The Lord is my Shepherd

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. 

He makes me lie down in green pastures, 

he leads me beside quiet waters, 

he restores my soul. 

He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

 I will fear no evil, for you are with me; 

your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. 

You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,

 and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. 

                                                                                                  Psalm 23

What more can we want than the Lord as our Shepherd?
With God in our life we can go through anything. Even in the midst of sorrow and trials God is there for us.
Psalm 139:13-18 states,
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 
 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. 
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 
Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.”
To put your trust in God is a wonderful thing.
We will go through a lot in life but if we know the Jesus as our Lord and Saviour we have nothing to fear.
A few years ago I was found to have a cancerous tumour on my leg. Worse yet it had spread to the lymph nodes in my groin.
As a result I had underwent an operation to remove the tumour and the affected Lymph nodes.
Thirty nine days later I was rushed to hospital with two massive blood clots in my lungs and one in my groin, the result of the cancer surgery.
I could have died. Yet I felt no fear.
I honestly can’t say I quoted any particular scripture. Although both Psalm 23 and 139 did come to mind.
I can however remember being completely calm. I had no fear because I knew God was with me. And Christians always win.
Were I to die I knew I would be in the arms of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Were I to live, which obviously I did. I would have a wonderful testimony of how God was there for me.
God has always been there for me. Letting God into my life was the best decision I have ever made.
Over the fifty-nine years I have lived, sadly, I have witnessed a lot of personal tragedy. Yet I know God has always been their for me.
And he can be for you. Will you at least consider making Jesus Lord of your life today.
Think about it.

Weeds

“He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man.  
The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one,  and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. 
“As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age.  
The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.  
They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  
Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.” 
            Matthew 13:37-43 Jesus explaining the parable of the weeds.

Jesus in explaining the parable of the weeds makes it clear that one day there will be judgment on the earth.
That weeds, the “sons of the evil one” will be plucked up and burned in the fire. In other words the world will be cleaned up once and for all. The evil of the world removed leaving the true believer to “shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”
Weeds can infest everything. They grow easily even when the good seed cannot.
The church is not immune from weeds and sin creeping in.
Over the years we have heard of many prominent evangelist who have let sin enter their lives and thus has destroyed their ministry.
There are also ministers and evangelist out their who are out their perverting the word of God for their own gain.
We must as Christians be careful about who we put our trust in.
We need to look long and hard at what the minister or evangelist is saying. We need from time to time question what they are saying. Asking does what they are saying truly line up with the overall word of God. Or is the person just ‘cherry’ picking. Putting together verses that make what the preacher is saying sound correct, when it really isn’t.
We need to examine what is being said.
Look at all the verses quoted in the context they were used in the chapters they were taken from.
As Christians we need to be asking hard questions of our pastors, teachers and evangelist.
It is essential that we ask them to explain anything we don’t understand or seems like it is being misinterpreted.
An honest preacher will never shy away from questions.
My pastor and I jointly teach a bible study every Wednesday. We have an agenda. We study various books of the bible and biblical topics systematically.
We are however open at any time to questions about anything.
For us a typical bible study opens by asking if anyone has any questions about anything before we start the study. People are also encouraged to stop us at any time during the study to ask questions.
The questions asked particularly prior to the start of the study have been from a wide range of topics, usually unrelated to our study. They are questions people have about what they have read during the week to what they have heard on television, radio or other forms of media.
We do our best to answer all the questions then and there.  Which praise God we have nearly always been able to do so.
Every now and then while we can quote the verse pertaining to the answer we sometimes can’t find it. At that point we tell the person we’ll have the quote for the following week or for Sunday.
This I believe is how it should be.
We are even going to the point of bringing a lap top computer to our studies in the new year as one more resource in helping us study better.
I truly believe the individual should be able to question the pastor or priest of their own church. They should be able to write and expect an answer from evangelist about what they have spoken.
I believe it is up to the individual to pray and read the scriptures asking God for guidance. It is up to us to read commentaries on the scriptures from reputable sources as well as read some church history.
We in the west particularly here in North America have a great deal of resources at our finger tips. Be it from the library, Christian book stores, or the internet, the ability to inform ourselves on what is right doctrinally is there.
   By being well informed we can see for ourselves when a church leader, be they a bible study teacher, priest, pastor, or evangelist is wrong and can take appropriate action to avoid the false teaching.
In a world of mass media it is easy for false teaching to enter the church. It is easy for sinful men to masquerade as honest teachers.
Jesus makes it clear that all those who do evil will one day be plucked up and cast into the fire. Until then however we need to be aware. Asking God to lead us to all that is truth.
So going into this new year of 2014 let us all pray that God will show His glorious truth through His people wherever they may be.
May this year truly be a year when all Christians everywhere reach a record number of people for our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

A Saviour that is Christ the Lord

“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” 
                                                                                   Luke 2:8-11

On this day when we as Christians celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, may you find the Peace, Joy and Love that only Christ can give.
Merry Christmas and a very Happy new year to all.

Salvation

"Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.  
It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.  
Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required,  
Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: 
“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. 
For my eyes have seen your salvation, 
which you have prepared in the sight of all people, 
a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” 
                                                                                                           Luke 2:25-32

“For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”  The words of Simeon upon seeing Jesus.
Proof Christianity is about God reaching down to man.
Throughout the centuries every culture has believed in an afterlife. They have prepared the bodies of their dead for the afterlife in various ways. Everything from building the pyramids of Egypt to placing simple items people deemed important into graves.
In every case religions of the world have tried to reach up to God. To be as good as they could be.
To meditate to find ultimate enlightenment in the hopes of attaining nirvana or true perfect enlightenment.
Only in Christianity and Judaism, do we see God reaching down to mankind.
God started it all off when he reached down to Abram,
“The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. 
“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.” 
                        Genesis 12:1,2
Because Abram followed God in faith, from his  descendants came the ultimate blessing of salvation to all people through Jesus.
In Jesus we have the infinite God, the creator of the universe enter His own creation and show in purely human terms his love for mankind and just how far He would go to redeem sinful man.
Jesus came into the world to live a perfect life and to die for the sins of every individual that has ever lived or will live.
Jesus said,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”  
     John 3:16,17
 Salvation is a free gift from God all one has to do is accept it.
It’s like being invited to a fine feast. The perfect meal that is beneficial to you in all ways. Yet if you do not eat it, it is of no use to you.
Jesus in John 3:18 issues a warning to those who refuse His salvation when he says   “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” 
                                                                                           John 3:18.
There is no grey areas when it comes to salvation one must accept it as Christ points out or reject it and accept the consequences.
The choice dear reader is yours.
Think about it.

Christ and Christians

“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem  
and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” 
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.  
When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.  
“In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: 
“ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’’” 
                                                                                                                Matthew 2:1-6

It is believed the Magi mentioned here were from Persia. They had travelled possibly for weeks to reach Jerusalem where they ask Herod  “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews.”
Herod must have been furious on the inside. Although he obviously didn’t indicate it to the Magi.
Herod the Great (37-4BC) was a ruthless ruler appointed by the Romans. He murdered his wife, his three sons, mother-in-law, brother-in-law and many, many more. Including the babies of Bethlehem.
Herod would have immediately wanted to know the whereabouts of this king whom he would perceive as a threat to his authority.
What Herod didn’t realize was he was fighting God.
God warned the Magi not to return to Herod and they returned to their homeland by another rout.
Mary and Joseph were also warned and slipped away to the safety of Egypt making Jesus technically a political refugee.
With nothing more to go on than the fact that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, Herod took his wrath out on the innocent babies of Bethlehem.
Herod like all despots failed to see the obvious, that if the prophesy was true he would be fighting God Almighty. A fight he couldn’t win.
Over the centuries many rulers have arisen and tried to take down the church. Today according to humanitarian groups Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world.
These persecutors like Herod fail to see that if indeed Christianity is the way to God. They are fighting God Himself.
The Christians over the centuries have suffered horrendous deaths. They died in the death camps of Hitler. They died for doing what was right protecting God’s people and anyone else that faced persecution under the Nazis.
Christians have died in the gulag’s of the Communist. Simply because they were Christians.
Likewise they have been crucified and tortured  under the regime of Pol Pot in Cambodia and under countless other dictators and despotic regimes.
Christian churches and their houses have been burned by their opponents in riots around the world.
Yet the church still continues on with the message of God’s love and mercy to all mankind.
Perhaps of all of the great Christian leaders in my lifetime Martin Luther King jr. expressed best Christian ideals when he said,

"We thank thee, O God, for the spiritual nature of man.

We are in nature but we live above nature.

Help us never to let anybody or

any condition pull us so low as to cause us to hate.

Give us strength to love our enemies and to do good

to those who despitefully use us and persecute us.

We thank thee for thy Church,

founded upon thy Word, that challenges us to do more

than sing and pray, but go out and work as though

the very answer to our prayers depended on us and not upon thee.

Then, finally, help us to realize that man was created to shine like stars and live on through all eternity.

Keep us, we pray, in perfect peace;

help us to walk together, pray together, sing together,

and live together until that day when all God’s children,

Black, White, Red, and Yellow will rejoice

in one common bond of humanity in the kingdom

of our LORD and of our God, we pray.

Amen."

Jesus came onto the world to offer salvation to all mankind. From the most despotic dictators such as Herod to the most innocent of children.
His message over the centuries is simple,

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, 

for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” 

Matthew 11:28-30 

Will you consider giving your life to Christ?

If you have any questions please feel free to Email me at nealbelieves@gmail.com

A Look at Christmas

Any educated Christian will agree with you that the 25th of December is not the actual birthday of Jesus. Pope Julius I, in the fourth century set the date for Christmas in an effort to Christianise pagan celebrations.
The Puritans in England banned the celebration of Christmas from the time of Elizabeth I (1558-1603) to the middle of the 1800's.
They believed in a strict moral code consisting of prayer and close adherence to the New Testament scriptures.
They believed that since the actual date of Jesus’s birth is not known it should not be celebrated. Especially since the celebration closely resembled the drunken celebration of the Saturnalia of the Romans. The very thing Pope Julius I had tried to change by fixing the date of Christmas on December 25th.
The result was to ban all celebratory activities including decorating houses with evergreens and even the eating of mince pies.
Banning something never works. The result was that when the Victorian era broke Christmas as we know it today came with it.
The Victorians saw the rise of the middle class who had money to spare and at first made it a time of family events with presents and feasting.
They were inspired by the writings of Dickens and his ideals.
Today in the twenty-first century admittedly Christmas celebrations have started to move far away from what the Victorians envisioned Christmas to be. Back some would say to the Saturnalia.
Let’s face it when stores can make forty percent of their years profits in the weeks leading up to Christmas it should tell us we are moving far away from that birth in a Bethlehem stable.
Do people really need an extra gadget. Do they have to spend two hundred, three hundred, a thousand dollars on Christmas gifts?
I like celebrating Christmas. I like my family around me. I even like getting gifts, who doesn’t. But I’m content with what I have.
To me Christmas is sharing and listening to the Christmas story all over again.
In our house we have a tradition. Christmas day morning we get up and read the Christmas story from Luke. It’s a tradition we’ve had since our children were young.
Today my youngest is in his late twenties and still we read the story.
The story means a lot to us. It is the day when God the creator of heaven and earth chose to come into his creation and experience all that it is to be human.
To present us personally with a choice. A choice Jesus spoke of in John 3:16-17 when He is recorded as saying,

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,

 that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,

 but to save the world through him.  

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, 

but whoever does not believe stands condemned already 

because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”  

The choice is yours dear reader. Do you believe that Jesus truly in the one and only Son of God?
That he came to earth to die for your sins?
Think about it.
Email me with what you think at nealsbeliefs@gmail.com.

Christmas

Christmas
And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.
This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria.
So al went to be registered everyone to his own city.
Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth into Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David,
to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child.
So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered.
And she brought forth her first born Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
                                                                                       Luke 2:1-7
Christmas. I have been asked why we celebrate Christmas, especially since the bible gives no date for his birth and experts say it more than likely wasn’t December 25th.
Pope Julius I set the date in the fourth century with the best of intents. Hoping to Christianise the Saturnalia a pagan celebration.
According to what I’ve read by 529 December 25th was a civic holiday.
Throughout the history of Christianity Christian fathers in their wisdom have tried to put Christian meaning to pagan things, the Christmas tree, mistletoe, holly, even carols.
For the most part they succeeded. Not many people in the twenty-first century know what mistletoe or holly meant to the Druids or other pagan groups.
Christians have also been responsible for banning Christmas celebrations.
During the reign of Elizabeth I of England (1558-1603) the puritans banned Christmas celebrations right down to the eating of mince pies. Partly because such celebrations tended to be quite raucous and drunken affairs.
The puritans believed in a strict moral code with copious amounts of prayer.
This ban on Christmas lasted until the Victorian era who broke the ban with a vengeance. Giving us what is essentially our modern Christmas an odd combination of Christian and pagan ways.
Looking at Christmas as we approach Christmas 2013 it seems like in the west the pagan ways are winning.
The world has really stepped in with its call to give bigger, brighter and more expensive presents. Forgetting altogether that it is Jesus’s birthday we are celebrating and it is to him we should be giving our gifts of praise.
I as a Christian for over forty years like Christmas. I don’t like the consumerism force upon us in the western world.
Do we in the west really need another gadget in our home? Do our children need designer toys that cost way too much?
I like my family around me, it’s a feel good thing. We exchange gifts but shun the expensive.
I know my wife and children love me and just as importantly love and serve the Lord their God with all their hart and soul.
And that’s what Christmas is all about. Remembering who Jesus is. Serving Him to the best of our ability and rejoicing over the God of our salvation with our family and friends.
So as we enter the Christmas season we need to heed the words of one of the founders of the Greek Church St Gregory Nazianzen who in 389AD warned us about going to excesses in our celebration.
We need to join with the psalmist who wrote,

Praise the LORD. 

Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. 

Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. 

Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, 

praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, 

praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. 

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. 

Praise the LORD. 

                                                                                          Psalm 150: 1-6
Think about it.

My Beliefs

Someone asked me what I believe here in its simplest form is what I believe,

I believe Jesus as recorded by the apostle John when he says, 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, 

that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, 

but to save the world through him.  

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, 

but whoever does not believe stands condemned already 

because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 

                                                                                                   John 2:16-18
I believe Jesus is the only way to heaven. Jesus saying,

“Jesus answered, 

“I am the way and the truth and the life. 

No one comes to the Father except through me.” 

                                                                                              John 14:6

I believe we are saved through faith. The words of the apostle Paul stating.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves,

 it is the gift of God—  

not by works, so that no one can boast.” 

                                                                                Ephesians 2:8,9

I believe the words of the writer of Hebrews when he writes,

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, 

because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists 

and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” 

                                                                                          Hebrews 11:6
I believe Faith is,

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for 

and certain of what we do not see.” 

                                                                                Hebrews 11:1
I believe,

“If we confess our sins, he (Jesus) is faithful and just

         and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 

                                                                                                              1John 1:9
Think about it.

Questions? email me at nealsbeliefs@gmail.com