Tag: Christ

Here am I

Isaiah 65 New International Version – UK

Judgment and salvation

65 ‘I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me;
    I was found by those who did not seek me.
To a nation that did not call on my name,
    I said, “Here am I, here am I.”
²All day long I have held out my hands
    to an obstinate people,
who walk in ways not good,
    pursuing their own imaginations –
³a people who continually provoke me
    to my very face,
offering sacrifices in gardens
    and burning incense on altars of brick;
⁴who sit among the graves
    and spend their nights keeping secret vigil;
who eat the flesh of pigs,
    and whose pots hold broth of impure meat;
⁵who say, “Keep away; don’t come near me,
    for I am too sacred for you!”
Such people are smoke in my nostrils,
    a fire that keeps burning all day.

⁶‘See, it stands written before me;
    I will not keep silent but will pay back in full;
    I will pay it back into their laps –
⁷both your sins and the sins of your ancestors,’
    says the Lord.
‘Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains
    and defied me on the hills,
I will measure into their laps
    the full payment for their former deeds.’

⁸This is what the Lord says:

‘As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes
    and people say, “Don’t destroy it,
    there is still a blessing in it,”
so will I do on behalf of my servants;
    I will not destroy them all.
⁹I will bring forth descendants from Jacob,
    and from Judah those who will possess my mountains;
my chosen people will inherit them,
    and there will my servants live.
¹⁰Sharon will become a pasture for flocks,
    and the Valley of Achor a resting-place for herds,
    for my people who seek me.

¹¹‘But as for you who forsake the Lord
    and forget my holy mountain,
who spread a table for Fortune
    and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,
¹²I will destine you for the sword,
    and all of you will fall in the slaughter;
for I called but you did not answer,
    I spoke but you did not listen.
You did evil in my sight
    and chose what displeases me.’

¹³Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

‘My servants will eat,
    but you will go hungry;
my servants will drink,
    but you will go thirsty;
my servants will rejoice,
    but you will be put to shame.
¹⁴My servants will sing
    out of the joy of their hearts,
but you will cry out
    from anguish of heart
    and wail in brokenness of spirit.
¹⁵You will leave your name
    for my chosen ones to use in their curses;
the Sovereign Lord will put you to death,
    but to his servants he will give another name.
¹⁶Whoever invokes a blessing in the land
    will do so by the one true God;
whoever takes an oath in the land
    will swear by the one true God.
For the past troubles will be forgotten
    and hidden from my eyes.

If you want to know the words just click on the video

Abandoned

Mark 15 New International Version

The Crucifixion of Jesus

²¹A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus,was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. ²²They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). ²³Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. ²⁴And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get.

²⁵It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. ²⁶The written notice of the charge against him read: the king of the Jews.

²⁷They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left. ^[28]^[a] ²⁹Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, ³⁰come down from the cross and save yourself!”³¹In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! ³²Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

The Death of Jesus

³³At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. ³⁴And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

ALAS! and did my Saviour bleed,
And did my sovereign die?
Did he devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I?

2 Was it for sins that I have done
He suffered on the tree?
Amazing pity, grace unknown,
And love beyond degree!

3 Well might the sun in darkness hide
And shut his glories in,
When Christ, the mighty Maker, died
For man, the creature?s sin.

4 Dear Saviour, I can ne?er repay
The debt of love I owe!
Here, Lord, I give myself away;
?Tis all that I can do.

Chorus
Remember me, remember me,
O Lord, remember me;
Remember, Lord, thy dying groans,
And then remember me.

- Refrain (Hudson):
  At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light,
  And the burden of my heart rolled away,
  It was there by faith I received my sight,
  And now I am happy all the day!

Jesus – The Comforter

Matthew 11:28-30 New International Version (NIV)

²⁸“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

1.
THERE are people hurting
In the world out there.
They need you, they need me, they need Christ.
There are children crying and no one to care.
They need you, they need me, they need Christ.
And they’ll go on hurting
In the world out there,
And they’ll go on dying, drowning in despair,
And they’ll go on crying, that’s unless we care!
They need you, they need me, they need Christ.
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2.
There are people living who would rather die.
They need you, they need me, they need Christ.
And their Christian neighbours
Simply pass them by!
They need you, they need me, they need Christ.
There are people sitting by a silent phone,
People cold and hungry, people left alone,
Suicides for reasons that remain unknown.
They need you, they need me, they need Christ.

3.
There’s the prostitute,
And there’s the pris’ner too.
They need you, they need me, they need Christ.
There’s the skid row fella who won’t look at you.
They need you, they need me, they need Christ.
The compulsive gambler dreaming of his yacht,
And the lad that’s stealing just to get his ‘shot’,
And the girl that’s pregnant
And pretends she’s not.
They need you, they need me, they need Christ.

4.
There are runaways who want a place to go.
They need you, they need me, they need Christ.
There are alcoholics who don’t seem to know.
They need you, they need me, they need Christ.
There are godless people
Who have lost their way,
And they need God’s love
But they’re afraid to say.
If we close our eyes perhaps they’ll go away
Without you, without me, without Christ.

Dedicating our love to others

Romans 12:1-2 New International Version – UK

A living sacrifice

12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. ²Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Image result for Dedicating your love to others

There is only one way I can think of, of dedicating our love to others and that is by letting it ‘Shine through Christ’

Fighting the Fight

1 Timothy 6 New International Version

Final Charge to Timothy

¹¹But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. ¹²Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. ¹³In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you ¹⁴to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honour and might forever. Amen.

¹⁷Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. ¹⁸Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. ¹⁹In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

²⁰Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, ²¹which some have professed and in so doing have departed from the faith.

Grace be with you all.

Smile Time

Proverbs 15:13 – 23

13 A cheerful heart brings a smile to your face; a sad heart makes it hard to get through the day.

14 An intelligent person is always eager to take in more truth; fools feed on fast-food fads and fancies.

15 A miserable heart means a miserable life; a cheerful heart fills the day with song.

16 A simple life in the Fear-of-God is better than a rich life with a ton of headaches.

17 Better a bread crust shared in love than a slab of prime rib served in hate.

18 Hot tempers start fights; a calm, cool spirit keeps the peace.

19The path of lazy people is overgrown with briers; the diligent walk down

a smooth road.

20 Intelligent children make their parents proud; lazy students embarrass their parents.

21 The empty-headed treat life as a plaything; the perceptive grasp its meaning and make a go of it.

22 Refuse good advice and watch your plans fail; take good counsel and watch them succeed.

23 Congenial conversation – what a pleasure! The right word at the right time – beautiful!

I don’t suppose I’ll have to tell anyone reading this that it take more facial muscles to frown than to smile. Don’t you think it’s a lot better to feel happy than down right miserable, I do! I believe God would have us being happy than sad. I also believe that because we know Christ as our Saviour we are joyful and it is our duty as Christians to go out into the world and reach out to those who don’t know Christ as their saviour.

God’s Love through the Holy Spirit

Romans 5 New International Version

Peace and Hope

5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we^[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we^[b]boast in the hope of the glory of God. ³Not only so, but we^[c] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

This has got to be one of my favourites of the ‘more up to date’ hymns. A hymn that tells us of the ultimate sacrifice Christ made for us by dying on the Cross.

Sheep And Lambs

Biography

Katharine Tynan was an Irish-born writer, known mainly for her novels and poetry. After her marriage in 1898 to the writer and barrister Henry Albert Hinkson (1865–1919) she usually wrote under the name Katharine Tynan Hinkson (or Katharine Tynan-Hinkson or Katharine Hinkson-Tynan). Of their three children, Pamela Hinkson (1900–1982) was also known as a writer.

Biography

Tynan was born into a large farming family in Clondalkin, County Dublin, and educated at a convent school in Drogheda. Her poems were first published in 1878. She met and became friendly with the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins in 1886. Tynan went on to play a major part in Dublin literary circles, until she married and moved to England; later she lived at Claremorris, County Mayo when her husband was a magistrate there from 1914 until 1919.

For a while, Tynan was a close associate of William Butler Yeats (who may have proposed marriage and been rejected, around 1885), and later a correspondent of Francis Ledwidge. She is said to have written over 100 novels; there were some unsurprising comments about a lack of self-criticism in her output. Her Collected Poems appeared in 1930; she also wrote five autobiographical volumes.

The following is Sir Hugh Robertson’s slightly different word’s of Katharine’s poem All in a April Morning

All in the April evening
April airs are abroad
The sheep with their little lambs
Passed me by on the road
The sheep with their little lambs
Passed me by on the road
All in the April evening
I thought on the lamb of god

The lambs were weary and crying
With a weak human cry
I thought on the lamb of god
Going meekly to die
Up in the blue blue mountains
Dewy pastures are sweet
Rest for the little bodies
Rest for the little feet

But for the lamb, the Lamb of god
Up on the hilltop green
Only a cross, a cross of shame
Two stark crosses between

All in the April evening
April airs were abroad
I saw the sheep with the lambs
And thought on the Lamb of God

BCE or BC?

At 5.15 most evenings you will find my wife and I sat watching Pointless. One of the questions
last night was about ‘Greats’ and the clue was the ruler of Judea from 37-4BCE. I was so busy
puzzling what BCE meant I never got round to answering the questions. Thanks to google I found it
means Before Common Era. What???? Apparently BCE has now replaced BC to avoid any
reference to Christianity and, in particular, to avoid naming Christ as Lord. For me that is the last
straw. We are turning into a heathen country where we cannot mention the name of Jesus, unless
it is to take his name in vain. A day I fear I will never see, I fear my children and my grandchildren
will never see, when…

At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow,
Every tongue confess him, King of glory now.
‘‘Tis the fathers pleasure we should call him Lord,
Who from the beginning was the mighty word.

Prosperity and Pleasure

Job 36 New International Version – UK

36 Elihu continued:

²‘Bear with me a little longer and I will show you
    that there is more to be said on God’s behalf.
³I get my knowledge from afar;
    I will ascribe justice to my Maker.
⁴Be assured that my words are not false;
    one who has perfect knowledge is with you.

⁵‘God is mighty, but despises no one;
    he is mighty, and firm in his purpose.
⁶He does not keep the wicked alive
    but gives the afflicted their rights.
⁷He does not take his eyes off the righteous;
    he enthrones them with kings
    and exalts them for ever.
⁸But if people are bound in chains,
    held fast by cords of affliction,
⁹he tells them what they have done –
    that they have sinned arrogantly.
¹⁰He makes them listen to correction
    and commands them to repent of their evil.
¹¹If they obey and serve him,
    they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity
    and their years in contentment.
¹²But if they do not listen,
    they will perish by the sword^[a]
    and die without knowledge.