Sometimes we think of the Pharisee and the bad guys, but they were the good guys in Jewish society. They were like us: they were the committed ones. They weren’t fulltime ministers, they had jobs, but they were devoted to God. All day they tried to please God in order to enjoy Gods blessing. So, they prayed often, they fasted often, and brought a tenth of the parsley plant to the priest. They studied and memorised the Law and they tried to do it. Hower tey found it difficult to receive Jesus because the Pharisees didn’t think God would be like Jesus. The truth they had in the law, never fully revealed what God was like. The law was a divine list of instructions and as for them and their house, they were going to follow the List!

Sometimes when parents go away for a week, they leave a list of things for their teenage children to do and not do:

You shall not have you wild mates around. You shall not make noise that will annoy the neighbours

You shall not leave home without locking the house. You shalt eat properly and don’t be late for work, and you shall put out the rubbish.

 It not the parent, it is just a list.  It tells people a little about the parent: they value tidiness, they think of their neighbours etc. The list reflects in part the nature of the parents, but it is not the parent.

Perhaps just before the parents come home, the children make sure the list is done. They put out the rubbish and vacuum the house. They might have lived badly all week, but the list is done, and the boxes are all ticked.  They hope the parents who are not all knowing, will be happy.  Regardless, when the parents come back home, they screw up the list because now the person who wrote the list has come.

The Pharisees problem was, when the Author of the law came, they still preferred the list. When Jesus came to earth, the Pharisees found it easier to manage a list than a new concept of God. Their forefathers were the same. They told Moses to go up the mountain and get the list; meeting the requirements of an unchanging list had to be easier than living with an awesome and dynamic God.

Friend, the law was a revelation of a portion of truth, but the fulness of Grace and Truth is fully present and revealed in the person of Christ. God did not give us the law or even the whole Bible to reveal the Bible to us, but to reveal Jesus to us!   How do we see God...? Because Jesus was different to what they thought.

Noah and his family went out of the city each day to build the Ark, and for a start, interested spectators and curious relatives gathered. They doubted that their son, nephew or neighbor had heard from God. The family worked for many decades until the huge boat was finished. The crowds had long gone before the sky grew darker. Things were about to change. Noah had been warned by God of things coming on the earth that had never been seen or experienced before. He was moved with fear and built the ark with his own hands, finally covering it inside and out with pitch. God then invited Noah to come inside and dwell with Him in the Ark. 

Today before the global threats arrive, God has provided an Ark for the world, built without hands. The Lord Jesus Christ. We need only to look to Him and enter in by faith. Once inside we can adore and worship the One who presence comes close to comfort and to strengthen. We can lift up our voices and hands to Him each day in our homes and hearts in prayer, praise and obedience. As we enter the “ark of His promises” and declare the protection of His atoning covering over us and our family, we dwell in the secret place of the Most High. As we abide under the shadow of the Almighty, we experience dwelling in Him and Him dwelling with us. If we build it, He will come.

But this Ark is not just for us, but for all. The blind, the mockers, the careless and the ready; all in the city that will call upon the Lord. As we declare His power to save and proclaim His greatness, we point the community toward the Ark. Let the vessel of salvation (the Lord Jesus Christ) be raised higher than all other names in the city.  As we brag on Him and pray for the people of the city, the Ark rises higher as a beacon of hope and deliverance, in the midst of the growing darkness.

As Jesus, The Door lowered Himself to earth to save us, let the gospel door of salvation be opened and lowered to welcome all.  Not all will come, many will not “see” it and some may mock us. But we ignore the crowds and look for the approval of One. Noah and his family weren't the majority, but He was only considered an idiot until it began to rain.

Friends, two things bring joy to our Father: When He can find a dwelling place in us and when people find their dwelling place in Him.

I have watched amazed as others bungy jump from bridges and towers, but I have never jumped off myself. I could tell you that it was the wisdom of years or just the fact that I don't need that sort of excitement or accomplishment, but fear is the honest reason. But I don't feel bad at being afraid - just rather happy at being alive.

Noah was warned by God of things coming on the earth that had never been seen or experienced before. Noah was moved with fear to build an ark that saved his family and was declared righteous because of his faith. Obviously then faith is not the absence of this type of fear. Nor does this type of fear preclude faith. Faith is doing what God says to do even though we may be afraid. Here both fear and faith, served God’s purpose. 

But what is this fear that Noah had?  This was not a faithless terror but a natural fear no doubt taught by his mother and experience.  I mean who wants to drown?  Unlike Phobos which is the usual word used for the fear that believers shouldn't accept, Eulabeomai, means having caution or reverence toward a circumstance or person. Noah was moved with caution and reverence toward who God is and what God had said was coming, so he obeyed. The only other place this word is used is in Acts 23 when the commander feared that Paul would be pulled apart by the mob. So, the commander became concerned and cautious about the developing situation and acted in order to keep Paul physically safe.  Some of Noah’s caution, was no doubt a fear of him and his family drowning and that is normal and also God given. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, based on revelation. The fear of fire or drowning is natural wisdom based on physics and demonic wisdom it's based on lack of divine revelation and selfish ambition.

It has been said that courage is feeling the fear and doing it anyway.  That is true if we are talking about fear (phobia) of witnessing or praying for someone in the gym or trying to build a destroyer size boat with an adze. Feeling the fear and doing it anyway would be foolish if you're talking about the natural fear (eulabeomia) of leaping from a cruise ship into the sea or trying out an experimental bird suit from a great height.

Friends, God wants us to be moved with a godly fear. To have caution and give weight to the days that are coming upon us, and keep building an ark for the saving of our household. Wisdom begins when we fear the Lord. That wisdom and fear of God then informs and moderates our natural fears and enables us to not be moved by the fear of man or the intimidation of the enemy. Fear God, love the brotherhood and don’t jump.

The tribes of Israel had been immature in the wilderness. God did it all for them but in the Promised Land they had to grow up. (Joshua 5:10 -12).No more manna; they had to plant their own gardens, till their land and draw their own water. They had to take responsibility. We are responsible for the condition of our life and heart. If our soul is negative, we are responsible. If we are bound up in poverty thinking we are responsible. We cannot blame our father, our wife or husband or the government. You and I are responsible and accountable for our own condition and debts. Mature people who souls are prospering, take responsibility for their lives. Till they do they will be stuck for ever. While their life is someone else fault, they are stuck thinking they can never change till that other person changes.

 God wants us to grow up. Children may need someone to care for them, but mature people can not only look after the selves but others as well.  Derek Prince said, “Maturity is measured by how much of others weaknesses’ you can bear.”  If you can’t read your own bible, pray you own prayers, spend time with God and encourage yourself in the Lord when you are down, you’re still living in the wilderness.

Friend, we are not made for wilderness living. Some believers make a career out of being wilderness believers, spending their whole life on crutches instead of getting healthy. But healthy people take responsibility for themselves and even for others.

It had been a good year. “Not a word failed of any good thing which the LORD had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass” (Joshua 21:45). Israel had inherited the land, but it had required warfare and conflict. God was faithful to His promise, but He asked for their involvement. . They had to do some fighting too. They had to face many battles but that is what enabled their success.

In life we face troubles, trials, temptations difficulties and may be even some afflictions, but it's still a great life. A year overseen by the Father. We only get the trials that we need. We only get the temptations that God knows we can handle. And we only get responsibilities God knows we can be faithful in.  Our times are never filtered from trouble, but they are filtered by the Father. It is not a good year when everything goes well and there's no challenges or difficulties to face. To grow in faith there has to be a challenge. To grow at love there has to be people difficult to love. To grow in generosity, there has to be needs presented that we can respond to. We become faithful when remain diligent in our responsibilities without supervision nor encouragement. What makes for a good year is when we face challenges and overcome them; when we fall but rise up again and when we have grown closer to our spouse or friend, because of a trial we faced together.  It has been a good year when we lived for a great cause, when our hearts were stretched, and we cried out to know God more. When we had to give something up in sacrifice. A great year is about knowing Him and growing up. It’s about leaving the place you were. It’s about being a wayfarer; it's about passing through the wilderness and arriving at our promised land in Christ.

Friend, I trust this has been a great year and journey for you. Stay on your pilgrimage to ward Him, find the blessing in your valleys; You will enter more of your inheritance and He will crown your year with His goodness, and His mercy.

The people of Israel had been at the base of My Sinai for almost a year. They were gathering material for the tabernacle for the moment they could begin to offer worship to God. The first instance of worship in the Bible was an animal slaughtered and sacrificed upon an altar. (Genesis 4.4). There was no music, no choir and no shouts of praise, just shaky blood-stained hands, and a carcass dead on an altar.  The worshipper was saying to God, “I offer this as a substitute for myself.”

The Hebrew word for sacrifice is “Holo” (from where we get the word Holocaust) and literally means slaughter; something that has been killed and offered to God.  A sacrifice couldn’t be used for anything but had to be consumed in the crackling fire.  Moses’ tabernacle contained some horrible sights; blood, knives, searing meat, smoke and cattle standing around to be killed, but later on King David changed all that.  David about 400 years later realised God would rather have the whole heart of a living man offered to Him (a living sacrifice) than the lifeless carcass of a bull or a goat. (Psalms 51:15-16).  As we worship, we place ourselves “upon the altar” as a willing offering to God; it is the sacrificing of our lives to the one who is worthy (Romans 12.1).  It is not necessarily musical in anyway.  Unlike praise you can’t see or hear worship. Worship is an attitude toward God, in the heart and spirit of a person.

We can come to church, sing, and shout praise to God but if there is no complete surrender, we haven’t worshipped. Only God can see worship and it is our worship that ratifies our praise.

As the Pharisees waited for Jesus' answer of judgment on the adulterous women, Jesus stooped over and wrote with his finger on the ground.“This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground”( John 8:6-8). He did so to separate the sinner from those that would condemn her and to deliver the sinner into freedom. He stilled the voice of her accuser and provided mercy that had the power to change her.The Pharisees brought the women to the right person but for the wrong reason. They brought her to Jesus for judgement for sin, instead of help for her sins. There is nothing wrong with the law in its ability to condemn us but it can’t help us live up to its standard. The law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. The purpose of the law was not meant to bring death to people but death to sin. The purpose of the law is life and righteousness. In His life, Jesus fulfilled the law not destroyed it and through His love, forgiveness and empowering grace, Jesus can fulfill the law in us.The only one without sin, cast no stones but instead said: “Go and sin no more.” Grace doesn't free us to continue sinning but it tells us what type of life, is now possible. Grace releases empowering gratitude and life-changing self-worth and value.

Friend, the best thing that happened to the woman and to us, was that we are caught by the law and brought to Jesus and His powerful grace.

God met Moses in the desert.

The Lord said, “What is that in your hand?" Moses replied, "A rod."  And He said, "Cast it on the ground." So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail" (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand”(Exodus 4:2-4).

Moses looked down at the old shepherds stick he held in his hand and felt a twinge of shame. Moses thought it was only a shepherd’s rod; but worse, he felt it was a symbol of the 40 years spent in the wilderness and all the mistakes he’d made in the past. It reminded him of the time he lost his temper and made some serious mistakes. It represented all his failures and all his worst moments.
When God said to take the rod and cast it away from him onto the ground, God was helping Moses get some perspective. ” Stand back, get some perspective and see it as the serpent that it is. It is not you; it is separate from you. Your past is not you, it just happened to you. Failure is never a person but only an event”
The enemy had spoken lies to Moses for 40 years. “You are useless, you blew it, you're pathetic, your no use to God and no use to the Hebrews” and it had crippled Moses with regret and shame ever since.
It is never the things that happen to us that become the problem but it is always the lies that Satan attaches to those events and failures that affect us most. God wants us to see that the past is not our identity and wants us to be free from every lie of the devil.
Finally, God said, “Take the snake by the tail it will become a sign of your authority from me.” As Moses tentatively picked up the serpent, it became a rod which he took with him on his mission to Egypt.

Friend, our past is not our identity. Once free from our past, it can become a great ministry tool to those you are called to reach. Take up your rod today. God is about to turn the mess of yesterday into your message of freedom tomorrow.

C.T Studd the missionary talked about Chocolate Soldiers in the church.  Those that melt in the heat and who need to be wrapped in foil to survive life.

We all live through the heat of battle at some stage in our lives.   In Gideon’s day, the Midianites always waited till Gods people were about to harvest and then they attacked. They come to steal the harvest and fruit from Gods people. Just when it seemed that God was giving something to Israel, the enemy came to take it away.  They needed a Gideon.  Maybe you were just beginning to prosper in an area of ministry or life and something came along and it brought you back to square one. You were tripped up or did something stupid in your life.  It seems like it has been two steps forward and one step back.

God has a way to defeat your enemy but it will require you. It is never “whatever will be will be”, but whatever you let be will be.  With God, whatever you defy can be defeated but we cannot conquer what we will not confront.   Gideonites beat Midianites.

God calls his Gideon “a mighty man of valour” and God calls you that today. You are what Heaven says you are.  God sees something in you, you can’t see in yourself.  Hell only fights you over what Heaven calls you. The devil didn’t show up until after God said to Jesus “You are my beloved Son.”  The devil only turns up after the Dove.   Father tells us who we are and the devil comes to see if we believe it!

Friend, believe it today. You are not chocolate; you were birthed from above and sent from God. The same heat that softens the chocolate only tempers steel and prepares earthen vessels for Him.  You don’t need to be wrapped in foil because God has promised to be your shield and buckler.  Stand up and drive the devil off your harvest, your family and your finances.