Genuine

There are times when it is hard to tell if something is genuine, when my daughter was a child she looked at a leather belt that said genuine leather and asked "where's genuine?"

Oft times we can get away without using the genuine article sometimes something that is compatible will do and probably be much cheaper and with something’s it doesn't matter. I recently purchased a Samsung laser printer and bought toner that was compatible, once the toner ran out and I replaced it the printer just wouldn't print right, there was no way it would accept these toners so I ordered Samsung toners and it worked fine.

It maybe doesn't matter so much with things but what about faith, religion, Christianity etc.? Does it matter what church I go to, what religion I belong to, don’t all have the same God it’s just different roads to heaven? I mean surely as long as I go to church and do good things and work hard to be good myself that’s all that really matters?

I would like to quote you something quite startling from the Bible that Jesus Himself said Matthew 7:21-23 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!

-->

So not everyone who thinks they are going to heaven are!!

How then can anyone get to heaven?

There is only one way, and that is through the Lord Jesus it has nothing to do with church attendance, it has nothing to do with how many committees you are on, it has nothing to do with good works, it has nothing to do with confessing to priests etc. etc. It has everything to do with God’s grace, if you want to be a genuine Christian. 

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. 

Redemption is a gift from God and when we repent, believe then our sins are forgiven and we walk in God’s light, we are new creatures in Him which will produce good fruit, we will want then to please and serve Him.

There is only one genuine religion, there is only one genuine God, there is only one genuine way to be saved from sin, guilt, shame and the wrath to come and the only way to find out is by reading the word of God, the Holy Bible prayerfully asking for understanding and guidance from God the Holy Spirit.

Those that enter the kingdom of heaven will be those who do the will of the Father, 

Matthew 7:21  “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven, 

Acts 17:30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 

so, this is the will of the Father that we repent, how?

Acts 2 :38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

There are a lot of counterfeits and they are not compatible, only one way.....JESUS.

Turkey and Tinsel at Willersley Castle Hotel

I have had a wonderful Christmas which actually for me started on the 12th of December when I went away for five days, it was only a few miles away at Cromford I stayed in the Willersley Castle Hotel http://www.christianguild.co.uk/willersley/ for their Turkey and Tinsel 2 break. I didn't even know the place existed until a few months ago when I went to Matlock and found a gate with their name on so I did some sleuthing (searched the web) and decided to book myself in.

It was wonderful, the place is charming, clean, warm (a little too warm for me I had to turn off the radiator and open the window :), the staff were extremely friendly, polite and courteous and did all they could to make your stay comfortable and memorable. Our host Marion was a delight she had laid on all sorts of things for us, I arrived on Monday and settled into to my room which had a lovely view of the Derwent and all the hills etc. Every morning there was devotions and every evening apart from the last Marion gave an epilogue.

Tuesday was our Christmas Eve and we had a lovely coach trip to Castleton, then Bakewell

and then on to Chastworth to see their decorations,

Willersley had provided us with a packed lunch which was lovely. I thoroughly enjoyed the decorations but was much happier out there in the grounds although I didn't see much of them what I did see was wonderful.

Fountains, the cascade and even a squirting willow tree!!!!

They are in the process of putting gold leaf on the windows, wow.

After tea we had a quiz which surprisingly the team I was in won, well actually it was a joint win :)

Wednesday was Christmas day and after breakfast and devotions we were given a gift from Willersley. We had a three course Christmas dinner, I had the traditional turkey and Christmas pud. In the afternoon we had a lovely lady, Yvonne Wilkes come and show us how to make decorations, bows, and how to wrap a present properly.

She was the person who had done all the decorations for the hotel, they really were lovely.

Christmas day tea was a wonderful buffet. At some point but I can't remember when we were taught by Marion the 12 days of Christmas with actions, hilarious. 

In the evening we had three gentlemen and a lady from an operatic society called Bright Reflections who came to entertain us it was wonderful. Memories came flooding back of when I was a child listening to my mother sing and of the records she used to play on the old wind up gramophone.

Boxing day saw most of the T and T's go to Cromford with a guide from the Arkwright Society apparently they had a wonderful time but I missed them so I had a walk around Cromford,

http://st-marys-cromford.co.uk/index.php/about-st-marys/

I found the bookshop and just couldn't resist and bought a couple of old story books,

http://www.scarthinbooks.com/

After lunch we joined together for more of Marion's quizzes and a couple of turns by ourselves, Edward who has a lovely tenor voice sang, I sang "Holy Child" and Caroline read a poem called the twelve days of Turkey, fabulous. In the evening some of us went to a pantomime at Buxton Opera house, they had a wonderful time. I shall always remember with great affection the fellowship and friendship of my fellow T and T's and I hope that maybe next year I will be able to return but of course nothing in this life is certain.

But one thing I am sure and certain of that even though we may never meet again here we shall meet again in glory when we shall be forever with the Lord, what a glorious hope and future we have who are born again by God's grace.