“Family violence concerns”

How it should be and how it sometimes is:

“OUR HOME IS FULL OF LOVE AND LAUGHTER,” I remember reading on a board, I saw in the window of a shop.

That’s how it should be.

“FAMILY VIOLENCE CONCERNS,” is says in the paper, The Northland Age, Thursday, November 27, 2014.

That’s how it should not be.

How is it at your place?

“Peace on Earth”

“Peace and rest do not belong to the unregenerate. They are the peculiar possession of the Lord’s people, and of them only.” – C. H. Spurgeon

Christmas Card

Another beautiful flower

“For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him?

His hand is stretched out and who can turn it back?” – Isaiah 14:27

Going up the steps to the coffee shop in Paihia I really like not long ago, I noticed that ALL the customers were sitting on the balcony eating and drinking, not only enjoying the food, but also the view over the Bay of Islands.

“Physically they are as close to the light as they could be under the circumstances,” I was thinking to myself.

But there is not only the PHYSICAL part of man.

There is also the SPIRITUAL part of man.

Viewing the Bay of islands from the coffee shop

And I am asking myself always when I meet people, “How close are they spiritually to the light, the Lord Jesus Christ?”

People who want to be close to the Lord Jesus Christ must draw near to Him:

1. In breaking of the bread.

2. In the hearing of the word.

3. In searching of the Scriptures.

4. In Prayer and Praise.

In John 8:12 the Lord Jesus Christ says, “I am the light of the world.”

In the coffee shop in Paihia, which I really like is a board hanging on the wall and on the board is written, “There is no sincerer love than the love of food.” In a WAR CRY I am reading that that is a quote by G. B. Shaw

THE CROSS

“I have seen something else

Ecclesiastes 9:11

Intr.:

under the sun:

1.  The race is not to the swift or

2.  the battle to the strong, nor

3.  does food come to the wise or

4.  wealth to the brilliant or

5.  favor to the learned;

End:

but time and chance happen to them all.”

There is the physical world, and there is the spiritual world.

And in the Bible we are reading about physical rest and spiritual rest.

A. Physical Rest (body)

This motel is not very far from the Baptist Church in PAIHIA

The Bible commands physical rest. Let me just mention Mark 6:31, where the Lord Jesus Christ says to his disciples, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

 B. Spiritual Rest (soul)

True repose can only be found in God.

In Psalm 62:1 David says, “My soul finds rest in God alone.”

He says also that his salvation comes from God, that God alone is his rock, that God is his fortress.

In the same Psalm he says also, “Find rest, O my soul, in God alone.”

He continues to say that his hope comes from God, that God alone is his mighty rock and his salvation and his fortress. He says also that his honor depends on God and that God is his refuge.

Here is the summary:

1. His SALVATION comes from God.

2. God alone is his MIGHTY ROCK.

3. God is his FORTRESS.

4. His HOPE comes from God.

5. His HONOR depends on God.

6. God is his REFUGE.

I believe that those  who have found spiritual rest, have it easier to find physical rest.

One of our Christmas Cards

We received this Christmas Card in 2003. I believe it came from Switzerland. It turned up again this year, because it is so beautiful!