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Bless the LORD, O my soul: Bless means to make someone happy, make someone enviable, and to make someone prosperous. When we worship and honour the Lord we actually make Him happy, enviable and prosperous. Sounds absurd doesn't it? There is Almighty God, totally self reliant and self sufficient, and yet we can somehow better Him. It is totally ridiculous, but it is also totally true. How can this be? Well, of course, God is 'joy'. But we increase that joy as we allow Him to make evident His Fatherhood over our lives. Already happy, we increase it in the same way as a parent delights in his obedient children. When you worship God you put a huge smile on His face. When you obey His word you also make Him happy. Isn't that just so awesome and amazing? Here I am, merely a mortal man. A man who has, in the past, been an awful sinner. And yet astonishingly, I can make the Lord God Almighty happy by my good behaviour. As I surrender to His will in my life He rejoices. And he knows how to rejoice. The Bible implies that he throws a party over one sinner that repents. The picture we have of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb is one of a massive celebration for the victory of the Son of God and His beautiful bride. God looks at us, even now, and sees a worthy bride for His Son. He is truly delighted in the choice that Jesus has made. Is that hard to believe? But it doesn't make it any less true. And, as is the Hebrew custom, it is the Father of the Groom who supplies the bride with beautiful wedding garments, precious jewels and gorgeous perfumes. The Father has made us look good as we wear the garments of salvation and the robe of righteousness. He has removed the awful stench of sin and replaced it with the rich aroma of purity. He has then adorned us with gems to make us, already perfect in His sight, even more astonishing.

Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. We are to be deliriously happy in what we have gained by being united to the living Christ. Worship and praise should 'all-person' worship. In other words every part of me should be involved. I should be celebrating; spirit, soul and body. Sometimes I might be silenced because I am awestruck at the absolute brilliance of who God is and what He has done. At other times I will be like David who danced before the Lord with all his might. And remember that when David was confronted by Michal, he responded to her by implying that his worship and praise was not yet everything that it should be. He implied that he was still a learner. Worship is both personal and corporate. There is something very special about God's church coming together in worship. It brings an anointing which breaks bondages in some and calls others up to higher ground. It was as the people worshipped and ministered to God that the Lord was able to call Paul and Barnabas into a great area of ministry. (See Acts 13:1) Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Benefits mean 'blessings'. As you bless Him you remind yourself that the blessing came initially from Him anyway. We love Him because He first loved us. Years ago we sang the old hymn, 'Count your blessings, name them one by one.' It was a real classic. And classically it became weak because we abused it. Having sung the hymn the pastor would ask us to name some of our blessings. It was silly because the blessings were usually totally trivial. Actually when you begin to remember all His benefits you should scarcely get past the first one. 'In His family!!!!! In His family!!!!!' Just think: You are a child of Almighty God. A child of the King of kings. Think about it. Now, you can shout, jump, sing or sit in silence. (As we British say, we are gob-smacked, or there is nothing else to say is there?) But David does us the favour of listing some of His blessings in our lives. Every one of them should stop us in our tracks and make us think.

that life is not always a bed of roses. We live in an awful world. How could Louis Armstrong sing that song "Wonderful World" and keep a straight face, except for his massive grin? Every time you turn on the news there is another bombing, another disaster, another murder. We even get our entertainment from murder, war and mayhem. Most of what we watch are soap operas enacting the breakdown of family life, murder programmes such as "Cold Case", "Murder, She Wrote", or some such, and things like "24" which depicts the US government in crisis as it tries to handle terrorism. Let's be honest and say we find the wickedness of this world quite titillating. But we are supposed to be offering the world an alternative to all of this. Our lives are supposed to be lived on a higher level than the trivialities which we often offer. The Christian life is not just us and the Lord getting through life one day at a time. He did not come into my life to be an appendage and as a help for me to face the problems everyone else faces. The Christian life is an adventure of taking a whole new radical way of life into a world which, to be frank, does not want it. We should be offering the peace of God and the joy of the Lord, not so that a person can struggle though "this vale of tears", but so that he can enjoy real life; life with God as a friend and partner.

Love - The root of all the rest. This is a desire to please God and to do good to and for others. And what is good? Jesus said that only God is good. Doing good to others must therefore mean that we are bringing God into their situation. This can be very practical, but it can also be done through prayer. When you pray for others, whether believers or not, you are bringing almighty God into the picture. Prayer is the most important thing you can do. Often it will lead you to doing something else, but it is always the best place to start. This love is the Hebrew word, Hesed, or the Greek word, Agape. It means covenantal or sacrificial love. This is the love which manifests in God sending His Son to die for a sinful world. It is this love which He shows in not just leaving us to get on with it, but he sends the Holy Spirit to live with us and empower us. It shows a depth of humility which we marvel at. The Lord God, the Holy Spirit, chooses to take up residence in humankind as His temple. He remains with us as we go through life, rejoicing with us as we rejoice and weeping as we weep. When the Lord said, "I am with you always," and "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" He was not being pretentious. He meant it. That is how His love manifests. His life is forever wound up in our lives. We think about how much we should spend thinking about and communicating with Him. He does exactly the same, but more so! He is constantly focused on us. He dotes on us. He is captivated by us. Love was the answer to all the problems in the church at Corinth. This church had really gone off the rails. They had problems of just about every possible kind. Spiritual problems, ecclesiastical problems, moral problems, doctrinal problems. Paul tells them that love in the better way. Why? Because God is love. God is not sentiment. He is not romance. But He is love. And love covers a multitude of sins. Love tries to see it from the others point of view. It is not selfish. It is concerned with the needs of others. Love is not always nice, but it is always love. When we speak the truth in love we give the other person the opportunity to respond and learn and grow. When we are harsh with our criticism we just rattle the other person and they either go on the defensive or they counter-attack. It reminds me of the man who could not work out what was wrong with his wife. "I don't want to go home. I'm in the doghouse and don�t know why." His friend asked, 'What happened?' 'Well, she asked me what was on the television. All I said was, 'Dust!'' Speaking the truth in love is often very difficult because it requires us to take a risk. The person we are speaking to may not receive our attempt at correction. But if we have done our best then we may just have to live with the consequences. Sometimes we are faced with people whose mood changes as often as the weather. We could say something to them one day which is received well. On another day the same thing could be rejected out of hand. People don't tend to advertise when the time is right for you to confront them, and so you need a hand from the Holy Spirit. His timing will certainly give you the best opportunity. As you approach a person you need to heed the warning.. you are moving in on a person who has feelings. They have a history and we are not always certain as to what it is. But we need to see that not everyone is as obvious as the label on a packet of Sainsbury peanuts � 'Warning: May contain peanuts.' The same fruit should be coming through our lives. That is why Paul could say, 'For the love of Christ constraineth us;' Romans13:8 � 'Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.' The love of God drives us on to see others added into His Kingdom. We are not selfish with what we have. We recognize that others are in serious trouble and we use the gifts and callings in our lives in order to see as many in the same position as we are. This love is a command: John 13:34-35 � 'A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.' John 15:12 � 'This is my commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.' However, God has not given this command and then left us without the resources to fulfill the command. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit Himself. All we have to do is use that love. Nobel Prize winner Sam Bellow says, 'A man is only as good as what he loves.'

The radical gospel of grace as it is found throughout Scripture, has always had its critics. A famous evangelist once said that by trusting in God's justifying and preserving grace, you would end up living a life of sin before long -- and thus, lose your salvation and be consigned to hell. Paul anticipated that reaction from the religious community of his own day after he said, "Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more" (Romans 5:20, NKJV). So he asked the question he expected us to ask: "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?" (6:1) Should we sin so that we can receive more grace? In other words, "If people believed what you just said in Romans 5, Paul, wouldn't they take advantage of the situation and live like the dickens, knowing they were 'safe and secure from all alarm'?" That's a fair question. But it reveals a basic misunderstanding of the nature of God's saving grace. Paul's response is unmistakable: "Certainly not? How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" (Romans 6:2, NKJV). Someone confronted Martin Luther, upon the Reformer's rediscovery of the biblical doctrine of justification, with the remark, "If this is true, a person could simply live as he pleased!" "Indeed!" answered Luther. "Now, what pleases you?" Augustine was the great preacher of grace during the fourth and fifth centuries. Although his understanding of the doctrine of justification did not have the fine-tuned precision of the Reformers, Augustine's response on this point was similar to Luther's. He said that the doctrine of justification led to the maxim, "Love God and do as you please." Because we have misunderstood one of the gospel's most basic themes, Augustine's statement looks to many like a license to indulge one's sinful nature, but in reality it touches upon the motivation the Christian has for his actions. The person who has been justified by God's grace has a new, higher, and nobler motivation for holiness than the shallow, hypocritical self-righteousness or fear that seems to motivate so may religious people today. You're worried about permissiveness--about the way the preaching of grace seems to say it's okay to do all kinds of terrible things as long as you just walk in afterward and take the free gift of God's forgiveness. . .While you and I may be worried about seeming to give permission, Jesus apparently wasn't. He wasn't afraid of giving the prodigal son a kiss instead of a lecture, a party instead of probation; and he proved that by bringing in the elder brother at the end of the story and having him raise pretty much the same objections you do. He's angry about the party. He complains that his father is lowering standards and ignoring virtue--that music, dancing, and a fatted calf are, in effect , just so many permissions to break the law. And to that, Jesus has the father say only one thing: "Cut that out! We're not playing good boys and bad boys any more. Your brother was dead and he's alive again. The name of the game from now on is resurrection, not bookkeeping

I recently met a friend I hadn't seen for fifteen years. It was a really marvellous experience. We had been at college together thirty years ago. What was great to see was his obvious delight in seeing me. Sometimes we treat friendships very cheaply. But when Jesus said "friend" He meant it forever. And the only way we ceased to become His friend is when He promoted us to be in His family. What a position that is. To be a member of the family of God is not only wonderful, it is also rather humbling. To know that the Father's door is always open, ready to receive a visit from a son is almost too wonderful!

Have you noticed that all over the world churches are growing? The reports we hear of churches shrinking are simply not true. Historic churches may not have much to offer this generation. However, people are coming to Jesus in vast numbers because He is relevant.I have always thought that Jesus is far more exciting than church, and I feel a bit sad about it. Churches should be reflecting His personality. He is a fun Person to be with. Of course, some of us find that very hard to believe because we have a picture of Jesus being quite boring, and His Father even more so. But, God is described as being fruitful in quite a lot of areas, one of which is JOY. It seems to me that it is the churches which manifest something of this joy which are growing and making a difference in the areas they belong to.

that the football (soccer, for our American friends) world cup is being played for at this time. Much of what happens on the field is like a picture of what life is like: there is fair and foul play, injustice, fellowship, friendship, good and bad communication and so on. However, in football cheats do prosper. It is interesting that a man who was banned from a previous world cup after a couple of games because of drug abuse is feted and lauded as he watches this one. He and another drug cheat, from the world of athletics, were recently involved in the United Nations backed charity event here in the U.K. Of course, we believe in redemption and forgivenness, but it is interesting to see what our standards are. But things have hardly changed since mankind fell in the Garden. Good men have often been called bad, and bad men are feted and honoured. However, the Lord has ways of making His ways known. During the world cup of 2002 I was sorry when the English team were defeated by the Brazilian team. A few days later Brazil lifted the world cup and we saw a group of them honour Jesus as their Saviour and give thanks to Him, not because they had won the world cup, but because their names were written in the Lambs Book of Life.

Have you noticed that thousands of young people are coming to Christ? That which I prayed for over the course of my life is now happening. I am privileged to teach in many bible schools. They have so many types among the students. Some of these people are easy to get along with. They are a real joy to be around. And then there are some others. As we British say, "They are not my cup of tea." But I need to remember that when it comes to cups of tea, Jesus likes all the flavours: Lapsang Souchong, Assam, Ceylon, Darjeeling, Keemun, Nilgiri, Sikkim, Yunnan. He doesn't have any favourites. I remember some years ago I was with a group of ministers. There were four of us. Two of my brothers were very busy disparaging a well known man of God. I was enjoying it as they began to pillory this man of whom, at the time, I had little knowledge. But he must have been bad because my colleagues were saying that he was. One said to another, "I just don't like that man." And then my other friend spoke. He had been silent for the whole of the conversation thus far. Now he just said two words: "GOD DOES." And he walked away.

We cry when England are knocked out of the world cup, but couldn't give a stuff over dozens of children being killed in the Lebanon! I find it quite appalling at our lack of compassion when it comes to Muslim children being killed, as if they are sub-human. And yet you hear eleven year olds already talking of how they will join terrorist groups when they are a little older! Such is the sinfulness of sin. How we need to just do our job of preaching the gospel, ministering to the poor and needy and praying for the peace of Jerusalem. And get a bit of perspective.

Trip to Ghana My friends from North Wales sent this report. These so-called pensioners put some of us to shame! It is so often said that we never finished our work for the Lord, all the time we have breath in our bodies then He will use us. Joan and I have found this to be so true, it was in our seventyfirst year that The Lord called us to a trip of a life time twelve days in Ghana and no holiday but a tremendouse blessing to us both. You may or not know that for the past few years the Lord has been using me in the writting of training manuels for the Nehamiah Bible school under the I.G.O banner headed up by John Levy. Most of these are held in the third world countries and in connection with this project that we found ourselves on route for Ghana. We left Wales in the early hours of Tuesday morning to set off for Manchester airport where we caught a plane for Amsterdam from there a flight to Accra. What an eye opener as we landed in this very poor country and the heat hit us together with sights that we never dreamt still existed in this modern world such things as open sewers. We spent our first night in a rather grotty hotel in Accra, no hot water to shower in and no posh dinning room but a do it yourself set up. After a long wait (they use Ghana time which means they arrive when they think they will) we set off up country five of us in the team in a rather old and battered mini bus that would never be allowed on the road in this country, I have seen better in breakers yards. After a short distance Joan and I were told that we were to be dropped of with a Ghanaian pastor to catch a public transport bus, another eye opener, these buses do not leave until they are full and this could take two hours and they are packed to capacity including the roof. Eventualy we got going not really knowing where but praise the Lord we knew He was with us. Soon after the so called bus started off a passenger stood up and started to peach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a captive audiance this continued for about two hours. Our guide told us this was known as bus ministry, and I wanted to have a go at this so I asked if I could have a few minutes to which he agreed, so my first experience of preaching in Ghana was on a public bus. After some hours we arrived at our destination Akim Odo where I was to spend the next few days in an Assemblies of God church so I felt quite at home, Joan was to have a more itinerant ministry and had to travel each day again on public transport her first two meetings were spent ministering to a number of widows who the churches are resoponsable for as there is no help from the goverment. In the evenings she was to hold revival meetings in various churches. Whilst Joan was busy with her own meetings I had the priviledge of spending time holding seminers for pastors and revival meetings in the evenings. On other occasions we were to hold ordaination services and a graduation service. After some days out in the sticks we moved back to Accra where although it is the capital city of Ghana the conditions are no better than those in the countryside. Here we again spent our time teaching in the Bible Schools and holding revival meetings where we praise God we were able to bring a number of people to the Lord Jesus Christ and a number received the baptism in the Holy Spirit together with a good number of healings. Although these people are very poor and have nothing compared to our standards of living we found them to be so very friendly and a loving nation with a great hunger for the things of the Lord. As some of you will know I am a very fussy eater but praise God He undertook for me and I did not go hungry and He kept us in good health. So many wonderful things happened to us during the trip that it is not possible for us to share all but we Praise the Lord for all His provision and give Him the glory for all that happened. He has opened the door to many more places throughout the African Continent but as they are so poor we would have to finance ourselves for any trips made, please pray that we would be in His will and that He will provide our needs to continue in His ministry. Thanks so much for your prayers, please continue to do so.

how simply the bible comes together? I recently preached a message called SIX PLACES OF SACRIFICE AND VICTORY. (1) Abraham offered Isaac on Mount Moriah. (2) David hung the head of Goliath at the gate of Jerusalem. (3) David bought Ornan's threshing floor in order to offer sacrifices to stay the plague. (4) Solomon built the temple on the ground which David had provided as the site. (5) Jesus was crucified at Calvary. (6) Stephen was stoned to death. The remarkable thing is that these six places are actually ONE PLACE. A parcel of ground known as Calvary, or the place of the skull, or Golgotha. God made all these incidents happen at exactly the same spot. Why? I don't know. But I do know that if He can keep bringing victory on that same small piece of dirt in Israel then He can keep bringing the victory in the small piece of dirt that is my heart.. and in your heart too!

THE APOSTLE PETER

INTRODUCTION

He is a real biblical hero. We often look at his fallibility, his weakness and his sin, but we forget that this was a man who was willing to lay down his life for the Lord. And not just when he had reached a grand old age. Not just when he had been filled and empowered with the Holy Spirit. Even before all that he had been awakened in the Garden of Gethsemane and was prepared to take on a crowd of Jesus enemies when he began to thrash about with his sword.

Later on after a lifetime of faithfulness and devotion to the Lord he did, in fact, lay down his life in a most awful way. He is a martyr who will be crowned. We will witness his investiture and marvel at the successes of his life. As we look at his story, warts and all, let us remind ourselves that this is the kind of material God can use. A man who is fragile, inconsistent, weak and strong, a man of great depths and amazing shallowness. A man much like you and me.

HIS BACKGROUND

We can surmise some things about Peter's early life. He had lived in Bethsaida on the western shore of Galilee, the elder son of a fisherman whose name was Jonas or John. He had a brother called Andrew who seems to have been a great guy to have around.

Peter's early life would have consisted of learning to fish and run a business, and also of regular attendance at the synagogue for instruction in reading, writing and most of all, learning the scriptures. There were no girls at the synagogue, but somewhere young Simon had met with a young lady and gone through the appropriate betrothal and marriage. He had lived in the same house as his father, but had his own private quarters. But when we first meet him we find that he has taken over a whole house in Capernaum, and that he now has his mother-in-law and his brother living with him. We can only surmise that Jonas, by this time, had died.

Simon Peter had also taken seriously his time in the synagogue learning the scriptures and both he and Andrew had become followers of John the Baptist. They had only been disciples for less than six months when they quickly switched allegiance from John to Jesus. They will have heard John speak of the coming Messiah and when he was pointed out to Andrew by John, himself, the cast was die. From now on their destiny was set.

FIRST MEETING WITH JESUS

"One of the two who heard John and followed Him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, We have found the Messiah (which is, being translated, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus saw him, He said, You are Simon the son of Jonah; you shall be called Cephas (which translated is, A stone)." (John 1:40-42)

It was Jesus who renamed Simon and called him Peter. Simon, a common enough name in Israel at the time, meant, "hearing." The name Peter (Greek) or Cephas (Hebrew or Aramaic) means a stone, or a fragment of rock. Peter would be a fragment of the church, but a very important fragment. In spite of this change of name, Jesus, Himself, never addresses him as Peter. He always called him Simon.

This first meeting must have left a strong impression on Peter because we see that he is quick enough to follow Jesus when called.

THE CALL

"And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men." (Luke 5:1-10)

Peter was happy to lend Jesus his boat, not realizing what a return he would have on this favour. These men heard Jesus speak for some time as they continued to deal with the aftermath of a useless night's work. And then Jesus gave the instruction. "Go fishing in the day time."

This was unheard of. No sensible fisherman would do his fishing at daytime, because the Sea of Galilee was so beautifully clear and clean. You could see the fish under the water. But, likewise, the fish could see you. They were not suicidal. If they saw the boat and the net they would swim away. So, you would do your fishing at night. Jesus was telling Simon to break all the rules. Peter responded without much faith didn't he? Firstly, although calling Jesus, Master, he tells him that it's a waste of time, and then to compound his unbelief he only lets down one net. Jesus had said, "Let down your nets.." The catch was so big the net began to break and Peter needed help with it. BOTH ships began to sink with the weight of the captured fish.

Peter knew that this was an amazing miracle. He knew a sign when he saw it, but he still says things all wrong.. "Lord, depart from me." He really meant, "Stay with me, I need you!"

Jesus, knew Peter's heart, and along with James, John and Andrew, this fisherman becomes a fisher of men. From then on, Peter must have lived, "by faith." We do not see him do any fishing for the next three and a half years. But he has a family to keep. When he followed Jesus, he discovered Him to be the Jehovah Jireh of the Old Testament. He had witnessed this right at the beginning. Because he let Jesus borrow his boat for a few hours Jesus had supplied him with the best haul of fish Peter had ever had. With the sale of that fish Peter could have bought a new boat. But he probably used it for the first few weeks of following the Lord as a full time Apostle.

Soon after this we find Jesus, having prayed all night, calling twelve men into apostleship:

"And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils: And Simon he surnamed Peter;" (Mark 3:14-16)

The Apostles were, at this time, to be evangelists. They had a further string to their bow, over John the Baptist, in that they could do signs and wonders. They had been authorized so to do by Jesus. They were not yet doing these things because of their direct call, they were doing them simply because they had been told to do so by the Lord. After the resurrection they would be filled with the Holy Spirit on a permanent basis and do signs and wonders as a metter of course. We know that they returned to Jesus overly excited in that the devils were subject to His Name. He told them the most exciting thing was that their names were written in the Lambs book of life. That shows something of the humility of Jesus. Whilst we are thinking about Him, and His Name, He is, in fact, thinking about us and our position in the Kingdom...