For unto us, a Child is born, unto us a Son is given

Just before I am out to town for the last bits of shopping with Imo, I am enjoying a bit of classical music to the Messiah by Handel. This takes me back years ago when I used to live in Hastings where I was part of a choir. We prepared that piece of music.
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
In those days, I was unaware of the link between the lyrics and Isaiah's prophecy, Isaiah 9-6.

I wish you all a blessed time at Christmas. May the Lord protect you, guide you and shine his face upon you during the festive time. In Jesus's name. Nicky

Talk to God regularly, include him in everything -...

God1meover: Talk to God regularly, include him in everything -...:
In the beginning God made the heavens and the earth. (Gen 1:1)  With all this beauty in place God created man in his own image. (Gen 1:...

Stop modern slavery and trafficking!

Call to end modern day slavery

An anti-slavery coalition is calling on the government to add strong measures to the draft Modern Slavery Bill so it is effective and reduces trafficking and slavery.
The Evangelical Alliance and 14 other organisations make up the coalition, including A21 Campaign, CARE, The Salvation Army, Hope for Justice, Love 146, International Justice Mission and Stop the Traffik.
The coalition briefing calls for an end to modern slavery once and for all: "The transatlantic slave trade was banned in 1807 and slavery was abolished across the British Empire in 1834, yet it is still with us today. Children are sold into slavery to pay family debts; people pay for passage, only to be trafficked over borders and find forced labour conditions rather than freedom ... this must end."
Dr Dave Landrum, director of advocacy at the Evangelical Alliance, said: "For evangelicals this is unfinished business. We've been fighting slavery for hundreds of years, and we are still at it today. This bill needs to live up to its promise. It has the potential to tackle modern slavery but needs to listen to the campaign groups in order to achieve that aim. Together as organisations motivated by our Christian faith we call on the government to act and strengthen the bill so it can bring freedom to many caught in slavery."

The call comes today, as the government issues their draft of the Modern Slavery Bill and Frank Field MP publishes his evidence review. 

Following the publication of the Centre for Social Justice's report It Happens Here in March 2013, pressure has built for the government to introduce a new law. The proposals increase the maximum sentences and bring together offences currently dealt with under different strands of the legal system.

Churches are urged to meet with their MPs and encourage them to take a strong and uncompromising stance against all shades and forms of modern-day slavery when the bill comes up for debate at Westminster in 2014.

Read on..

There is a way out!

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.(1 Cor. 10:13). 

Who is this Jesus?

Jesus called God ‘Father’, but that was not unusual in itself.  All Jews rejoiced to see themselves as God’s children.  But Jesus talked about a unique relationship with God.  On one occasion in Jerusalem he declared, ‘I and the Father are one.’  The Jews were incensed by this apparent blasphemy, and would have killed him on the spot had he not been a quick thinker and a quick runner.

Jesus did not announce to people, ‘I am God.’ Instead he roused their curiosity until the point at which they were forced to think about whether he might be divine. It was contrary to Jewish thinking even to entertain that possibility. So when Jesus’ followers came to believe that Jesus was God they were thinking the unthinkable. But the evidence so overwhelmed them that they had no choice. Worshipping the risen Jesus was the only way they could make sense of what they had witnessed.

One of the accounts of Jesus’ life tells the story of a paralysed man being lowered through a ceiling to come to rest at his feet. The house was so packed with people who wanted to hear Jesus speak that it was the only way to attract his attention. The expectation was that Jesus would heal the man. Instead Jesus said to him, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’

The Jews were shocked because their belief was that only God could forgive sins. Jesus pointed out that to say those words was easy. It was working miracles that was difficult. He was implying that if he was able to heal the man in front of their eyes, they should have no difficulty believing that he was able to forgive him. At Jesus’ command, the man stood up and walked. Without saying as much, Jesus had challenged those who saw the event to believe that he was God, the only forgiver of sins.

Jesus never shied away from provocative statements. He called for absolute loyalty to him – the kind of loyalty that God demanded. ‘I am the way, the truth and the life,’ he declared. ‘No one comes to the Father except through me.’ But his call was not burdensome. He invited people to come to him for rest, and to go through their lives with him as a companion – not only in life but throughout eternity.

The claims of Jesus repeatedly pushed people to a point of decision. The Jewish leaders responded by seeking to stamp out his ideas. The followers of Jesus responded by rethinking everything they knew about the Jewish religion. When his resurrection put their beliefs beyond doubt, they became the first leaders of Christianity.
Do you want to find out more? visit this website, click here. Blessings.

Christmas starts with Christ

3 best Christmas cards

Here is a selection of Christmas cards that I would consider the best. What about you, which cards did you buy this Christmas?

1 Tearfund Journeyingon. They have a message printed inside, Isaiah 9:6, For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Awesome!

2

2 Tearfund, a pack of 20 Color in Christmas cards, ideal for families with children, 

3 Share the story,  

Cover: Sharing the Story
Inside: May the miracle of Christmas shine in your heart all year.
Scripture: "When they saw the star they rejoiced." - Matthew 2:10

What about you, which cards did you buy this Christmas?What are your favorite?

Tonight, I went to the college MFL party and had a great time, met new people. Students and staff were sampling foods from Europe and China. Being entertained by traditional Christmas carols. Have a blessed end of week. N.

Have a blessed end of week. N.

The best kept secret..the Lord delights in you...

The Lord your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.”

Who can reach our soul?

13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Power is the special and distinctive prerogative of God, and God alone. Power belongs to God. God is God: and power belongs to him. If he delegates a portion of it to his creatures, yet it still is his power. The sun in the heavens, although it is “…like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course” [Psalm 19:5], yet it has no power to move through the universe except as God directs it. The stars, although they travel in their orbits and no one can stop them, yet they have neither power nor force except that which God daily infuses into them. The tall archangel, near God’s throne, who outshines a comet in its brilliance, and who excels in strength and listens to the voice of the commands of God, still has no strength except that which his Creator gives to him... And when we think of man if he has might or power, it is so small and insignificant, that we can scarcely call it such; yes, when it is at its greatest-when he waves his scepter, when he commands vast armies, when he rules nations-still the power belongs to God.
This exclusive prerogative of God is to be found in each of the three persons of the glorious Trinity. The Father has power: for at his word the heavens were made, and by his strength all things continue, and through him they fulfill their destiny. The Son has power: for like his Father, he is the Creator of all things; “Without him nothing was made that has been made” [John 1:3], and “in him all things hold together” [Colossians 1:17]. And the Holy Spirit has power.

It is concerning the power of the Holy Spirit that I will speak this morning; and may you gain a practical example of that attribute in your own hearts, when you sense that the influence of the Holy Spirit is being poured out on me, so that I am speaking the words of the living God to your souls, and the power bestowed on you when you feel the effects of it in your own souls.

1. First, we note that the inner spiritual power of the Holy Spirit has power over the hearts of men and women.
Normally, it is very hard to affect a person’s heart. However, if you want to get at them for any worldly purpose you can do it. A cheating world can win the hearts of men and women, a little gold can win their hearts, a bit of fame and a little applause can win their hearts. But there is not a minister alive, who by himself, can win the hearts of men and women. He can win their ears and make them listen; he can win their eyes, and cause those eyes to look at him; he can win their attention, but their hearts are very slippery. Yes, the heart is like a fish that all gospel fishermen find difficult to hold on to. You may sometimes almost pull it out of the water; but slippery as an eel, it slips between your fingers, and evades capture. Many a minister has imagined that he has caught the heart but has been disappointed. It would need a strong hunter to overtake the deer on the mountains. It is too fast for a human on foot to approach.

Only the Holy Spirit has power over the hearts of men and women. Did you ever try your power on a heart? If any person thinks that a minister can convert the soul, I wish they would try. Let them go and become a Sunday-school teacher. They will take their class, they will have the best books that can be obtained, they will have the best rules, they will draw their lines of defenses around their fortified spiritual city, they will take the best child in their class, and if they are not tired in a week I will be very much surprised. Let them spend four or five Sundays in trying, and in the end they will say, “The young person is incorrigible.” Let them try another. And they will have to try another, and another, and another, before they will manage to convert one. They will soon find it is “‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.” [Zechariah 4:6] 

Can a minister convert anyone? Can he touch the heart? David said, your “…hearts are callous and unfeeling.” [Psalm 119:70] Yes, that is very true; and we cannot break through such a hard heart...Many pieces of the true steel that God has put into the hands of his servants has had the edge dulled by being used against the sinner’s heart. We cannot reach the soul; but the Holy Spirit can. He can give a sense of blood-bought pardon that will dissolve a heart of stone. He can,
“Speak with that voice which wakes the dead,
And commands the sinner to rise:
And makes the guilty conscience dread
The death that never dies.”
He can make Sinai’s thunders audible; yes, and he can make the sweet whisperings of Calvary enter into the soul. He has power over the hearts of men and women. And here is a glorious proof of the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit that he has rule over the heart.

2. But if there is one thing more stubborn than the heart it is the will.

Some believe in freewill. Many dream of freewill. Freewill! Where is that to be found? Once there was freewill in Paradise, and freewill made a terrible mess there, for it spoiled all of Paradise and turned Adam and Eve out of the garden. Freewill once existed in heaven, but it turned the glorious archangel out and a third part of the angels of heaven fell into the abyss. I want nothing to do with freewill, but I will try to see whether I have a free will within me. And I find that I have. I have a very free will to commit evil, but a very poor will to do that which is good.

 I demonstrate my freewill when I sin, but when I want to do good evil is present with me, and I cannot carry it out. Yet some boast of freewill. I wonder whether those who believe in freewill have any more power over other person’s wills than I have. I know I have no power. I find the old proverb is very true, “One man can bring a horse to the water, but a hundred cannot make him drink.” I find that I can bring all of you to the water, and a great many more than can fit into this church; but I cannot make you drink; and I don’t think a hundred ministers could make you drink. I have read all about the great preachers, Rowland Hill, and George Whitfield, and several others to see what their secret was; but I cannot discover from them any plan that would work in turning your wills. I cannot coax you; and you will not yield by any other means. I don’t think any man has power over his fellow creature’s will, but the Spirit of God has. “I will make them willing in the day of my power.” He makes the unwilling sinner so willing that he is eager for the gospel; he who was obstinate, now runs to the cross. He, who laughed at Jesus, now begs for his mercy; and he who would not believe, is now made by the Holy Spirit to do it, not only willingly, but eagerly; he is happy, he is glad to do it, rejoices in the sound of Jesus’ name, and delights to obey God’s commands. The Holy Spirit has power over the will.

Source:  The Power of the Holy Spirit
June 17, 1855
by C. H. Spurgeon  (1834-1892).

When do you say no?

21 On that day I will answer, says the Lord.
I will answer the heavens
and they will answer the earth.
22 The earth will answer the corn, the new wine, and the fresh oil,
and they will answer Jezreel;
23 I will sow him for myself in the land;
and I will have compassion on No Compassion,
and I will say to Not My People, “You are my people”;
and he will say, “You are my God.”
Hosea 2:21-23

In my bible reading of yesterday, Roger Pooley said something that touched me, I quote, 

Grace is free, outrageously so and it's a mistake to think that we can earn it but it's equally misleading to think that we can treat it lightly and avoid living the way God wants us to. Our attitudes to sex, money, time: they all need to be transformed and disciplined, by the love of God. In a highly sexualised culture, it's all too easy to become just a bit self-indulgent, and then..