Jesus and the Priceless Masterpiece

All photos courtesy of Unsplash

I’d like to draw your attention to a man called Harold St. John. Harold St. John lived from 1876 to 1957. He preferred to have his name pronounced “sin-jun”, feeling that the title of "saint" was too superior sounding. But if anyone wanted an example of saintliness, they could have pointed in Harold St. John's direction.

He was a banker and would be pretty well known amongst Christians in certain circles but today he has been pretty much lost from sight.

 

Harold St. John was a man who traveled a lot in business and was called to preach the Gospel and to teach the Word of God, which he did on a worldwide basis. He had a tremendous ability to get alongside people and to talk to them about the Lord Jesus.

Long Days of Summer

 

Midsummer day is here, writes Bert Cargill of St Monans Gospel Hall, in fact it was yesterday. The sun will be at its highest overhead, and the hours of daylight will be at their longest for another year.

For us in Fife there is very little real darkness overnight just now, and the farther north you go the less darkness there is. Within the Arctic Circle the sun does not dip below the northern horizon for a few weeks, and it seems that day never ends. Of course, in midwinter it’s a different story! Don’t think we’d like 24-hour darkness, and cold too! So make the most of these evenings when daylight stretches on until after 10 p.m., or these bright mornings if you get up with the lark. Each day is important, use it well.

Sir Fred Hoyle - The scientist whose investigations changed his thinking about God.

Sir Fred Hoyle (1915-2001) Professor of Astronomy, was an Evolutionist who investigated the possibility of life evolving by chance and came to the conclusion that there must be a God.

Let me tell you a little more about Sir Fred, his background and his life changing discovery.

Sir Fred was one of Britain’s most influential astronomers. He worked for many years at Cambridge University and helped explain how the elements in the universe were formed inside stars—a major scientific breakthrough.  He became famous (and sometimes controversial) for challenging the Big Bang theory—ironically, he’s the one who coined the phrase 'Big Bang' during a BBC radio broadcast. He preferred a “steady‑state” view of the universe, believing it had no beginning.  Hoyle was also a gifted communicator. He wrote science‑fiction novels, radio plays, and even TV scripts, often with his son Geoffrey.  Although not a Christian, Hoyle’s study of the origin of life led him to conclude that the universe showed signs of intelligent design, a view that surprised many of his scientific peers.

When will we listen and do something about it?

The late Harold Wilson, former Prime Minister and leader of the U.K. Labour Party, said, "A week is a long time in politics". This must have been so for the Eurozone leaders when they met in Brussels to find a solution to the Euro crisis. Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, said, "If the Euro fails, Europe fails." There is an inevitability to her words, which may have prompted her fellow national leaders to pull back from the brink of total collapse. They agreed on a bailout plan initially for Greece but also for other tottering countries, such as Spain, Portugal, Italy and Ireland, which also had major debt problems. Many newspaper financial commentators were sceptical about whether this plan would be implemented in time; they had heard euphemisms before, but now they wanted to hear words that would work. One lady said that they were kicking the can down the road. We understand her words to mean that, at some point in time, someone has got to pick the can up. Though battered and damaged, it had to be addressed; there was no point in kicking it further down 'Debt Avenue'.

When I worked as a travelling preacher in Cornwall, the locals would say that if it rained for two weeks, there would be floods, and if it didn't rain for two weeks, there would be a drought! It was inevitable! It always puzzled me why an area with so much rainfall could not conserve it in reservoirs for the tourists that often triple the county's population when the sun shines. 

Management of the earth's resources is vital, as the world's population is around 8.3 billion, and over one-half of them live in poverty without access to clean water. Every human being depends on water; our bodies are approximately 60% water, and we cannot survive for many days without it. In many places in Africa they have to go to where clean water is available, fill their cans, place the vessel on their heads, and carry it home, sometimes over a great distance. Share Africa is a Christian charity that helps village communities in various ways, including by paying for books and children's education. They also put wells in villages so they can pump water into a storage tank for families to draw water from, saving them a long walk to the river. Other charities do similar things and are commendable for the hard work they do.