,
Celestial city will be my home when I die!
Celestial city will be my home when I die!”

Based on John Bunyan’s “A Pilgrims Progress”

Bunyon's righteousness is in heaven

One day as I was passing into the field . . . this sentence fell upon my soul. Thy righteousness is in heaven. And me thought, withal, I saw with the eyes of my soul Jesus Christ at God's right hand; there, I say, was my righteousness; so that wherever I was, or whatever I was doing, God could not say of me, he wants [lacks] my righteousness, for that was just before [in front of] him. I also saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse, for my righteousness was Jesus Christ himself, "The same yesterday, today and, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).
Now did my chains fall off my legs indeed. I was loosed from my afflictions and irons; my temptations also fled away; so that from that time those dreadful scriptures of God left off to trouble me; now went I also home rejoicing for the grace and love of God.

John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners