By Trevor Bradley

Sometimes we create scenarios in our minds as to how we will react if adverse, or need I say pleasant,  circumstances come upon us…  For example – “if I have a huge windfall, I will give to that person…that charity…that ministry”.  Very few of us can foresee or anticipate the sudden “storm”, “hurricane”, “tragedy”, or “collapse” in our lives.  At times we look at the misfortunes or mishaps of others and we silently believe that we are immune.

Though it may not happen (and who can tell), how will I react when does?  What is my anchor, my bulwark, my haven, my harbor?  There’s a beautiful verse tucked away in

Habakkuk 3 vs 17:  “Though/when…the fig tree does not blossom…And there be no fruit on the vine.  Though/when…the olives crops fail…and the fields produce no food.
Though/when…there be no cattle in the stalls…and there be no sheep in the pen”.

Hear the prophets heart. He is saying that there are no certainties in one’s life,save death and taxes..But he had already determined how he would handle, react to the “side-swipes” that life can dish out

If we look, we will see that what the prophet saw was a man/family who had IN HOPE, planned, planted and sowed.  And what they had reaped was disappointment… for they got nothing in return.  We see that their assets had been either sold or had been stripped away.  They were without any nest egg, it was all gone,  and what they faced was devastation and nothingness.

But listen to the prophet’s heart, “PRAISE GOD.  YET WILL I REJOICE IN THE LORD, THE GOD OF MY SALVATION, FOR HE IS MY STRENGTH”

“God I know that you know, that you see, that you are near, that you care.  And no matter what befalls me, I will not allow the devil to rob me of my joy, steal my calling and destroy my faith. I will trust you no matter what.  I will sing as Horatio Stafford wrote ” It is well, it is well, with my soul.”  Write your eternal words on our hearts Lord, and give us grace to believe that you are the God of all grace, the God who is a loving Father and our all powerful redeemer and saviour. You will never leave us nor forsake us.

Give to us new songs in our hearts , that our mouths will be full of praise and thanks to you who is our all-sufficient God, the God of more than enough.  That even though we may not be experiencing the winds of adversity nor the sea of heartbreak, when they do come we will be ready to rejoice in You our strength and the God of our salvation.

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By Author & Blogger Tim Challies

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The story of Cain & Abel: Helping your kids to develop a proper doctrine of sin.

Written by Brian Dembowczyk: Brian is the team leader for The Gospel Project for Kids. He served in local church ministry for over 16 years before coming to LifeWay Publishers.

Several years ago when I was pastor of a church in Kentucky, I went out to lunch with a group from the church and was introduced to my first hot brown. They had two sizes—regular and large—so of course I ordered the large and I enjoyed every bite of the creamy, cheesy bacon and turkey sandwich.  As I finished my lunch, one of the ladies in the group said, “You know, Brian, they have this huge brownie sundae here that I have never seen anyone finish. I’ll buy you one if you think you can finish it.”

Two things I need to mention at this point. First, I don’t back down easily from a challenge. Second, this kind, sweet lady set me up. She knew all along that she was going to challenge me to this and yet she allowed me to order the large hot brown instead of the regular one.  Needless to say, I finished the brownie sundae (although I really only enjoyed the first half of it).  Also needless to say, I had a stomach ache for pretty much the rest of that day.  But, alas, like a moth to the flame, I kept shoveling brownie ice cream goodness into my mouth. Spoon after spoon. I knew better, but I didn’t listen to my brain or my swelling belly. I listened to my pride instead.

All of us are that way when it comes to sin, too, aren’t we? We know better, yet we find ourselves drawn toward sin and the next thing you know, we are sick to our stomach spiritually. We weren’t the first. I’m sure Adam and Eve felt that way right after the Fall, and we know that Cain did soon after.

As you walk through Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:1-16,25-26) with your kids this week, you will want to help them understand how serious sin is and how we are all susceptible to its pull. We often hear people talk about their sin with a “the Devil made me do it” or a “the world is pulling me down” mentality. It is certainly true that Satan and his demons are active in leading people astray. It is also certainly true that the world’s fallen systems entice people to rebel against God. However, we have to be careful that we don’t give our own flesh a free pass.

We are quite good at sinning on our own without the help of Satan or the world.

Notice that God warned Cain bluntly that if he was not careful, sin would devour him. That is a warning we want our kids to hear and appreciate. As much as we love our kids, as cute as they are, and as innocent as they seem, let’s not forget that they are sinners by nature, just like us. They want to sin. They enjoy sin. And the world is indeed making it easier for them to give in to sin.

So don’t miss this opportunity to talk with them about how serious sin is. But at the same time, we don’t want to demoralize our kids and lead them to believe that there is no hope. This is the perfect opportunity to share the gospel and talk about how following Jesus is not a matter of what we can do for Him, but what He has done for us. Through Christ’s death and resurrection, He has provided total forgiveness for all who trust Him. And because of the gospel, we can live in freedom and grace, knowing that we are fully forgiven and fully accepted by God.

With all of that said, here are seven action steps you will want to help your kids take as they develop a proper doctrine of sin.  Read More…

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By Trevor Bradley

Coming to work this morning, the radio talk show host was discussing a number of topics – the start of the new academic year for children, load shedding and low expectations for a better year economically.  Hope is low and expectations are dim because of the year we had last year.

I met with someone yesterday and their cry was “ not another year like last year”.  What are we to do as Christians?  How are we to react to the ‘system’ we live in?  If say I am different, it’s time I started living ‘the difference’.

There is a beautiful verse tucked away in Romans 15 vs 13. Listen to it and may the Holy Spirit wash His word over our hearts,minds and spirit today. ” Now the God of Hope fill you with all joy & peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, by the power of the Holy Spirit”.

Who doesn’t want a bit of that? HOPE  JOY  PEACE?

I want to start at the back of the verse, and say that we will not know and live this divine dynamic in and through our own strength.  It has to, and will only come, through us coming to the Holy Spirit, admitting our powerlessness and asking Him to live His life out through us.  And the fruits of that surrender will be HOPE,JOY and PEACE.

The verse hinges on 2 little words – “In Believing”.  It is as I exercise faith.  Today may we know what it’s like to live out that reality through the power of Him in us (Colossians 1 vs 27).

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By Angus Buchan (courtesy of Gateway News)

In the Gospel of Luke 1:46-55 we hear and read of the beautiful song of Mary, the mother of Jesus. As I read this beautiful song again, for the umpteenth time, I realise one thing that Mary was obviously the most blessed woman that has ever walked, or ever will walk on the face of this earth. She was not divine, but yet she was a young maiden who was full of faith, love for God and was a holy person. She wrote this song to her God, our Heavenly Father which says “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour. For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant.”

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Article by John Bloom,  co-founder of Desiring God.

The season of Advent is beginning again. Advent — a season, so full of tradition, so full of memory, so full of legend. And a season so full, often over-full, bustling and bursting with the exhausting activity of keeping traditions, creating memories, and recalling legends.

And as Advent begins, Luke comes to us, as a kind of a holy ghost of Christmas past, bidding us to lay aside for the moment our Christmas lists, leave the half-trimmed tree, pause the holiday movie, dry our hands from washing the cookie pans, and follow him. And as we do, all we see begins to swirl into an unfamiliar darkness.

Suddenly, we find ourselves standing in what we somehow know is a small, ancient Palestinian village on an unusually starry night. The shapes and shadows of buildings look strange. The human and animal noises sound strange. The smoky scents of fire, foods, burning oils, and manure smell strange. The utter absence of electric lighting is strange. We reach for our smartphone. It’s dead.

Disturbing Advent Sight

Luke leads us beyond the village and down a dark, twisting rocky path to some ignored, ignoble spot where we suddenly come upon a sight that we find surprisingly disturbing. Not ten feet away, asleep on the ground, near a small fire that has burned down to embers, is a peasant girl. She has bits of straw in her long, messy, dark hair, and she is wrapped in dirty cloaks and a blanket. A split-second look tells us how difficult this night has been for her. And she is so young.

Even more distressing, we see beside her a small, crude, dirty feeding trough in which lays a sleeping newborn, wrapped tightly in unsanitary, blood-smeared cloths.  We take a few tentative steps forward. We know this child, and we know this girl. But the scene is strange to us. It does not look anything like the manger scenes and illustrated books of our childhood. Our Advent traditions did not prepare us for the earthy realness of the real Advent.

Read More…

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By Trevor Bradley

Every day he goes around like a roaring lion seeking who he might devour… so Peter tells us.  Peter encourages us to be alert and to have our wits about us. (1 Peter 5 vs 8 & 9)

In Isaiah 36 & 37 it starts off with these words “And then it came about”.  Hezekiah is sitting in his palace and the King of Assyria decides to make a move on the kingdom of Judah, to attack it. The Assyrian king first sends his representative to meet with Hezekiah’s reps to warn them that they are about to get attacked.  He taunts them with the fact that no army or other god can withstand the King of Assyria’s onslaught.  Listen to his words “where will you find the wisdom and strength to fight us..on whom will you rely?”

Isn’t it incredible that when the evil one comes to attack us, his first weapon is always to get us to doubt our God?  Will God… can God… does God want to… is He able in this situation to rescue?  Are you not asking a bit to much of Him?  Hezekiah’s reps go back and report this to the King.  Hezekiah’s response is to go into the house of God – that is his first port of call.  How unlike mine at times, trying to figure a way out in and through my own earthly wisdom.  Hezekiah then goes to the one who carried the word of God at that time and asks Isaiah ‘What now…where to from here?”

Hear the words out of Isaiah’s mouth “FEAR NOT”

Wow that’s so difficult in the heat of the battle, but this is where the embedded word of God comes through and is brought to mind by the Holy Spirit.  Verses like:-

• Romans 8 vs 31 ” If God is for us( and He is) who can be against us”
• Isaiah 54 vs 17 ” No weapon formed against you will prosper”
•  Psalm 91 vs 16 “Then you will call upon me and I will answer you. And I will be with you in your trouble. I will rescue you”.

God told Isaiah to tell Hezekiah not to be afraid of “their words”.  Why? “For my word is more powerful than any other word on the face of this planet. In fact it is eternal and nothing can stand against my word”. (Isaiah 37 vs 6)

And here is the crux- verse 37- “FOR I WILL”.

My dear brother and sister, let me remind you today, as I did myself, that He will never leave you exposed, defenseless, vulnerable.  He will show up in the heat of your battle and He will deliver you, as He did with Hezekiah.  The battle belongs to the Lord (Exodus 14 vs 13 &  2 Chronicles 20 vs 15).

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By Pastor, Author and Blogger Tim Challies

The effects of extremism have been on display all weekend. They are splashed across every television screen, every news site, the front page of every newspaper. The attacks in Paris have shown us extremism at its most brutal and bloody, the kind that celebrates death, destruction and mayhem.

But did you know that the Bible calls Christians to extremism as well? It calls Christians to be zealots in a cause, to go to great lengths to carry out extreme deeds in the name of Jesus. We see this in Paul’s little letter to Titus where we are reminded of Jesus Christ “who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14).

We, too, are to be extremists. We, too, are to go to extreme measures to serve our God. And here are our marching orders: Do good. We are to bring glory to God by doing good for others. Allah may be glorified in maimed bodies and blood-soaked city streets, but God is glorified in acts of love and deeds of kindness. He is glorified in deeds done not to earn favor with God, but deeds done as an expression of gratitude because we have already received the favor of God. God is glorified as we serve others in his name. God is honored in the costly sacrifice of love.

Jesus himself spoke of the primacy of good works: “Let your light shine before others,” he said, “so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). His friend Peter said it as well: “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles [those who do not adhere to Christian teaching] honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation” (1 Peter 2:12). The Apostle Paul would also echo the theme: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). The theme pervades and dominates the New Testament. Does it pervade and dominate your life?  Read More…

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By Pastor, Author & Blogger David Murray

If you’d lived during the industrial revolution, you probably wouldn’t have thought, “Oh, wow, this is a revolution.” No, it’s hard for people in the middle of massive changes to make sense of them, to see the bigger picture, to see where all the different bits and pieces are pointing. It’s usually only with hindsight that historians can look back and say, “These were revolutionary times — times of epochal change and radical transformation.”

If the world is spared long enough, I believe that many will look back on these years and say, “That was a revolution. The world was radically and irreversibly transformed in the first 10-15 years of the 21st century.” They will put together all the multiple pieces – 9/11, the Iraq War, Madrid, London, Paris, Syria, Al Qaeda, ISIS, etc., – and see how they all fit together and what a different world picture they created.

But behind these infamous dates, places, and names are deeper forces that have been at work for decades and have now combined to create a perfect hurricane.

Unprecedented mobility. With modern transport — via road, rail, sea, and plane — it has never been easier for people to travel hundreds, even thousands of miles in a relatively short time, relatively unimpeded, and in relative safety. Whether we look at the Mexican border or at Europe this past summer we see the same thing — hundreds of thousands of people in multiple mass movements between nations and even continents.

Borderless nations. In the past, national borders and checkpoints would have made it impossible for people to get into one country from another without a passport or visa. The Mexican border is now more of a gate than a fence. Most European nations boast of being borderless. You can travel from one country to another almost as easily as going to the grocery store. Even when the French “closed” their so-called border on Friday evening, three escaping terrorists waltzed through a checkpoint near the Belgian border and escaped.

Greedy companies. Just as in the USA, large multinationals in Europe are driving greater immigration in their desire to get workers who will accept lower wages and thus increase their profits. Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel has spoken of the economic boost that welcoming hundreds of thousands of Syrians will give to their country.

Ambitious politicians. Many politicians want to accelerate immigration and give amnesty to illegal immigrants because they want their future votes and thus increase and extend their power in government.

Political correctness. College campuses, the media, politicians, and the courts have combined to make it almost impossible for moral values, religious beliefs, and ethical conduct to be critiqued. Anything goes apart from saying that anything shouldn’t go. So afraid are the authorities of offending Muslim sensitivities that many Muslim communities in European cities are now no-go areas for police and other state agencies. Even after Friday evening’s atrocities, the Democratic candidates for President refused to use the phrase “radical Islam.”

Smashed nations. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the Iraq war and its aftermath, or the the half-hearted confused military strategies in Lybia and Syria, the result is hundreds of utterly destroyed cities – even the destruction of whole civilizations. No wonder we have so many angry young Muslim men. We’re partly responsible for wiping their futures of the map. Their homes, their universities, their businesses, their roads – all lie in ruins.

Crusading Islam. When you put together unprecedented mobility, borderless nations, greedy companies, ambitious politicians, political correctness, moral confusion, and smashed nations you’ve created a wide open goal for an aggressive Islam that wants to conquer the world. There are virtually no obstacles left — no geographical, national, financial, political, or moral barriers — to hinder them.

Mass media. All of the above is now broadcast 24/7 around the world, via mainstream and social media, drawing ever growing tsunamis of undocumented and unknown peoples to Western Europe and North America, with the publicity around successful attacks provoking terrorists to outdo one another in their vile and abhorrent evil.

If such are the causes, what are the solutions? Well, it’s close to impossible to reverse or change what has happened over the past 15 years or so. Like all sin, we know how to start it, but we don’t know where it will end or what will end it.  Read More…

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Frank Retief was pastor at St James Church Cape Town for 31 years, having planted the church in 1968 with his wife Beulah.  He became the Presiding Bishop of the Church of England in South Africa until he retired in 2010.  Frank remains active in ministry through preaching, teaching, pastoral work & writing, and has authored a number of books.

Acknowledge Christ

Proverbs 3:5 & 6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and He will make your paths straight.”

We always have to choose between two different ways of looking at life – our way and God’s way. Our natural tendency is to make our own judgements and assessments and act accordingly. But very often the judgements we make are wrong. Proverbs 14:12 is a good reminder of this: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.”

It is far better to lean on God’s view of life and not our own. Our own view of life will make wrong judgements about people, about circumstances, about life in general and most dangerous of all, about how to get to Heaven. Left to our own understanding we will inevitably think that we can make it on our own. Or we will conclude that it doesn’t really matter what we believe because all roads lead to God anyway! Then on that great day we will prove to be fools. Judgement will show that we leaned on our own way of looking at life rather than on God’s way.

It is far better to “acknowledge him in all our ways”. What does this mean and how do we do it? Well, it means that we reject our own natural tendency to view life as we please and in repentance turn to Him and accept His view of life. In God’s view we are all sinners needing a Saviour. He has provided such a Saviour for us. Furthermore, left to ourselves, we will inevitably make wrong decisions – so He has given us not only a Saviour but also His own word to be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. To acknowledge Him thus means that we accept His opinions and views about all things. In all our decisions we want to know what will please Him most? What will reflect His wisdom, kindness and compassion? What will bring Him glory? Then we act accordingly. It is true that sometimes making decisions based on our relationship with God, rather than on the accepted wisdom of the age, may bring confusion upon us and it may displease many people. But the Proverb goes on to say: “He will make your paths straight”. In other words, no matter how many oppose you or ridicule you in the end you will be vindicated. Your paths will be straight i.e. without difficulty, disharmony, guilt or any of the things that come upon those who have no time for Christ and His opinions.

Most important of all is that if we acknowledge Him, we will acknowledge His value that He places on His Son and we will turn to Jesus as our only Saviour and our safe guide to the Glory to come.

Prayer: “Almighty God, Please forgive the tendency of my heart to act without you. Help me always to consider you in all of life and seek always to live acknowledging you and your ways in all things. Amen”

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