Help in Time of Need

1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
2 My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.
6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
8 The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

How many times have I been in trouble with no one to help me? How many hours have I thought and struggled to find and answer or an escape or some small comfort? Far too many, I am afraid. Many times I felt alone in a battle, and never took avail of the help that was so near at hand. For we do have a very present help in times of trouble.

The Psalmist was " looking unto the hills" in hope of help. The hills no doubt sat cool and distant somehow detached and unmoved at his plight. Mountains are great and beautiful things, solemn and peaceful, timeless and strong, but miserable help when we are in distress. I remember growing up in the foothills and mountains of western North Carolina. Often I would take to the woods and the hills and valleys to escape or to just seek new paths I had not yet walked. The deep shadowed hollows and forests were a cool, refreshing place to wander and think the deep, deep thoughts of boyhood. However, sometimes I had troubles and pain, whether emotional or physical, and it was not toward the hills I turned, but toward home. Home offered safety, security and comfort.

The Psalmist looked unto the hills and they stoically looked back, in their unchanging stillness, and he continued on to ask: "From whence cometh my help?" He needed to look beyond the hills in seeking help. In a song I used to hear time to time, the singer would ask: "Is there anybody out there?" I have felt that way. I have felt totally alone.

With great joy I can say with absolute certainty that, "yes, someone is out there", and that Someone is closer than you ever thought. He is there waiting for you to reach out your hand and ask for His help. Verse two says it all: My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. The Psalmist needed to look past the hills to the maker of the hills, and there was help plentiful for whatever he faced. We are never alone. Never forsaken or forgotten. He said He would be with us always, even unto the end of the earth.

First we see that the help comes from someone who has the power to help. The creator who has all power. It would be a sad day to ask for help and have someone who was willing, but unable. Our Lord is both willing and able. He is the Creator of all that is, what problem could we possibly have that would baffle Him or confound His power? Isaiah wrote it this way: "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else"

Next we can know that He can put us in a place so that we can not be moved. A place so safe that not even our foot can slip and put us back in danger. He is holding us tight, and nothing we can do or anyone else can do, can break us free from His grip. He is there always, alert and ready to come to our aid.

Third, He stands guard constantly over our well being. Vs. 5-8 show Him protecting us from every danger.

He saves us from evil here. There are evil men about looking to take advantage or destroy us. The devil walks about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. The world wants us to conform to its immorality and darkness. God protects us from them all, but we have to trust Him and lean on Him, and not our own understanding. Verse 7 promises protection here.
But it goes a long way past the clear and present dangers of this world. It also says that He preserves my soul. Not only here are we protected, but also on that dark day when we slip from this world. He will go with us through the dark valley of death and preserve us through that door into His presence forevermore. While our body dies here on this plane, we can never die if we are in Christ. He will be there and escort us triumphantly into His Father’s presence. There is no death for the saints of God.

We are kept and protected in the Lord Jesus Christ, from this time forth, even forevermore. Amen.

Four Pieces of Good News

1. Jesus was born.

Luke 2:10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

Jesus was born to a very humble beginning in a stall of a stable in an obscure little town in Judea. He did not come to a castle, or to a rich family, or with a great army, but His coming was the culmination of centuries of prophecy and expectation. He was not just another man. He was God in the flesh, Emmanuel. Angels in great joy came to announce his birth, not to the king, not to the politicians, or to the rich, but to a band of shepherds on a hill outside of town. He came to save all people, no matter what their social status was. The Angels spoke true when they said it was “good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” No one is excluded; any and all who come can come to know Him and the joy He brings. Not only are all welcome, all are invited. Come to Him and understand that in Him alone is safety, security, hope, and peace. Wise men sought Him then, wise men still seek Him today.

2. He lived a sinless life, yet knows about temptation.

Hebrews 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin

Imagine standing before a judge who not only had never done anything wrong, but had never even felt the temptation to do something wrong. How unmerciful that judge would be! A judge like that could not understand how we failed, and would punish us without mercy. Our Lord Jesus is not like that. He never sinned, it is true, but He knows the feeling of temptations. He knows how it feels to want something that is not rightfully ours. He faced every type of temptation that we deal with: the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, and yet never sinned. He did not give in and He gives us strength to stand firm as well. 1 Cor. 10:13 says He will provide a way of escape. We have to realize that and look for it, but it is there. There is never, ever, a situation where we are left with no choice but to sin. I notice in the passage that He is TOUCHED with the feeling of our infirmities. I see that two ways. One, He has felt the temptation that we are feeling and knows how we feel. Two, our situation touches Him in His heart and inspires compassion and mercy. He has walked that “mile in our shoes” and has felt our temptations, and “He ever liveth to make intercession for us.” Good knews; He knows where we are coming from.


3. He died for our sins, all of them.

Isaiah 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Above we talked about temptation. Jesus was tempted, but never sinned. We unfortunately, cannot say that. We fail; sometimes so bad we can’t understand how we ever came to that point. Our failures are not just mistakes we can shrug off and go on. Our failures are sin. Sin is transgression of God’s law. God’s law demands perfect obedience. Failure is short of the mark of God’s perfect righteousness, and demands punishment. God’s word says “the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” We are facing the death penalty for breaking God’s law. We have another problem: we cannot pay the debt we owe and can’t pay to cleanse our record. Nothing we can do will wipe the record clean, because all of our actions are tainted with sin. God says “all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” Good works would not clean up our past, take care of our present, or blind God to our future sins. We need help. God knew that and planned from all eternity past to provide for our need. The first verse under number one tells us that a “Saviour” is born, who is Christ the Lord. Jesus was born to save us from our sin, but how? The law said that the punishment for sin is death. We were supposed to die for our sins, but Gods plan was to provide a substitute. That substitute was Jesus Christ. He was taken, beaten, mocked, and nailed to a cross to die in our place. His horrible death shows the seriousness of sin. It’s real and it’s deadly and God is dead serious about it. The good news is that “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” He suffered, we benefit, he died, we live, violence was done to him to bring peace to us, we were critically ill, he died so we could be healed. A few verses later Isaiah tells us that God saw the travail of His soul and was satisfied. Justice had been fulfilled.


4. He arose and holds the keys to death, hell and the grave.

4And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great. 5And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. 6And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.

They came early on the first day of the week to the grave expecting to anoint the body of Jesus. Glorious surprise! The grave was open, the stone was rolled away. They entered and found not Jesus, but a “young man” who gave them the great news: “Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here.” Jesus was not there. Death could not maintain its grip on Him. His sacrifice was accepted and He was alive again. He is risen! We serve a risen saviour, and he ever liveth to make intercession for us. He was born, he lived a sinless life, He died for our sins, and He arose on the third day to show the world that His sacrifice is the all-sufficient, complete, full payment for sin. In Him alone lies salvation. He is the resurrection and the life. We also know that the same power that raised Christ will one day raise all those who are in Christ Jesus.

We live in an insecure world. Jesus is a Solid Rock that never changes. Take hold of Him and He will give you strength to weather any storm and withstand every onslaught of our enemy, the devil. If you have never accepted Him, he waits for you, knocking at the door. Open today and let Him enter your life. Your eternity hangs in the balance.

Sorry Folks. I have been away for a while. Between Going to school, working six and seven days a week, and not getting enough sleep, I was overwhelmed. Pray for me, as I am still facing some serious challenges, and I will try to get back on at least a semi-regular schedule with this. Take care. God Loves You.

We took a youth group up hiking in the mountains yesterday. We had a good hike, and a hard climb, but unfortunately one of our young men fell on a rock and got hurt. Not terribly, but enough to stop our climb and force us to turn and work our way back down to the base of the mountain. It was a long, slow walk with one of us hobbling along taking small, painfull steps. We took our time and made it back fine, and the young man is stiff and sore, but appears fine other than that. Thank God for that. I know he had a purpose in stopping us from going further. I wonder if we had went on to the top if someone might have gotten hurt far worse, since there is one place up there where there is about an eighty foot cliff. I trust in Him and know he knows best. We had a picnic lunch and the a short lesson from the Word of God, then sang a few songs and departed. We have determined to perhaps have a bonfire a bit later in the fall, but will be praying about that. In the meanwhile this whole incident reminds me of the verse, Romans 8:28,

"And we know that all thing work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose."

God Bless and be with us all, amen.

"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God"

Romans 5:1-2

The reason we are not condemned in our sin is because we are justified. That means we have been declared just. Not that we are not guilty, we are. We deserve many times over to be rejected and condemned. We come to God empty handed. "What could a beggar give to a king?" as the old song says. With no merit and deserving nothing, we come to God to seek salvation. We see and know that He is able to save us. We believe and come asking relying solely on the mercy of God and upon His grace. We cannot come with a list of good traits, or submit a resume’ hoping for final approval. It is by His grace alone: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." Ephesians 2:8-9. God begins, in His mercy to deal with our hearts, and begins to show us our lost condition. He also points to the One who has paid the price so that He could offer us salvation full and free. The condition? We must believe what he is telling us, and call on Him alone for salvation trusting in His promises to save. When we do that, we are justified and Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us.

Salvation brings peace. Peace in our heart, and more importantly, peace with God. A relationship with Jesus that saves, will bring us into a blessed peace with God. What a wonderful blessing to be at peace with the creator of the universe, and the One whom made each one of us the individual that we are.

But God does not just save us to let us drift in uncertainty. He makes Himself available to us night and day, day in, day out, week after week, month after month, and all the way down the road right out into eternity. We have access to the throne. We have access to an unlimited supply of grace. Grace for every trial and trouble and heartache. Grace for every day, every witness, every mission, every direction that God would lead us to follow. If you think the mountain is too high to climb….we have access to grace and strength that never runs short.

Lastly, we have something to celebrate. We have a blessed hope of the glory of God, and the hope of eternal salvation in Him. We can rejoice in Him and in knowing and glorifying Him forever. We do not have to walk around with long, somber faces in this world, we can look to a bright tomorrow and have joy in the knowledge that we have a home in heaven, and nothing can take that away.

Praise Him and Bless His holy Name.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
John 1:1-14

Jesus said:
I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
John 9:4-5

Light: It's something we all take for granted everyday. We generally think nothing of the morning as the sky fades from darkness to light, and the world awakens afresh. We walk into rooms and nonchalantly flip a switch to flood the room with light so that we clearly see what we are doing. We only dwell in darkness during sleeping hours, but how often those are hours are filled with fear and trembling, until the light returns and eases our mind. Light, comfort, warmth, love, joy, security, and happiness: all of these things associate together in our mind, but darkness brings thoughts of danger and depression and fear of the unknown. When darkness surrounds us, uncertainty and fear rule the day. Imagine living in a world of total darkness where no light can intrude. Imagine blindness with no hope of ever seeing light again. That was our world without Jesus.

The lost are blind and cannot see light. There is no hope for him to find his way out or to climb out of the black pit that sin holds him in. Not without help. The blind can not see where they are going and that the path they walk is fraught with danger and the end is utter destruction. They must be shown.

To someone who is physically blind, there may be some hope of a future cure, some miracle of science to restore him to the light of sight. To the spiritually blind, there is only one hope, and that hope lies in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible speaks of Him in glowing terms. The book of John opens with a description of Jesus that leaves not doubt about who He is or why He came. The first sentence speaks of His creative work. In the third verse of chapter one of Genesis, God said "let there be light." He is the originator of it. But more than that, Jesus is the light. The scripture says He was the light of men. Men walking in darkness saw in Him, all down through the ages, light and hope. From the deepest dungeon to the blackest sin, Jesus has sought out and healed the darkness of spiritual blindness. He has given light and hope to the hopeless. The world at large is under the curse of sin and when the light of Jesus Christ shines forth and manifests itself, the world does not understand it. The verses quoted say the "light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." The world needs help to see the beauty and brightness of the light of Jesus. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4: "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." The lost need to be shown the Light, our savior Jesus Christ.

Notice the verses said that the Light lighteth every man that cometh into the world. Every man has some degree of light to point him to the True Light. If you were lost in a deep cave, and had no light to light your way and you began to crawl ever so carefully along in the darkness for what seemed like forever, then far off in the distance you saw the slightest glow of light, so faint you were not even sure you were seeing it, would you not at least crawl that way to try to find a way to safety? Sure you would, and as you responded to that light, and drew a bit closer, the light would become more distinct. Maybe it is only a shade brighter, but enough to draw you on. So on you go drawing nearer and at some point you realize that the light is real and offers a way of escape and presently is distinct enough to allow you to stand and walk to the exit and safety. This is the way of men in the world. God gives them a bit of light and reveals His son as the way out of the darkness. Some men see the light and begin to move toward it, while others will argue that they know which way to go to get out on their own. They reject the light and turn toward darkness heading deeper in to the dungeons of sin.
Which man are you today? Are you in the light, having already escaped the coming darkness? Are you drawn toward the light and want to investigate the Source of the light, but have not yet reached the point you are helped to stand? Or, are you stubbornly holding to your path, thinking you can find your way in the dark?

There is a Light to come to. It is real and it is warm it is full of mercy and grace, and it will lead you to eternal security in a place where no darkness ever comes. Jesus said "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." Won’t you turn toward the light today and accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour?

"The Heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech or language, where their voice is not heard." Psalm 19: 1-3

It is an awesome thought to think on the God of all the universe and all he has created. He gave plain evidence of Himself in His glorious creation. All around us each and every day there is a world screaming at us to look past it, to the one who created it. His mighty works are seen in the mountains and the streams, in the brook and the vale, in the field and in the coolly shaded forests. The sun that warms you speaks of His power, the breeze that cools you speaks of His mercy. The moon speaks of His perfect balance, and the stars and the galaxies speak of His vastness and His majesty. These things speak to every heart no matter the language and they point every soul toward Christ, for He is not willing that any should perish but that all should have eternal life.