Barnabas Ministries UK

Rev. A. Hocking

GOD’S RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE  Part 2

Last week we saw how God says in Psalm 37 “Fret not over evildoers”.   God continually commands us not to worry, but to trust in Him.  And that’s this week’s ingredient – Trust in God. 

Now a lot of people think that it is all nonsense and pie in the sky to talk about trusting God.  How can He help when He is – so they say, so far away.   But the Bible tells us that he is not far from every one of us.  If God seems far away from you – as someone once said, “guess who moved?”  Maybe you have moved away from Him?  If you don’t put your trust in God, then you are bound to worry, but worry does no good whatsoever.

It does not help to solve the problem.  You stay awake worrying over your job, your family, your problems – and next morning you are far less capable of solving those problems than if you had gone to sleep and left them with God.  Worrying about a situation doesn’t solve it.   It doesn’t even make sense, but trusting God does.

One man once said to his two boys; “If ever I catch you worrying about things you can’t help, I am going to punish you.  And if ever I catch you worrying about things you can help, I will punish you because you should be doing something about it.”  One of the sons later said, “We thought about that afterwards, and realised that Dad hadn’t left us a thing to worry about!”

Everything comes under those two heads.  If you can’t help it, worrying won’t alter the fact.  And if you can help it, stop worrying and get on with doing something about it!

Christianity is not a ‘pie in the sky’ religion, it is very practical and down to earth.  When God says “Trust in Me”, He means exactly what he says.

Psalm 37 – our verse for this week says, “Trust in the Lord and do good, so will you live safely and your needs will be met”.  Good advice!  Put your trust in God today.

Rev. A. Hocking

GODS RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE.   Part 1.

For the next few weeks, I am going to talk about God’s recipe for a happy life.  It’s found in Psalm 37.  

Here’s the first ingredient: “Fret not thyself because of evildoers”. 

Now if ever there was a day when that verse was appropriate, it is this day and age.  Almost every day we read of murders, rapes, robberies, and hear people say, “what is the world coming to?”

But God says a strange thing. Don’t worry about the evil in the world. You would think God would want us to be worried about it.  But no.  You see, God commands us not to worry – full stop!

I knew one dear lady who became virtually a prisoner in her flat because she had to use a subway to get to the town centre.  There had been a couple of muggings in that subway and she worried about what would happen to her if she went out.   So she didn’t.  She just sat at home and worried about it.   Now literally thousands of people used that subway every day.  She was safer there than if she’d tried to cross the main road instead.  But because she worried about evildoers, she became a recluse and life lost its meaning.

Now so many people do this.  They worry about one thing or another and their lives become so small and useless because of the worry.  God says not to worry – He’s got it all under control, so leave it to Him!  He has told us to bring all our cares to him because He cares about us.  So often I have found that when I get down and pray about some problem that is worrying me, God answers prayer and the problem is quickly sorted.

Put your life in His hands and stop worrying!  Trust in the Lord – but that’s next week’s ingredient.  So remember this week; Fret not – Don’t Worry!

Rev. A. Hocking

WIMBLEDON

For the past two weeks, everyone has been talking about Wimbledon.  Now when it comes to Tennis, I would be seeded about 5000 or thereabouts!  However, thinking about tennis, it struck me how like life it is.

There are two sorts of tennis games – singles and doubles.   In a singles match it is one against one, mind against min.  If you make a mistake, its your own fault, and there is no one to help you.  In a doubles match however, there are two of you, helping each other.  If one loses a point, the other may be able to gain it back again.

As I said, If I were playing a game of tennis, I would probably find myself losing every time.   But suppose one of the top professionals came onto the court and began to play at my side.  Then the game would take on a totally different form.

And life is rather like that.  If we try to play the game of life on our own, its almost like playing in a singles match against an expert.  We can’t win.  Oh, we might win a few, and kid ourselves into thinking we’re doing ok, but if we’re honest, we know that we’re not really doing all that well.

Most of us do exactly that, don’t we?  We muddle on in life, ‘doing our best’, telling everyone everything is fine, when deep down, we know very well it isn’t.  But if you were to let Jesus Christ come into your life, you would find that life takes on a totally different meaning.  He is constantly there to help you through the difficulties and problems that we all meet up with.

The Bible says that Jesus is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.  He longs to come into your life – why not ask Him in today?

Rev. A. Hocking 

WHO AM I? 

Rev. A. Hocking

We live in an age of computers and numbers.  Many people feel they are fast losing their identity and becoming merely a number.  If you go to many places now, they will ask you for ‘your registered number’.  You are known not as a name, but an impersonal row of numbers.

However, in our families we will always be known by our name.  It is something very precious to us. We can’t imagine Mum calling out “Number 3, come in, your tea’s ready!”

If we are giving our details to someone, we insist they get our name right, even spelling it if necessary. So it is good to know that to God we will never be ‘just a number’.  Jesus said He was ‘the good shepherd’ and calls His sheep by name.  Now if you’re anything like me, one sheep looks very much like another, but I understand that a good shepherd will know each sheep individually. Often by their faults! “That one has a piece out of its ear.. that one there has a patch of wool off its back.. that one has a distinguishing black patch etc.

Like the good shepherd, God knows us better than we know ourselves. He not only knows our name, the Bible says He even knows how many hairs we have on our heads!  Now with me that becomes easier every day! But he also knows the doubts, fears, and conflicts that trouble us and is always ready to help us.

There’s another thing about sheep you know – they always want to run away.  If you’ve ever watched a sheepdog at work, you’ll have seen how there always seems to be one awkward one that runs this way and that rather then go where it should.   The Bible says, “All we like sheep have gone astray, we’ve all gone the way we  want to go”. Many times we’ll do anything rather than turn to God.  I wonder why?

As always, God stands ready to help.  If you’ve been running away from Him of late, stop running, and turn your life over to Him today.

Rev. A. Hocking

I WANT IT NOW

Rev. A. Hocking

We live in a day of ‘instantly’. Instant coffee, frozen food that can be ready in the microwave in minutes, packaged meals that are ready in moments with the minimum of effort.  

It is an attitude that is taking over society.  People now want instant remedies for aches and pains and the best selling pills offer instant relief!  We want to be able to solve our problems and difficulties immediately, as if waving some magic wand or pronouncing a magical formula.

“Abracadabra”! and our problems are sorted!

Unfortunately life doesn’t work quite like that. The marriage that is on the rocks will take weeks or months to put together again. The one whose life has been shattered by tragedy or sickness is not likely to recover overnight.

However, God has that if we call upon Him in the day of trouble, He will answer. Those who have invited Jesus Christ into their lives have found that He brings a peace that can only be understood by those who have experienced it. A joy that permeates every part of life; no matter what the circumstances, and a healing that takes place so much more quickly.

There is one ‘instant’ thing that Jesus Christ offers – forgiveness. Forgiveness is so important that Jesus spoke about it a lot.  You need forgiveness. All those things you have done wrong! The things you wake up in the night and worry about in case someone finds out.  Well, someone does know about them – God!  And He has promised to forgive you and wipe the slate clean if you will ask Him to.  Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for your sin and promised that He would never turn anyone away who came to him for forgiveness. 

Come to Him now for instant acceptance and watch Him begin to straighten out all those other areas in your life as well!

Rev. A. Hocking

BROKEN LIVES

Years ago, when a great cathedral was nearly completed, an unknown craftsman asked if he might be allowed to fill one of the windows with coloured glass.  He pleaded so earnestly that when he added he would do it without payment, the master builder agreed to let him do as he wished.  “After all,” he thought to himself, “if it is no good, we can always knock it out and do it again”.

So the unknown craftsman set up a screen round the window and for months laboured at his self appointed task.  At last the window was finished.  The screens were moved away and there before them was a window richer and more glorious than all the other windows in the cathedral.  So wonderful was it that people came from far and near to admire it.

“But where did you find all this exquisite glass?” asked the amazed master builder.

“Oh”, said the unknown craftsman, “I picked it up here and there inside and outside the cathedral”.  The window had been made of fragments that had been thrown away as useless.

There are times when all of us feel that we aren’t any use any more.  Perhaps sickness lays us on one side and we feel we’re a burden to others.  Maybe tragedy strikes and we feel there is no point in carrying on any longer.  There have been cases of people who have gone to great lengths to commit suicide because they felt that they were no longer of any use to their family or friends.  Pain, sickness, loneliness, or other circumstances made them feel they had come to ‘the end’ and that life was no longer worth living. 

To you Jesus says, “give me your life and I will make of it something great and glorious”. He wants to pick up the pieces of your shattered life and make them something beautiful. 

Someone once wrote:

“Something beautiful, something good,

All my confusion, He understood.

All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife

but He made something beautiful of my life”.

That could be your testimony if you will give Jesus Christ your life – just as it is.

This prayer may help: “Lord Jesus, my life is a mess, please pick up the pieces and make it worthwhile.  Forgive my sin and give me a new start”.

Rev. & Mrs. A. Hocking

YOU NEED GOD

Well, how about you for a start?

You see, each one of us needs God to help us through our lives.  Whether we agree with it or not, even whether we believe in God or not, doesn’t affect the issue.  We need God and we can’t get along without Him.  Oh, we try, often enough.  We manage up to a point, but we’re a bit like the man who jumped off a ten storey building. As he went pas 9 of the windows, he called out, “see, I’m alright!”.  It wasn’t the 9 storeys that killed him, it was hitting the ground at the bottom.

You and I so often think we’re managing alright, but we’re like that man. Because we’ve got away with it so far, we think we don’t need God at all.  And then all of a sudden, something happens, and we’re up against it.  Of course, a lot of people at that stage start shouting at God – “why did you let this happen to me, God?” And the short answer generally speaking is that God didn’t. You brought it on yourself.

Let’s assume that our friend who leaps off buildings isn’t killed when he hits the ground. Now remember, for 9 storeys of his fall he was ok.  Now he lies on the ground in terrible pain, and he starts shouting at God, “Why did you let this happen to me, God?  Why did you break my legs and my arms? Why did you let me get hurt so bad?”

“Why”, you’d say to him, “what are you blaming God for?  It has nothing to do with God.  You jumped off the building yourself and it’s your own fault you’re hurt.”

So often that is the story of our lives. We ignore God; even actively reject Him and His love. We want nothing to do with God at all and live our lives as if He didn’t exist.  As if there was no day of reckoning to come. And because we ignore God, and because of the way we live our lives, we hit trouble and problems and wonder why.

Jesus, the Son of God, once said, “give me your life and I’ll give you really  abundant, satisfying life in return. So often, people who have given their lives to Jesus, cry out afterwards, “why did I wait so long? Why didn’t I give my life to Jesus years ago?”

If your life is a mess, and you wonder what is the purpose of life and whether there is any answer to your situation, turn it over to Jesus today.  Invite him into your life.  Ask Him to forgive your sin and thank him for dying on the Cross for you.

Rev. & Mrs. A. Hocking

IT’S A MAD, MAD WORLD!

We live in a mad world don’t we?  

Life gets so confusing sometimes.   We no sooner get used to something than it seems it changes and we have to start all over again.   You know – you have been going to the supermarket for ages and that particular product is always just ‘there’.  Then one day you go and they’ve changed it all round – and it takes you ages to find it.   “Why couldn’t they just leave it alone?”

It’s the same in so many areas of life.  Years ago, when you started work, you expected, all things being equal, to stay there for the rest of your working life:  even becoming a manager, or at least a foreman.   But with today’s unemployment figures and firms closing down, many are insecure, wondering how long it will be before they too are made redundant.

When people get married, they vow to love each other until “Death do us part”.    Today however, the attitude seems to be ‘we’ll give it a try and if it doesn’t work out, we’ll get a divorce’.   Couples who have been married for many years suddenly hit a problem and one of them walks out or goes off with someone else.  The bottom drops out of the world of the one left behind.

I could give many more instances of course.  Maybe you have encountered something like this in your life recently? How we react to events like these really depends on what foundation we are building our lives.

Jesus once told a story of two men who each built a house.  One built on rock, the other on sand.  One day a storm came and beat on the two houses.  You can imagine the result even if you don’t know the story.  The house on the sand collapsed.  The one built on the rock stood firm.  Jesus said that He and His Word was the rock. Any other foundation for life will prove unstable.

Build your life on Jesus and His teaching, and with His help, you can come through the worst of experiences.  Difficulties will come.  Problems will occur. Disasters will take place.  That’s life!  But with your life founded on Jesus you can come through.

Even if you have never been ‘religious’ or maybe never even heard of Jesus before, He is waiting to come into your life and make it better than you ever dreamed it could be.   Pray this prayer; “Lord Jesus, I need you in my life.  Please forgive me my sin and wipe out the past. Make me a new person in you, and help me to live for you from now on”. 

Jesus ALWAYS hears and answers that kind of prayer.  You’re now a new person.  Start living life to the full! Please let us know if you have taken this action.

God Bless you!

Rev. A. Hocking has been an Assemblies of God minister for over 50 years and is now a retired Prime Timer within the Fellowship. He has served a number of churches along with his wife, Claire. Alan also was on the Radio Council and has greatly contributed in this ministry and still maintains and active interest and commitment. Along with me, he serves along the National Committee of Prime Timers and has proved most helpful. He is now writing some Christian articles to aid people to a faith in Jesus Christ.

WHO SAYS SO

I have often heard parents tell their children that God won’t love them if they’re naughty!  What a thing to say.   Perhaps your mum and dad used to tell you that, and as a result it is still with you, even after many years.

Let’s put that right.  God never stops loving you.  Even when you’re ‘naughty’!

The Bible says that God loves us so much that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. In other words, he took our punishment, for God had declared, “the soul that sins will die”.  Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life.  Even when he was on trial the only way they could convict Him was to find two ‘witnesses’ who would lie.  

Even then their testimonies didn’t agree!  He didn’t have to die. He had done nothing wrong.  He took our sin upon Himself and died in our place on the cross.

Never let anyone tell you that God does not love you.   A mother or father do not stop loving their child just because he is naughty.  They may hate the naughtiness, but they still love the child.  It’s the bad things he does that cause the trouble. 

So with us;  the sins we commit are the things God hates.  They spoil our lives and take away the peace we ought to have.  But God says if we will come to Him and ask for His forgiveness, He will freely forgive us, because Jesus died on the cross so long ago to pay the penalty of our sin.

Ask God to forgive you today.  See the difference He will make!    Pray this prayer. 2Lord God, I think you that Jesus died for me.  Please forgive me my sin.  I give you my life right now.  Thank you for saving me.”

Email us and tell us that you have accepted Jesus.  We would like to help you.   God bless you.

If you would like to know more, e mail us today – ejabarmin@blueyonder.co.uk

Rev. A. Hocking

Rev. A. Hocking has been an Assemblies of God minister for over 50 years and is now a retired Prime Timer within the Fellowship. He has served a number of churches along with his wife, Claire. Alan also was on the Radio Council and has greatly contributed in this ministry and still maintains and active interest and commitment. Along with me, he serves along the National Committee of Prime Timers and has proved most helpful. He is now writing some Christian articles to aid people to a faith in Jesus Christ.

SATISFACTION GUARANTEED

Are you contented?  Most of us if we are honest, are far from contented.  Of course, if we are financially well off, then it is perhaps easy to feel contented.  Although I once heard of a millionaire who was said to be the most miserable man on earth!   But if we are finding it difficult to make both ends meet, and when we go to the supermarket, we find that the prices are all up again, then we soon get dissatisfied.

If we base our lives on what we have or have not got, and are happy or sad according to whether we can buy that latest luxury or not, or go abroad this year or not, then our lives will be shallow and unsatisfying. 

The Bible says, “Be content with such things as you have”.  That doesn’t mean that we don’t try to improve our lot, but it does mean that we don’t let the fact that we can’t have all we want make us miserable.

Someone once said, “Contentment is found not in having everything, but being satisfied with everything you have”.    There is only one way to be really satisfied, and that is to turn your life over to Jesus Christ.   The Bible says, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.”   If you are looking for contentment, then you can find it in Jesus Christ.  He said, “I have come so that you can have life and have it more abundantly”.  Being a Christian or a Godly person isn’t dull and morbid but intensely satisfying.

Give Jesus Christ your life.  Pray this prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, I need the satisfaction you alone can give. Please forgive my sin and take my life, clean it up and make it worthwhile”.

Email us and tell us that you have accepted Jesus.  We would like to help you.   God bless you.

If you would like to know more, e mail us today – ejabarmin@blueyonder.co.uk