A painting was displayed in the Tate Modern gallery of art, by Do Ho Suh. In the painting, stairs came down from the ceiling toward the ground floor, but no-one could step up onto them. Postmodern art doesn’t need to be logical or rational. Postmoderns react to scientific progress or anything called objective truth. They are disenchanted with modernists who think that human reason and science can achieve global happiness. Thirty years ago, Modernists complained that Christianity was unscientific - and consequently, untrue. Today, Christianity is rejected by Postmodernists, merely because it claims to be true.

Post-Modern Relativism is the idea that truth can be different for different people. That what is true, depends upon the situation or culture of the person. They say that moral truth can be true and binding for one person, while for another it is not. Postmodern ideology declares all faiths and ideology untrue, yet strangely claims itself to be true? Even more strangely, relativism claims that two conflicting statements can both be true at the same time. For example, one may claim that Jesus is God and another claim that He is not God, and both statements could be true at the same time. If someone believes it, it is "true for them."
The idea is “It doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere.” But sincerely thinking you can leap off a building, or swim against a rip, will matter a lot, as gravity and physics inevitably work. Postmodernism, like the artwork, may be a novel way to think about life but an irrational way to live. But just believing something to be true, does not make it true. The earth is not flat. As Jesus followers, we believe there are objective truths. Truths that are always true for every person, at any time, not because we said so, but because Jesus said so. Jesus claimed to be the only way to the Father, the only Saviour. Buddha said there is no God, Mohammed said he was not God, in Hinduism we don't know which one, is god, but Jesus said he was the divine Son of God, one with the Father. And backed it up with a resurrection! It would be nice to think that every man's god, could provide them forgiveness and eternal life; that the gods of fishing, shopping, or the tribal gods of Papua New Guinea would all be equal at saving us, but Jesus says no. Jesus was not politically correct, just correct.
But before we condemn the idea of relativism completely, are we right to think that everything we believe is objective truth? The tendency for believers is to fight absolute relativism with the opposite, absolute objectivism and perhaps unnecessarily.
There is relative truth in the pages of the Bible. When Paul wrote to the new believers at Corinth about food that was offered to idols, he said that all foods were clean, so it was fine to eat ham! This is the objective truth (Rom. 14:14). But Paul also said there may be a relative situation which determined whether a person should eat ham. “But to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean” (14:14b). This means that if someone ate ham against their conscience, this was a sin to him. Not because God cares about food but because the new believer could not believe it was right, and God cares about faith.

So how do we know whether things are objectively true or only true in some situations (relatively true)?
Let us imagine that Biblical truth is revealed on a continuum from completely objective on the left, to completely relative on the right, with non-essential objective truth and situationally relative, in between.
On the left hand, we have Essential Objective Truth. These are objective truths that are true regardless of time, culture or whether one believes it. Everything here is either right or wrong and everything essential for salvation and orthodoxy. Such as adultery is always wrong, and Jesus alone is saviour and Lord.
The next step toward the right is Non-Essential Objective truth. This category contains both doctrinal and nondoctrinal issues, which are not necessary for orthodoxy or salvation. A good example might be whether one should have communion each week, or if we should always lift up our hands when praying.
Going right again, the next step we will call Situational Relativity. Women not wearing a head covering is a good example. (1 Cor. 11:5). In that day, women who did not wear a head covering were likely to cause great offence. Today it is not right or wrong so wearing a head covering is relative to time and culture.
And finally, on the far right is Complete Relativity. These are matters for which there is no right or wrong answer. For instance, what are the best worship songs, or what are the best gifts? (1 Corinthians 13).

During the Diocletian persecutions, the Romans were arresting and killing Christians for possessing Scriptures. The Church determined the Canon of Scripture because believers needed to know which parts of Scripture, were dying for. In the postmodern age, we also need to define what truths are worth “dying for” and distinguish between what is essential in the Christian faith and what is non-essential.
We may still be persecuted in some way but let us be persecuted for the right thing. What “hill” is worth dying for? When I was first saved, I was taken by my pastor to visit people in their homes. He said “Agree with people as much as you can. We will save our guns for the “battle’s” worth fighting. When someone says that truth is relative, we will agree but explain only some truth is relative. We will not argue over whether the earth was created in 7 days or millions of years and not get to tell them about Christ. There is nothing wrong with discussing non-essentials, but no one is saved by owning the right translation of the Bible. We must get to the Gospel in every witnessing opportunity we have.” Great advice.

Maybe this Sunday at Church, there will be three new believers in Christ. All have begun their journey to discover Truth as they follow Jesus. Perhaps one will come with her Jerusalem Bible, one may come as a vegan who hates to even drink milk, one may come with his live-in partner of fifteen years and one may be a young postmodern who felt the real touch of a living Saviour. They won’t know what the difference is between relative and objective truth, and they won’t even be sure what they believe. What they do believe will probably change in the weeks ahead, but this Sunday, I will just be glad they believe one objective and essential truth: Jesus is both Saviour and Lord.

Several years ago, we went with my parents in law back to their homeland, the Netherlands. One day we went for a drive to Germany and my father-in-law visibly stiffened as we crossed the border. It had been 60 years since the Germans invaded Holland and took over their farm, stole their food, commandeered their house and shot some of his young friends but he still felt the pain. Of course, since then German politicians have apologised many times for the atrocities of the Nazis, and so they should. However, it is not clear how apologies from current politicians can release the pain of individuals who suffered years before. In other lands, African Americans feel pain from their history of slavery and the Jim Crow laws, and the Maori people feel grieved by the injustices committed by the Government, through the Land Acts in the late 19th century.
In war or in peace human rights are often neglected. Currently, it is estimated that around 7,000 Christians are killed for their faith every year and 260 million Christians face persecution. Open Doors reports that if North Korean Christians are discovered, the government either sends them to labour camps as political criminals or kills them on the spot. Other persecuting nations are Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Pakistan, Eritrea, Sudan, Yemen, Iran, and India. In these countries, Christians risk imprisonment, loss of home and assets, torture, rape, and even death because of their faith. Muslims also are not immune from persecution. The UN reports that more than three million Uighurs are in detention in “counter-extremism centres" or “re-education” camps in China, and many Muslims are not safe from other Muslims in their own nations.
Recently the world has been distressed seeing Floyd asphyxiated on the street in Minneapolis and the protests and riots that followed. It has always been true that Black lives matter, Christian lives matter, and Muslim lives matter.

Human rights are about the illegitimate exercise of power upon individuals or groups of people, whether by force or by legislation. In ancient Greece, the birthplace of democracy, only men had rights, and in America 100 years ago, some laws recognized the rights of the few; perhaps only men, perhaps only white men, perhaps only landowners.
For a Christian, human rights for everyone is a given. God instituted civil government to protect citizens. Every authority He instituted, whether parent, employer, government or church, have a responsibly to protect those in their care, from abuse and even from other institutions that overreach their God-given limits of authority. For this reason, the rights of people should be protected by law. Unfortunately, human rights abuses have sometimes been sanctioned by the law. This was the case when Dr. Martin Luther King was jailed in Birmingham, Alabama. He couldn’t ask the crowd or the courts for justice; so he appealed to a law which supersedes secular authority, the Word of God.

All basic human rights laws stem from the Bible which teaches that we do not have rights because of our ethnicity or because we deserve them, but because each of us is made in the image of God and therefore we have inherent equal worth and dignity. This was the abolitionists’ argument for the dissolution of slavery and for equal pay and voting rights for women. This is the argument against child labour and the abortion of unborn children. The Bible reveals that God is just, condemns evil, and has compassion for victims, therefore, we cannot accept any type of slavery, torture, or discrimination nor be silent when it is within our power to help. The rights of others are as safe as our responsiveness to Gods laws.

Jesus spoke more about human responsibilities than human rights and almost assumed that some human rights may be denied us, by the godless. All of our rights come from the One to whom we are responsible. As our Creator, God has the ultimate right to our lives. He has the first right to be loved, worshipped, and obeyed. Do believers have human rights? Of course. Not rights to our physical needs being met by the government or equal outcomes in life, or a right to a universal wage, but like all people, the right to be protected from injustice, evil, and violence.
In a marriage, or a nation conflicts between parties occur because of a lack of honour. In the history of engineering, medicine, exploration and national expansion, great mistakes have been made. But the future of that marriage or nation will never be healed if one party seizes every opportunity to promote bitterness or the other party ignores the issue. Instead, by acknowledging error and harm and asking for, and truly offering forgiveness both parties may be able to move on together to a better future. Restitution may be attempted if possible, but, because absolute justice is an unachievable goal, justice will need to be subordinate to humility and forgiveness. Corrie ten Boom found that the only way for her to find freedom from bitterness toward her Nazi captors was to forgive them.

The way back for those trapped in offence and bitterness is in three parts: Reconciliation must be based upon truth-telling, so we need to listen to the stories of the offended. They should be allowed to breathe and be heard. Then we need to own our part as a group or institution and ask for/or offer forgiveness. Then we all need to sow a different attitude of honour and inclusion, to reap a different future. If the whole world, heaving in unrest, seems too big a problem to change or help, we can all choose one oppressed person or one needy family and help them. We need to “know the story, own the story and change the story”, (Josh Clemons)
The Universal Declaration of human rights says, “That no one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, degrading punishment or an unfair trial and everyone should be presumed innocent until proved guilty.” When Jesus was arrested and crucified, every one of His rights was trampled. This implies that the abuse of human rights is a manifestation of sin and part of the curse He came to free us from. It also means that His healing love can heal our hearts from the pain of Human rights abuses.
Justice in this world may never be satisfactorily enjoyed by all or even many. For many the pain of offence and abuse of their rights may be so deep it can only be removed by Jesus, who brought our healing on the cross. When injustice makes it hard to breathe, we can come to the only One who can give us breath.

In lockdown I had time to reflect on places that we can no longer visit. I thought about the motorways in Kazakhstan with missing manhole covers, all stolen and sold for scrap metal. I thought about the meals we enjoyed in Thailand, Slovenia and Croatia. I miss the order of the Netherlands and flash of colours of the trucks and saris of India. In short, I missed the different cultures and I missed the smiling faces of the believers in each place.

Culture is what we live. We wake up in it, we walk in it and we work in it. And all the time were creating culture and consuming culture. How we act and treat people, contributes to a workplace culture. Parents that order family traditions and set a pattern of living, are creating culture. When we logon to twitter or watch television, we are consuming someone else’s culture, and when we post on Facebook, we are creating a small piece of the culture for our readers. The greatest impact on modern global culture, comes through TV, media, and movies. While we are made to feel emotion at movies or the laugh at sitcoms, our values are slightly, sometime imperceptibly changed, but changed they are.

When the culture of a group or individual changes, due to contact with a different culture, it’s called acculturation. Like the way American culture has changed New Zealand culture. Think coke and Mac Ds. Culture shift happens. Just as well, or we would still be cooking on fires and living in Raupo huts. Technologically advanced cultures affecting more agricultural or primitive cultures, is inevitable and, in a few cases, unfortunate. Historic global exploration and modern migration has impacted every culture in varying degrees, changing values, technology, language and food choices. We all love a good curry!

The Bible covers 6000 years of human history, including primitive Aramaic, Egyptian, Israelite, Babylonian, Greek and Roman cultures. Each culture reflected what they understood about the natural world and what they believed about the spiritual world. Their tools, clothes and the food they ate, was determined by the technology of the day, their climate, geography and resources. What was good, evil or moral was determined by their nature of their gods and any contact they had with the spirit realm. Some cultures saw spirits as forces of good and some were fearful of their powers. In Nigeria the Yoruba people once saw twins as an evil occurrence, believing the only way a woman could give birth to twins was for the woman to have had been with two men at the same time. This often resulted in infanticide to cleanse the community. Whereas now we know that twins are caused by the egg being fertilised and then dividing. Ancient cultures often suffered from their lack of scientific knowledge or beliefs in gods that were cruel.

My ancient ancestors were the indigenous inhabitants of Scotland before the Romans invaded. Apparently, they used to run around in skins their faces painted blue and white, and sacrificing children to appease ancient Celtic gods. While it is interesting to know how my ancient forebears lived, I don't want to live like them. I prefer a car to horse, and an insulated house to a pile of rocks. My Scottish ancestors’ ancient beliefs were not helpful or true. It is great that the Scots are trying to keep our ancient language alive and it is important to acknowledge our ancient culture, but to encourage a return to the ancient spiritual beliefs, would be backward step into a world of myths and fear.

Culture is not sacred; people are sacred. Some cultures are repressive, violent and oppress women. Some cultures perpetuate prejudices against others and have attitudes that keep them in poverty. All people deserve to be freed from cultures that don’t lead to actual personal and societal freedom.

Ten years ago, I met a man in Punjab who was an alcoholic. When he was drunk, he terrified his family and abused his neighbours. One day he met Christ and his life was changed. Was he still Indian? Yes. Did he still eat rice and roti? Yes. Did he still speak Punjabi? Yes, but his heart was changed. Was his culture changed completely? No. Was it changed at all? Yes. The way he acted, the way he spoke to people, the way he treated his family, his mental state, was all changed for the better.

Augustine said that culture is not a reflection of a people's ethnicity, politics, language, or heritage but it is an outworking of people's creed. In other words, culture is the manifestation of people’s faith and values. In fact, the word culture comes from the Latin word for reverence “Cultus.” Culture then is formed by what people revere, value, or worship.

When Jesus came to earth, the Roman culture existed alongside the Jewish culture. In Roman culture, the husband had absolute power over his wife and his children; he could punish them at will, abuse them, sell them as slaves, or even put them to death. The culture reflected their beliefs about their gods (which were violent and immoral), and the things they valued - or not. Greek homes had a “gynaecium,” rooms where Greek women were kept secluded from men and visitors to the house. The Jewish culture at the time of Christ, also treated women poorly. Men could have more than one wife and divorce them on most trifling grounds. Jesus teaching of the Kingdom of heaven, was in direct opposition to the culture of the day. Women and children were to be included, valued and given a voice. After modelling heaven’s culture of love and sacrifice for others, He left the Church the task of continuing to reveal heavens culture, to an antagonistic society. Like Jesus, they had no sword, only a servant’s robe. They had no authority to force change; they could only influence. And they did. Over the next three hundred years, by their loving sacrifice, courage under persecution and care for the poor and weak, they influenced the godless, hate filled, sordid culture of Rome for good. Patricide (the killing of new-born babies) was outlawed, hospitals and schools were started. Women were respected, slave were treated justly, and even emperors became believers. It is interesting to visit the Roman ruins but thank God we have moved on from its culture.

The Church is still called to engage with culture, defend culture, and to create culture.

We engage with the culture and people by works, words, wonders, wisdom and worship. With good works, we can model the culture of heaven by serving the city. With words we can tell how Jesus has changed our life. By wonders, as the sick and demonised are delivered by His power. By wisdom like Daniel displayed, through divine insights in the workplace and ultimately by our worship. Worship needs to change us first, for the character of people in any culture, never rises above their view of God.

We are to defend the culture of heaven. As “preserving salt,” in a pre-Post Christian era, we have a prophetic task to call people back to God and his ways. Salt does not just act to preserve but it emphasises the good flavours too, so we affirm culture where we can. With wisdom we honour Christ and seek to change what needs to change, while loving those who think differently.

We are to create culture. At work, in school, in our relationships we are to create culture. Some will have the opportunity to creature culture through music, movies, and business. Christians are not the only people on the planet that are creating good culture. Others go to work to serve others, build bridges, paint art, etc, and all this creates good culture too, and we honour them.

In the final analysis, culture is not something that should be protected from change or critique. Neither is culture mostly a matter of clothes, tools or food but a matter of creed. Dr. Martin Luther King said “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character”. To judge our culture, we must do more that look at the contents of our cupboards and wardrobes and look at the content of our hearts. We should act to preserve cultures in respect of their unique language, clothes, food and customs, but more importantly, we should also ask which beliefs and which character values do we want to preserve? People’s lives and people’s culture will only be a free as their beliefs and values allow them to be. Faith in Jesus, and His power to change hearts, brought liberty to the ancient Roman and Jewish people who believed in Him. Jesus freed my friend from addiction in Punjab and has changed the hearts and values, of a few billion others around the globe. So, He will continue to liberate all those that make him King.

In my late teens I spent time hunting in the bush around lake Waikaremoana. Off the forest tracks, I stood in places that I was sure no man had ever stood before. Often when people walk into unspoiled bush, there is a sense of peace and quietness so tangible, that they often catch themselves speaking in whispers, just as they would entering an ancient church. It seems like the presence of God hangs in the air with the sweet smell of the bush. I never saw any environmentalists there 8 hours off the road, but I did meet some people that loved the bush and took only what they needed. 
I once saw a bumper sticker saying, “save the planet, drive a horse!”  Do they forget in the late 1800s, there were 150,000 horses in New York city alone? At a rate of 22 pounds per horse per day, horse manure added up to over a 100,000 tons per year (not to mention around 10 million gallons of urine). If a horse travelled 22 miles per day, that is 450 gm per mile. By comparison, in the uneconomical 1970’s, the average car emitted
6 gram of pollution per mile. [1]

So, are environmental concerns rubbish?  No, but some of the facts such as pollution by natural phenomena are overlooked. Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, humans have produced far less air pollution than that produced by just three volcanic eruptions: Krakatoa in Indonesia (1883), Katmai in Alaska (1912), and Hekla in Iceland (1947).  More recently Mt. St. Helens (1980) poured 910,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and El Chicon erupted in 1982, it released 100,000,000 tons of sulfur.[2] We are also not told that termites produce 150 million tons of methane gas each year.[3] Which is ten times as much as all the fossil fuels in the world each year. Just as well people don’t farm them, or they would be taxed for sure.

We don’t know if current climate change, is part of cycle, past predictions have been flawed and often alarmist. It was only back in 1974 that Time magazine warned of a global ice age, reporting, “the atmosphere has been growing gradually cooler for the past three decades. The cooling trend shows no indication of reversing,” [4]  But only 4 years later in 1979, the New York Times reported, “There is a real possibility that infants will live to see the North Pole melted.” In 1989, United Nations predicted that “entire nations could be wiped off the face of the Earth” if global warming is not stopped by 2000. We’re still here and it now looks like that the islands of the pacific around Vanuatu are sinking more due to subduction of tectonic plates, than the seas rising)[5]. Climate change is hard to judge and if true, is even harder to fix.

Another reason for some skepticism, is that the greens who are concerned with the spread of socialism as much as climate change, use environmentalism as a Trojan horse into governments.  Even more extreme is PETA, which makes animals not just equal to man but more important than a man. These are the deep ecologists (pantheists) who ram ships filled with people to save a whale. To them, drinking cow’s milk is abusing the cow and fish should never be caught. Of course, there is no reason for cruelty toward animals, and in fact man’s superiority means that we have priority as well as responsibility for other creatures. However, we note that Jesus, sent his disciples down to the lake to catch a fish not to save the fish and He never stooped down to give the donkey a ride into Jerusalem.

Not everyone that wishes for sustainability, works for MacPac or wear Bob Marley tee-shirts, most are good people educated by media or university, to worry about the earth.  They may not be believers, but like Cyrus of old, are doing the will of God in some way, as they care for Gods green planet. Still, while their devotion to the earth is noble, they miss the point. Devotion to the earth alone, is like honoring a Rembrandt painting without honoring Rembrandt himself.  People, trees, cats and even wetas are works of art, by a Creator that deserves awe and worship.

It is just as inconceivable, to honor Rembrandt and despise his paintings, so believers honor the Creator and honour His work.  Christians are to be “environmentalists”, not because the earth is mother god (gaia) or that the trees are god (pantheism), But because “the earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof.”  This is our home and we are not just a passing through! Our bodies are temporal till immortalised, but we still take care of our appearance and health.  So, in the same way, we take care of His planet. Picking up our rubbish is Christian!  Some believers feel that preserving the earth is like painting the deck chairs on the Titanic, and on the other hand, there are a few believers, that are more worried about emissions than missions. Regardless, no thoughtful Christian can support contempt for God’s creation. As far back as 1554, John Calvin interpreted dominion to mean a responsible care and keeping that does not neglect, injure, degrade, corrupt, or ruin the earth.[6] God’s Word tells us that having dominion means to keep, give rest to, and sustain His creation so that it can multiply and be fruitful. We are to exercise dominion without being destructive. Oil spills, pesticides, toxic chemicals, need to be eliminated or managed. Wanton deforestation of rainforest is tragic. Dominion means we[JS1]  are to cull as well as conserve. Pruning the branches makes the vine more productive, so trimming back numbers of plants of animals may be necessary.

Creation matters to the Creator. Jesus said His Father cared about each sparrow. And the fact that animals in Old Testament times were used to atone for man sins, is not a sign of Gods lack of care for animals but even His greater love for mankind.   Jesus looked at plants, trees and animals as provision from His father. God hid minerals, oil and wealth in the ground for us, not from us. Jesus no doubt took trees to build furniture and houses and we don’t know that he ever planted new ones to replace them. The last tree he used, was the cross on which he died. He was prepared for a tree give up its life and He was prepared to give up His own life, to save the souls of mankind. When the Creator died to pay the price that our sin deserved, the sun refused to shine and the whole earth shuddered in revulsion, but as His blood flowed down, both men and the rest of creation, were  redeemed. We care for earth, but we are not afraid for its future. Jesus said this earth and any new earth, will be inherited by the meek, not the greens. He promises its survival, as He promises eternal life to those that believe on Him. Let’s walk with Him in His great global garden.  Let ‘s enjoy and care for the works of His hands.

1] https://99percentinvisible.org/article/cities-paved-dung-urban-design-great-horse-manure-crisis-1894/

2] https://www.equip.org/article/christians-and-the-environment-how-should-christians-think-about-the-environment/

3] https://www.iceagenow.info/termites-produce-co2-year-living-combined/

4] Arguing with socialists: Glenn Beck  

5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3156165/

6] John Calvin, commentary on Genesis 2:15 in Commentaries on the
First Book of Moses Called Genesis (Grand Rapids: 1948). This teaching is
strongly re-enforced by Revelation 11:18: “The time has come...for destroying
those who destroy the earth.”

Paul walked with his bags up the gang plank onto the ship but the chorus of sea birds drowned out the sound of his steps. The ship smelt of salt-soaked hemp ropes and tar. Beyond the ship, the green sea twinkled but Paul never noticed; he was thinking of the people he knew and those he had never met waiting at his destination. Most of Paul’s missionary life, he was on a boat somewhere on the Mediterranean. These sea journeys were not the only voyages he took, for He took an internal voyage as well. Our live journey is a voyage, and therefore, we must know our destination and negotiate the storms that come the rocks of intimation and even the shallow waters of small vision and low goals. This is true of individuals and of churches. Every person is born for a purpose and our voyage is to fulfil our “pre-destiny.”

Hundreds of years ago, men were press ganged into the Navy to fight for King and country.  They were captured as they walked home from the pub and they woke up below decks out at sea. Our Captain only captures our hearts, gives us a vision of reality and we follow Him. But one thing is still true; we are called to a battle campaign, not to a jazz cruise. Jesus looks for men and women who will enlist for life. We can’t be a soldier for the summer and there are no reserves. Our voyage begins when we discover who God has made us and we decide to become it; when we understand the reason for our birth and we pursue it in spite of all opposition. Every job and ministry is about recreating the world God that intended. He assigns us to fix something that has fallen in people, education, business, church or society. The way we do church is changed for the moment and parts of its expression, will never be the same again. But may be that’s the point. Maybe we weren’t meant to do it down there on a Sunday. Maybe we were just meant to be the Church in our closet and in our street, in our place of ministry at work. Our new goal is not to get the Church back to normal but to take life to the city. May be our lockdown learning is that our problem is not that don’t have enough, the problem is that we haven’t given what we have. Could it be that we don’t need more buildings, more power, or more love, just more courage and more involvement with the people. There is a greater anointing but maybe it is in the field. Jesus seemed to think that the 99 in the fold didn’t need as much attention as the one that was still lost in the field.

Near the end of his life Paul said   “… the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4:6-7).  The word “course” was used in regard to plotting the course of a ship. Non of it was completed tied to the wharf but driven by storms to find the sick and the needy.

Friend, if it seems there is are many hindrances right now to the future we planned, there is no hindrance to the Church, God has planned, Jesus guarantees victory in the conflict.  The apostle Paul said “…I kept the faith”.  Keeping the faith is not just “remaining a believer” till Jesus takes you home; but doing our part to make the earth a home for Jesus now. That won’t happen unless we all fight the good fight and finish our course.  Lets march forth into the cursed world to release our Captains “blessings”. Lets not think that the kingdom will come, by filling the Sunday grandstand and cheering on the “full-timers “ or by waving a handkerchief of token appreciation, for those saints that are going into the battel field, but lets join the ranks as well. The Church is not defined by how much life we have inside on a Sunday, but how much life we release outside in the city each week.

Once when visiting friends in Tanzania, we were taken to a snake zoo, where graphic photographs hung on the walls of men being swallowed whole by pythons. Guards had been attacked while sleeping and then swallowed by the big snakes. Apparently, pythons are attracted by the breath of their victims and when they have coiled themselves around the victim they squeeze the breath out of them till they are dead.
Many years ago I went through a time of real confusion in my life. I did everything I knew to do to break out of it but in the end, I knew I needed help from friends I trusted. I had had the breath squeezed out of me.
When the Apostle Paul was breaking new ground in Philippi, he once found himself opposed by the devil, though a woman with a spirit of divination. She spoke the truth but with a spirt that brought death. The Greek word for divination translates to python in English.

In the spiritual realm the “python spirit” smells people with breath and life and creeps up on them to squeeze the breath and vision out of them. It might wait till you are feeling low mentally or spiritually but it will slither your way. The python spirit wants to crush you and destroy your spiritual life. What God put in you, the devil will seek to take out of you. Sometimes it works through people like Jezebel, who squeezed the life out of Elijah and shut down the prophet in the land. Watch out who you let into your life and find some one who can bring you life.
Friend, it’s an old device. It began in the garden when the serpent turned up to squeeze the breath and life out of Adam. We may be in lockdown but we are not to be knocked down. We are told to stay at home but we choose to stay in Him. Don’t let him squeeze the life out of you. Get annoyed like Paul; rise up and cast it out. It didn’t solve all of Pauls challenges; he was locked up but because his spirit was now free, he was ready for revival, prison couldn’t hold him and even the prison keeper was set free. Come on; someone needs you to be ready too!

David sat among the sheep grazing all around him, unaware that back at the house, he’d been excluded from an important meeting with the Prophet. The actions of the family showed that they did not believe that God could or would use David. Their exclusion showed that he was considered by them, to be insignificant to the real work of God but God thought differently. (1 Sam.16)
One thing that shapes our values is our family. Maybe you can see how your family has written a message on our minds that affects how we see God and ourselves. Sometimes the people in our life or past are not the best people to tell us who we are!
Thankfully, when we are saved, God begins to write upon our heart and mind a new story by giving us new experiences of His love, care and power in our lives and the best place now, to find out who we are is from God Himself.
Moses was a sheep farmer but he didn’t know who he really was, till God spoke to him. Peter thought he was a fisherman until he heard from Jesus. Gideon found out he was a deliverer and Elisha a prophet was not just the farmer’s son. God showed them all that they were loved, significant and called and capable.
Friend, you’ll never know who you really are, till you hear God tell you - Get away from the sheep for a moment and listen at the burning bush. He will tell you.

Gideon spoke to his 300 brave men as they were about to attack the enemy army “Look at me and do likewise; watch, and when I come to the edge of the camp you shall do as I do” (Judges 7:17).  The leader says do as I do.  The leader goes the way and shows the way first. Gideon’s men never said “I don’t really feel like it right now” God is not asking for our opinion only our obedience. God leads us through leaders. Doing as the leader did was how they got a breakthrough. The devil knows the key to victory is unity.  That is why we never hear of the demons splitting up and starting a new hell.

So our task is not to score the worship leaders quality of voice or their song choice, our job is to follow them.  The Spirit of God will fall if we are one people, in one place, and in one accord.  They say Paul’s' voice was not great so if that was true, the power of God fell in the prison because of their their unity not because of their clever harmonies.

Amazingly, when the brave 300 entered the battle, the fearful remainder of the tribes were encouraged and returned to the battlefield.  (Judges 7:22-23)   The 300 all became leaders.  Our actions can inspire others to rise up.  Don’t wait for your friends to decide to be a world changer. Be the first, be the change.

Friend, find a leader to trust, follow them and become a leader to your friends who are watching you from afar. Your decision will change not only your destiny but the future of those who will inspire.

I used to work for the Ministry of Works and sometimes they would have a sign in the middle of the road saying “Caution men at work.” It reminds me, that all of us need a sign up around our life every day, which says Caution God at Work! Not that we need to treat our loving Father with caution but that we should treat every moment with caution.  There are no secular moments when you are a believer and no secular jobs. Obviously, the glorious church is made up of truck drivers, lawyers and housewives. God uses their work hours and jobs to perfect them. Every part of our life; whether spending time with family, having breakfast and driving to work, are all spiritual, because He is always at work! 

Sometimes we think that God stays in the closet when we go to work but our life is like a movie. If you could stop each frame and look into it you’ll see God in every frame. God doesn’t compartmentalize our training or life as we might. We send our children to one for music lessons, to the gym for fitness, to school for their minds and to the Church for their spiritual growth, but not Our Father – all of life is His. He has one school and we are all in it full time. He can use every experience and every person we meet throughout the day.

Jesus told of a servant who wasn’t looking or expecting his master to turn up at any time.   “But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers (Luke 12:45-46). Unbelievers? A strange thing to say unless this man represents us, believers. The fate of the believer that isn’t expecting or looking for the Master to appear throughout his day is that they are given a portion like the unbelievers. In other words, a life where they cannot see God at work, in and around their lives – just another pointless day.  I love being in the “zone” where I’m expecting and seeing God communicate with me by any means, at any time in my day.
Friend, our Father is always with us, communicating with us and always working in us. God goes to work with you, not just to help you in your work but to work in you. God’s plans are not accomplished by His work in church meetings but because He is always at work in you to will and to do of His good pleasure. (Philippians 2.13)