Talks2u

This is really important!

Read the Bible verses and try to answer the questions
- writing the answers on a piece of paper may help.

The Beginning
Read Genesis chapter 1v1-3 and v 25
1) What does v1 tell us about how long God has been around?
2) How does God create? v3
3) What does God say at the end of v25?
At the end of these verses - 10, 12, 18, 21 we read that what God made was ALL good (no evil or bad in it at all!)
4) Read Genesis 1v26-31. God then made the first humans. What is special about what He says about mankind? What is the difference between us and the animals? God saw everything He had made and it was VERY good. Humans are not just another animal we are different (read 2v7)
Everything was good and perfect at the beginning.
5) Read Genesis 2v15-17. What did God tell Adam not to do in 2v17?
6) What did God say would happen if he ate from it?
7) Read Genesis chapter 3. What did Adam and Eve do?
8) Why did they do it?
The devil's plan today is to twist God’s words and persuade us not to believe what God says. The purity and innocence of Adam and Eve was lost and fear, blame, death etc. entered the world! God then told them what would happen because they had done the wrong thing.
9) Do you know what is special about 3v15? (It is to do with Jesus)
10) Why did God send them out of the garden? 3v22
Because Adam and Eve disobeyed God it made a barrier between them and Him and they began to do evil in the world.

What has this got to do with us?
We are Adam and Eve’s relatives and we have inherited from them a sinful nature, which means that we all do bad things - even a baby does not need to be taught how to be naughty!
11) Read Romans 5v18-19. We are sinners because of what?
12) Before we become a Christian we are what? Ephesians 2v1,5?
13) How does God describe the good things that we do? Isaiah 64v6?
14) What is the punishment for sin? Luke 12v4-5, Revelation 20v15, 2 Thessalonians 1v8-9
God is very loving but He is also very Holy and cannot just ignore bad things. Everything that is done against Him and His ways is bad in His eyes. Everything that is not perfect is sinful and has to be punished!

What is the solution?
If God had just left us to ourselves we would have all ended up in Hell, suffering for ever and ever. But God did not want everyone to go there and so He made a way of escape - a way for us to be saved!
In the Old Testament God chose a special people, called the Jews, to follow Him. God told them that if they did bad (sin) they deserved to be punished with death but instead of killing the person that had done wrong He gave other instructions...
15) Read Leviticus 1v2-4. What type of animal did it have to be?
16) Hebrews 9v22 teaches us what?
The Bible tells us that a pure animal dying so people could be forgiven was a picture of what was to come! Jesus is perfect and innocent and is God the Son - He came down to this earth to be the final sacrifice, the guiltless dying to free the guilty.
17) Read Isaiah 53v3-9. This tells us what would happen to Jesus.
18) Read John 1v29. What did John the Baptist call Jesus?
19) Hebrews 10v10 tells us what?

We will not seek after God
God knows that our sinful nature is so strong that we would never look to Him to be saved if we were left on our own (Romans 3v10-12) God knew that if He just waited we would never turn to Him.
20) So what did He do? John 15v16,19
21) What does He give people so they will be able to believe in Him? Ephesians 2v8-9
Salvation is simply a gift that He gives, not because some people are better than others but simply because He has decided to - even though nobody deserves it at all. The reason that people believe in Jesus is that He gives them the gift of faith to believe.

How does Jesus dying on a cross free me from the bad things I've done?
We are human and we have done wrong against an infinite God - This means that we deserve an infinite amount of punishment for what we have done. Jesus, who is God, came down to this earth and was born as a human and yet he was perfect and never did anything wrong. He was killed on a cross and His Father in heaven punished Him with the punishment we deserve. He wasn’t guilty at all and so He didn’t deserve any punishment.
It takes a human an infinite amount of time to take an infinite amount of punishment and it would also take an angel (a created being) an infinite amount of time to take an infinite amount of punishment. But being God (and therefore infinite) Jesus was able to take an infinite amount of punishment in a finite length of time (a matter of hours). So when Jesus was on the cross He literally took the punishment for those who would believe in Him.
When Christians die God will not punish them for what they have done wrong because their punishment has already been taken by Jesus and they are now forgiven and set free. When people really understand how much Jesus did it should make them very grateful and full of love for Him and want to follow Him with everything!

Jesus is coming back to this earth!
22) Read Luke 24v1-6. Jesus didn’t stay dead, He came back to life and is still alive today.
23) Read Acts 1v6-10. Jesus has now gone back to Heaven (without dying). He will return again one day as a King and a Judge.

Hard Times

1 Peter 4 v16
"If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed but let him glorify God."

How do you react when it seems like everything is going wrong and
you are going through hard times?
Are you angry, annoyed, upset or happy?

We will all sooner or later have hard times in our lives - but the way we react in these terrible circumstances should say something about us.

The Peter that wrote this letter called, in the Bible, 1 Peter was a man that was a very close friend of Jesus during his life on the earth. He saw Jesus do amazing miracles and yet when Jesus was arrested and Peter thought he himself might suffer for being a Christian he lied and pretended that he was not a follower of Jesus. The words he writes in His letter are very different from the way that he reacted.
- so what had he learnt that made him change?

1 Peter 4v16 "If you are reproached for the name of Christ blessed are you, for the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you"

Peter had learnt that if you are having a hard time because you are a Christian then you are blessed by God and the spirit of God rests on you. He writes in his letter, if this is true for you then (1 Peter 4v13) "rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's suffering"

If you believe in Jesus and you act like His representative here on earth, in the way you live and the things you do and say, then if you have a hard time you need to realise that God is looking after you and will bless you. Because of this we are told to "count it all joy" (James 1v2) and "give thanks in everything". (1 Thessalonians 5v18)

Unfortunately God is not blessing everyone in their hard times - it is not true for everyone, it is only true for those that are followers of Jesus. If you do not know Jesus then the very best thing that you can do is to let the bad, hard times you are experiencing now turn you away from trusting in your self. Look to Jesus and ask Him to rescue you from the even harder times that WILL come upon you when you die. Jesus is the only one who can rescue you from the promise of eternal punishment which is yours to come if you have never put your trust in Him.

- THINK -

- Knowing God's blessing in the hard times makes the hard times better -
If you don't know God the hard times you are experiencing now are easy compared to the hard times he says you will experience after death.

The future

Ephesians 1v11 "He works all things according to the counsel of His will."

Does God really know what is going to happen in the future?
How does He know what is going to happen?

There are many places in the Bible where the Lord God tells people what is going to happen in the future. Zechariah lived about 2500 years ago, which is about 500 years before Jesus was living on the earth. Zechariah was called a prophet because he told people messages from God. Many of his messages were about things that the Lord God was going to do in the future. Here are some examples of what he said would happen...

Zechariah 9v9 "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey."

Zechariah 11v12-13 "Then I said to them, 'If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain.' So they weighed out for my wages 30 pieces of silver and the Lord said to me, 'Throw it to the potter' - that princely price they set for me. So I took the 30 pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter."

When Jesus was on the earth both of these events occurred just as God had said they would! The predictions came true with incredible accuracy...

Matthew 21v6-11 tells us about when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. We are told that many people thought Jesus was going to be their king and so they shouted and waved palm branches to welcome him to Jerusalem.

Matthew 26 & 27 tells us all about when one of Jesus' friends, Judas, betrayed Jesus. We are told that they paid him 30 pieces of silver and that after he had handed Jesus over to the authorities to be killed he felt really bad for what he had done. Judas then decided that he did not want the money and so he went to the temple and threw the money onto the floor. The priests gathered the money up and decided to buy a field from a potter with the money.

If you compare both of these predictions that Zechariah made with the events that took place 500 years later you will see that God knew the future with incredible accuracy.

BUT - how did the Lord God know what was going to happen?

The fact that God gets it right all of the time shows us that it is not just a lucky guess! The Bible teaches us that the reason God knows the future is that He actually plans the future!

Ephesians 1v11 "He works all things according to the counsel of His will"
Daniel 4v35 "He does according to His will in Heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand."
Proverbs 16v3 "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord"

The God of the Bible is very big and very powerful and we need to honour Him and give our lives to Him. God has planned a time in the future when He will judge everyone who has ever lived. This judgment will happen and there is nothing we can do to avoid it - we just need to make sure that we are ready for it when it happens. Have you said sorry to Jesus for doing wrong and living your life for yourself? Say sorry to Him today and put your trust in Jesus - that He died so that you can be forgiven and set free to start again.

- THINK -

God has never got it wrong before - when He says there is a
day of judgment coming, we know that it will definitely happen.

Who for?

Zechariah 7v5 "When you fasted and mourned... did you really fast for me?"

Who do you do things for?
Did you know that doing a religious act is not important?
The thing that is important is why we are doing it and who we are doing it for!

The Jews in Zechariah's time thought that fasting and mourning about the sad time when their temple was destroyed would please God and make Him really happy with them. But what they didn't think about was that God had never asked them to mourn and fast about the destruction of the temple. In fact the Bible tells us that it was to punish the disobedience of God's people, the Jews, that God had allowed the temple to be destroyed. God wanted the people to turn back to Him - He didn't want them to just feel sorry for themselves that such a sad thing had happened. God said to them "Did you really fast for me?" or were you just doing it for yourselves?

All across the world there are many people going to churches and church meetings who think that the Lord our God is pleased with them because they are going to church, because they sing some songs to Him, because they give some money to the church and say a prayer. But God would say to these people - are you really doing it for me?

Did you know that it is possible to follow a religion and think you are following Jesus?

The difference between following a religion and following Jesus is what is going on inside your heart and mind. If you really are a follower of Jesus you will want to live your whole life for Him. He will be the reason that you do everything that you do. He will be the one you think of when you make decisions in your life.

The Bible says that at the end of time when Jesus comes again to this earth and judges people, He will say to those that did not love and follow Him - "depart from me because I never knew you" - and these people will be sent to hell where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Jesus will say "depart" even to people that went to church each week and prayed prayers and gave money. When we think about the words Jesus uses we can learn what is really important. Jesus will not say "depart from me because you never did anything for me" - but because he didn't know you! We need to know Jesus and have a friendship with Jesus.

If you are not sure if Jesus does know you then today is a great day for you to stop doing religious things to try and make God happy with you and today is a great day to start a friendship with Jesus. Why don't you say sorry to Him for trying to live to please yourself and thank Him for dying on the cross for you to take the punishment you deserve.

If we know Jesus and Jesus know us then He will never tell you to "depart" - instead at the end of time He will welcome you to be with Him forever in a place where there is no more sorrow, no more sadness and no more pain.

- THINK -

While you are still alive it is never to late to start a friendship with Jesus.

Tradition!

Mark 7v9 "You reject the commandment of God that you may keep your traditions"

Do you like traditions or not?
Do you know how many traditions you follow?
Traditions touch on every area of our lives but are they good or bad?

I have lived both in England and in the Fiji Islands and I am now very aware of traditions and cultures. I find it fascinating how many things we do just because it is the way we have been told to do them by our parents or by society. I'll give you an example that I watched only a few days ago.

I was at a small meeting in someone's home (who none of us knew very well) and as we came into their home they asked us if we would like a drink and then they gave us the drink that we had asked for. Sitting on a table in the middle of the room was a very large plate with some biscuits and cakes on it. The persons whose house it was never asked anyone if they would like some of the food and so that plate full of food just sat there looking at us as nobody felt it would be right to help themselves. The meeting and discussions lasted for 2 hours during which time everyone drank their drinks but nobody touched the food.

Now when you read this story what you think about it will depend upon what country you are from! I suspect that you will either think that the people in this meeting were either silly or if you are from the UK you will think that they did the right thing! What in fact they did was the culturally correct thing but interestingly enough if they had been somewhere else in the world their actions would have been incredibly offensive!

Every culture and sub-culture has their own correct way to do things! Even religions and churches have a culture and each denomination (or type of church) has its own sub-culture too! Haven't we made life so complicated for each other?! Do you think that this is fair or right? Is it good to think badly of people that don't know the "right" way to do things? What does Jesus think about this? What does the Bible have to say on this subject? How important is it that we make people change to do things our way?

In Mark chapter 7 we have a true story about Jesus and Jewish tradition. The Pharisees and scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders?". The Pharisees were convinced that their traditions were important to God but really they were just rules made up by men. This is the same for many of our traditional, cultural rules too. Jesus said to them in Mark 7v9 "You reject the commandment of God that you may keep your traditions"

A very important question to ask is how do we know what things God thinks are important and what are just simply unimportant traditions - the answer is by looking in God's Word, the Bible. If God says in the Bible that it is something that we should or should not do then that particular thing is important. BUT if the rule or tradition is not said to be important in the Bible then it is really not that important and we must not make it out to be something important.

Jesus said in Mark 7v6 "This people honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men". God does not want us to teach people to learn how to fit in with a Christian culture. He wants people to turn to Him and to live godly lives but that is not the same as having to become churchey! When people are told that they must become churchey we are guilty of "making the Word of God of no effect through your tradition" (Mark 7v13).

Here are two very big church traditions for you to think about, it might surprise you to realise that the Bible doesn't tell us that we need to do either of them...
- celebrating Christmas
- celebrating Easter

Next time you start to become annoyed with someone, stop and ask yourself if this is something that is really important in God's opinion. Next time you think that your church has got it right and other churches are wrong, stop and ask yourself "Has God ever told us how to do this particular thing?" or is it just a tradition of man to do it a particular way. The only way that we are really going to know the difference between a tradition and something that is important to the Lord Almighty is by reading and remembering what His Word says.

- THINK -

Remember traditions are fine as long as they do not disagree with the principles set out in the Bible and they do not make us treat people badly who do not follow our tradition or culture.

Able to do more

Ephesians 3v37 "able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think"

What do you want the Lord God to do for you today?
What do you need Him to help you with?
How do we know what God is like and what He can do?

In Romans 15v4 we read "For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope"

I don't know if you have ever read much of the Bible but if you have you will have noticed that most of it is not a list of instructions about what to do or not do to please God. Much of the Bible is stories about what happened to people lives, what they did and said and how God was involved in their lives.

God has given us His Bible so that when we read it we may feel comforted by the things we read and have hope that if God did that for them then maybe He will help us too. The Bible is full of true stories about how God effected and got involved in the lives of real men and women. It shows us throughout it's pages that the Lord God is involved in real lives - Our lives are also real, God can be involved in our lives too.

Let's remind ourselves of some of the things God has done in the past...
- creating the universe, the world and people just by speaking
- great rivers temporarily drying up so that people can cross them
- city walls falling to the ground so that God's army could get in
- birds bringing food to feed God's prophet Elijah
- A commander in the army being healed of a terrible disease
- Jesus feeding more than 5000 people from a few loaves of bread
- Jesus stopping the storm

If God could do those things for people back then in Bible times - He can also do them for you today. He hasn't changed, He is just the same. Whatever your problem or trial or difficulty remember that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.

The Bible teaches us that if we are one of Jesus' followers then God is for us - He is on our side and He will do what is the very best thing for us. If He decides not to get rid of our problem then it is not because He is not able to but because He wants us to learn through being in the storm. Even then He will not leave you to struggle alone but will be with you in it and help you through it.

If you are not one of Jesus' followers then the Bible has many stories about how God was involved in lives like yours. Sometimes God judged them and punished them, othertimes He gave them another chance AND another chance. But the Bible is clear that those who do not believe in Jesus - saying sorry to Him and giving their lives to follow Him - will end up being punished in hell forever.

- THINK -

If you need HOPE or COMFORT then try reading the stories in the Bible - but remember there is NO real hope if you don't believe in Jesus.

God uses anyone

Luke 1v37 "For with God nothing will be impossible"

Have you ever thought that God can't be interested in you because you are not important in this world? Have you ever thought that your job in this world is really unimportant and God can't you use you in it?

In Luke chapter 1 we learn all about Mary the mother of Jesus. it is easy for us to think that she must have always been an important lady because of the very important role she played in the story of Jesus . But this is not true - before the angel came to see her she was nobody important and did not even have an important job in her town.

When the angel came to see Mary she was inside the house, maybe she was cleaning or sweeping, just carrying on with the normal tasks of life - day after day. She was not expecting anything, it was just a normal day when suddenly God broke into her normal day and normal routine.

When the angel spoke to Mary he told her that she was "highly favoured" and "blessed" and that she had "found favour with God". When she heard these things she simply replied "Behold the maidservant of the Lord" - I am your servant she said.

Do you feel unimportant? Do you feel like you are just a small insignificant part of this big world? Like nobody could be interested in you and that you can't do anything important for God?

If you had spoken to Mary before she met the angel she may well have described herself in this same way. But because we have the scriptures we know what the Lord God did through her. Was it because Mary suddenly changed into a different type of person? No, the clue is in v37 "For with God nothing will be impossible". God took someone that was nothing and made something special out of them. God can do the same for you! We need to give our lives to Him - saying like Mary that we are the servant of the Lord willing to do what He wants.

If God can create the world out of nothing, if He can make the virgin Mary bring forth a son, if He can raise the dead back to life then the Lord God can do anything. With God nothing is impossible!

- THINK -

When you are going through the boring routines of everyday life,
feeling unimportant - remember Mary.

Give your life to Jesus as His servant and He will use you to
do important things for Him in His Kingdom.

What a gift

Galatians 4v4
"When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman"

Have you ever been given a gift at Christmas time or on your birthday that seemed the perfect gift? Have you ever stopped to think what makes a good gift?

Often we think the gift we have been given is a good one if it is one of the following...
- a gift that shows us we are loved,
- a gift that costs a lot,
- a surprise,
- a gift that lasts a long time,
- just what we needed.

Jesus came to earth from Heaven as a gift to us, do you think He was a good gift?

Some gifts are good gifts because they show us that we are loved by the giver. Sometimes you may not think much of the gift itself - but the gift does make you feel loved. I don't know what you think about the gift of Jesus, but one thing that you can't deny is that leaving Heaven and coming to earth to rescue us was a gift of love to us. The Bible says that God the Father sent Jesus (His only Son) to this world because He "so loved the world" (John 3v16), which means because He so loved YOU!

Where would you prefer to be - King of Heaven or a baby growing up in a world of selfishness, hate and violence? It cost Jesus a lot to come here and it also cost Him a great amount to die on the cross to rescue you. The gift of Jesus was a very costly gift.

Sometimes we know we are going to get a gift but we are surprised by what it is. Other times the surprise is that we get given a gift when we are not expecting one. The gift of Jesus was both types of surprise. The Bible explains that when we were like a dead person towards God, He chose to rescue us. When we were not at all interested in Him, He came to find us. He surprised us by His kindness in sending the gift! The type of gift was also a surprise because it involved God becoming a man and suffering in our place - nobody was expecting the God who made everything to do that!

It is always a sad time when a gift we like breaks or runs out and we have to throw it away. The gift of Jesus will never run out! We are told that Jesus came to rescue us and the Bible says that "whoever believes in Him (Jesus) will not perish but will have everlasting life". If you believe in the gift, giving your life to follow Jesus, then you will live forever with Him. The gift of Jesus lasts a very long time - even after you die the gift continues to work!

Sometime we don't know that we need a particular thing until someone gives it to us as a gift and then we think to ourselves - how did I ever do without it! Many people do not think that they need the gift of Jesus, they think that they will get along absolutely fine without Him. But this is not true, humans were designed to have a friendship with God and we are more complete as a person when we know Jesus. Also dying without the gift means choosing to spend forever in Hell instead of Heaven. The gift of Jesus was just what we needed.

We hope that this has shown you that
Jesus is not just a good gift but the Perfect Gift.

- THINK -

What type of gift do you think Jesus is?

Sometimes we don't realise how much we need something until we actually have it!

Where is your treasure?

Matthew 6v21 "Where your treasure is there your heart will be also"

Where is your heart?
Where are your longings?
What absorbs and consumes you?

There is a real tendency for most of us to so easily be persuaded to hold tightly to this world and it's fallen ways because it is all that we know. It may surprise you to know that the things we see and touch in this world are in reality less permanent than the eternal things that will happen to us when we die. The reality of life after death should be at the centre of our world view - but our minds and physical sensations battle with this truth.

Colossians 3v2 says "Set your mind on things above not on things on the earth" - this is not escapism but it is what the Lord wants and what scripture commands.

Two of the parables that Jesus told were about hidden treasure and a pearl. In both stories the person concerned gave up every worldly possession and worldly comfort so as to obtain something that was of greater value.

Jesus tells us to not "lay up for yourselves treasures on earth" because they will not last. Instead He instructs us to "lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven" because these will last for ever.

- THINK -

Where is your heart? Where are you storing up your treasure? If this world is all you know about then you need to find out more about Jesus - there is so much more to life than what you are experiencing now! If you do believe in and follow Jesus then the question for you to think about is...

- Where is most of your treasure stored? -

Who is your father?

Philippians 4v11 - Jesus said "If God were your Father you would love me?"

Would you say that you LOVED Jesus?
If not, then according to the Bible, the devil is your Father!

About 2000 years ago Jesus said "If God were your Father you would love me". This means that if you do not love Jesus, God is not your Father. Jesus then went on to say that if God is not your Father, "you are of your father the devil and the desires of your father you want to do!"

Maybe that offends you but it is the truth that Jesus spoke. If your father is the devil then it is him that will be your biggest motivation and influence. The devil is a liar and the father of lies and deceit - do not be fooled by him into thinking you are okay as you are - turn to Jesus and ask Him to save you from the punishment you deserve for breaking God's law.

If you do love Jesus then God is your Father!
He is the best Father you could ever have!

God your heavenly Father loves you completely - He cannot love you any more than He already does and He will never stop loving you! Jeremiah 31v3 says "I have loved you with an everlasting love" and Romans 8v31-39 tells us that nothing can separate us from the love of God, nothing at all. We are safe, we are secure and we are truly loved and cherished.

If God is for us who can be against us? (Romans 8v31)

The Bible says that if God was even prepared to go to the extent of giving up his own Son for us, then surely He will freely give us all things!

If you are a Christian then God loves you as a Father loves a child. You make mistakes, you let God down but He still loves and cares for you.

God your heavenly Father is thinking good thoughts about you right now. He is in love with you and wants to help, care and provide for you. He really loves you and He desires a closer friendship with you.

- THINK -

Who is your Father?
Who is the biggest influence on you ?

Be content

Philippians 4v11 "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, to be content."

How content are you now?
How content are you when things go wrong?

When the Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the Philippian church he was in prison. Paul had been through many terrible things in his life since believing in Jesus - whipped, beaten, in prison, stoned, shipwrecked, in pain, hungry, thirsty, cold (2 Corinthians 11v23-27). Wherever Paul was, whatever he was going through, whatever people were doing to him, whatever God let happen to him - Paul had LEARNT to be content!

What was it that Paul had learnt and we NEED to learn?

There are 3 places in the Gospels when Jesus says "be of good cheer". It is clear from reading the Bible that Paul knew and understood these truths...

1. Be of good cheer your sins are forgiven you! (Matthew 9v2)

If we believe in Jesus then we need to keep in our minds that we are forgiven for all the bad we have done. What joy there is in knowing that our guilt has been taken away for ever. God says these words to those who have been forgiven... "All things work together for good to them that love God" (Romans 8v28). There are 2 truths that we desperately need to cling on to at all times - God is in control and God is good! If we are a Christian then we know that whatever the suffering is we are going through - it will ALL work together for good.

2. Be of good cheer it is I do not be afraid! (Matthew 14v27)

Jesus said this to His disciples when they were on a lake and in a very dangerous storm. He came to help them walking on the water and said these words to them -They no longer needed to be afraid because Jesus was with them. We need to also remember that Jesus is with us (Matthew 28v20) - whatever you are going through, you are not alone, Jesus is with you.

3. Be of good cheer I have overcome the world! (John 16v33)

Jesus overcame the world through His life, His death and His resurrection and it is because He overcame the world for us that we can have that sure and certain hope of Heaven. Our guarantee of a place in Heaven has nothing to do with how well we have done - because we will certainly fail to overcome the world! But God says that we are more than conquerors through him who loved us (Romans 8v37), because He has overcome the world for us. As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ we are now just travelling through this foreign land that we used to call home - on the way to our real home in Heaven.

How can we be content in all circumstances?
By being of good cheer because our sins are forgiven.
By being of good cheer because Jesus is with us.
By being of good cheer because Jesus has overcome the world giving us a sure and certain hope of Heaven.

If you are not a real believer in the Lord Jesus Christ then what I have just written above is not true for you!

There is no true contentment without Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. There is no contentment in being separated from God your maker - the source of all love, life, light and comfort - no contentment in this world and certainly not in Hell when you die. Turn to Jesus now and say you are sorry for the bad things you do and give Him your life just as He gave up His life for you on the cross.

- THINK -

How wonderful it would be to be able to say like Paul...
"I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, to be content"

Why Jesus?

Romans 5v19 "For as by one man's (Adam's) disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience many will be made righteous."

Why did Jesus, need to come to the earth?
Why not just a perfect man? Why not an angel? Why Jesus?

As humans we ALL do, think and say bad things from time to time - some of us more than others! We all disobey God and we all therefore sin.
But why do we do that?

To answer this we need to look right back at the beginning of time. In the book of Genesis, which tells us about the beginning, we read that Adam and Eve were created perfect but then they disobeyed God by eating from a tree that God had told them not to. This wrong act spoilt our perfect world. We have all come from Adam and Eve and we are like them - humans who do wrong and disobey God.

God hates all of our sins - small ones and big ones. The Bible tells us that He has condemned all under sin, heading for an eternity of punishment in the Lake of Fire. We are all lost and when we die we will be subject to the horrific wrath of the Almighty God. We are all related to Adam, and his sin and our own sins have brought this upon us.

It is us humans that deserve to be punished and it is only a human that can justly take the punishment. But how much punishment would this human need to take? For each human to go free, an eternity of suffering in the Lake of Fire needs to be paid - so for 100 humans to be saved the price is 100 lots of everlasting punishment! No human can pay for all that! 1 perfect human could only take the punishment for 1 human - to do more than this would be impossible!

Why Jesus? - Jesus, God the Son, came as a perfect man to this earth to take the punishment for us. He came as a human so that He could take the punishment that humans deserve. But He is also God and so He could take an infinite amount of suffering in a few hours on the cross, so that millions of humans could go free.

Why Jesus? - because no one else could rescue us. We all needed this loving God-Man to come to die and suffer in our place so that we could be forgiven and go to be with God when we die.

What do you think to this baby born in a manger?
Will you turn your back on Him and say "no thanks I'll take my chances without you"? OR will you believe with all your heart that He came to rescue you and will you choose to follow Him?

Why Jesus? - Because there is no other way!

God is all powerful

Psalm 115v3 "Our God is in heaven, He does whatever He pleases"

God has enough power to do whatever He wants to do!

"He spoke and it was done, He commanded and it stood fast" Psalm 33v9
There is nothing at all that God wants to do but can't do because of a lack of power. In fact God can do anything just as easily as He can do anything else!

As humans, some things we find easy to do and other things we find harder - But it is not like that with God. Everything is easy for Him - nothing tires Him out or requires Him to put in more effort! It is just as easy for God to put a thought into someone's mind as it is for Him to make a new house appear in the middle of your road! Both of these things are just as easy for God because God is ALL powerful.

This probably raises a few questions in your mind - one of which may be, if God can do anything really easily then why does He not help more people and answer more prayers? The truth is God has the power to answer every single prayer you pray in an instant but He often decides not to - but why? The answer is that God knows what is best for us and He looks at the "bigger picture" whereas we just see the "here and now". Sometimes afterwards we can see why God did not do what we wanted Him to do - other times it remains a mystery.

But one thing we do know for certain is that "God is love" (1 John 4v8) and His wisdom and knowledge goes far beyond our human understanding. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55v9). Therefore we can say with certainty that, if God chooses not to do it then if only we could see and understand like God we would choose the same!

God is ALL powerful He does whatever He wants!

And He does whatever is best.

God is everywhere

Psalm 139v7 "Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?"

How does it make you feel to know that God is everywhere?

Often we think of God as being a bit like a big version of us and so we find it hard to imagine how He can be everywhere! But God is Spirit and therefore not restricted to our human boundaries!

When we imagine the most evil place in the world, the darkest most horrid situation in existence, it is hard for us to imagine that God is there. In our finite minds we come to the conclusion that surely the very fact that such places exist means that God is not there. However the Bible clearly says in Psalm 139v8 "if I make my bed in hell, behold you are there". If God's presence can be in hell it is quite clear that He can be anywhere!

The fact that God can be anywhere is not to say that God agrees that the things that happen everywhere are good - far from it! We are told in many places in the Bible that God thinks that most of our human actions are evil, coming from an evil heart and attitude.

So what difference does it make to us that God is everywhere?
It means that we are never alone!

We may feel alone but that is just because we do not always see things as they really are. We are never alone - There is nowhere we can go where God is not there also!

How does it make you feel to know you are never on your own?
It probably depends on whether what you are doing is good or bad!

Maybe you have tried to avoid being seen by certain people so that you can get away with doing something bad - BUT we can't avoid God, He is there and He sees - We cannot get away with anything!

Maybe you have had times of feeling alone or vulnerable and wished that someone was there with you. Well God is there with you - and if you have decided to follow Him then not only is He there with you but He is also on your side, there to help, strengthen and encourage you!

Knowing that God, the all powerful, all mighty, supernatural being is with you wherever you go can be incredibly encouraging and empowering but it can also be daunting and worrying - Which of those you think depends simply on whether you are a follower of Jesus or whether you have rejected Him and His ways.

Can I encourage you to be a follower of Jesus - giving your life to Him.

- REMEMBER -

You are never alone because God is there with you!

God knows everything

Hebrews 4v13 "And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account."

How does it make you feel to know that God knows everything about you?

I suppose the answer to that question depends on how good a person you think you really are. Don't forget that God also knows the things you do when nobody else is watching and the things that go on inside your mind! Knowing that the Lord God knows these things too - how does it make you feel now?

There are 2 positive things we can think about God knowing everything. One is negative on first appearance but positive when we delve deeper and the other is obviously positive...

Starting with the obviously positive...

How many times have you thought that nobody is interested in what you do or think? - That nobody appreciated that kind thing you did? The answer is that someone did see and was pleased that you were so kind to someone else. God saw, God was looking, God noticed and if it was a genuinely good thing that you did then God was really pleased with you for doing it. There really is nothing that goes unnoticed.

Moving on to the negative point that is also positive!...

Everything is known by God which means He knows about all those thoughts we hoped were secret. All those things we hoped nobody would ever find out about He already knows! I expect that makes you feel a bit guilty - as if you have been caught and exposed for who you really are. The truth is, whoever we are, there is bad we have done and bad we have thought. The Bible says "There is no one righteous no not one." (Romans 3v10) "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3v23) We have all failed to live up to God's standard of perfection.

But God is great, God is wonderful and God is so kind towards us that He doesn't leave us feeling down and bad but He goes on to turn this guilt into something positive...

Hebrews 13v14-16 "Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathise with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

Jesus is God and yet He came down and lived as a man on this world so that He could make a way of escape for us from the consequences of the bad things that we do. We are told that the punishment that we deserved was put upon Him when He died on the cross (Isaiah 53v4-5). The quote above (from the book of Hebrews) explains that Jesus knows that we struggle to be good all the time. He knows what it is to be tempted by bad thoughts but He never gave in to the temptations, unlike us. HOWEVER He does understand and so the Bible passage tells us that if we go to Jesus we will obtain mercy (forgiveness) and find grace to help us in our time of need.

When we come to Jesus and believe in Him He forgives us for all our sins. The things we think and do that we didn't want people to know about and the things we have done wrong that people have seen can all be forgiven by Jesus when we come to Him and say we need Him to help and save us.

God never just sat there and said, "Aren't they bad" - He came, He understands and He offers us mercy if we go to Jesus. What a kind, loving and caring God He is!

- REMEMBER -

God is watching you and He knows your actions and thoughts - you can't hide from Him as He sees and knows everything. Because of this let us seek to improve our deeds and thoughts. And if you have never understood your need for mercy - don't delay, come to Jesus now and ask for Him to rescue you in your time of need.

How big do you really think God is?

When you think of God what do you compare Him to in your mind?

We are all, at times, guilty of thinking of God as smaller than He really is!