Gideon looked closely at his men as they laid down their gear by the river.  He was looking for those who cupped their hands to drink. Having laid down their natural way of fighting and washed their hands in the river, they had empty and clean hands.  God enlists people by their character and their thirst at His River.

Now down to 300 men, God told Gideon to go to the enemy’s camp and listen to what they were saying.  While eavesdropping on Midian’s camp, he heard one soldier telling another of his recent nightmare. In the dream, a barley cake hit their tent and wiped out 30000 men. The Midianites knew that this represented Gideon and God’s army. Gideon was encouraged and told his men “Arise, for the LORD has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand." Judges 7:15  

The enemy knew God’s people were coming and they were worried!   We listen too much to what the enemy is saying to us instead of hearing what they are saying to each other. If we knew what they were saying about the Church, we would fear less and move forward more. The devil knows an outpouring of the Spirit is rolling in.  He knows fully who the Church is, so he seeks to keep us from knowing who we are. We can only live the life of the person we think we are.  If he can keep us from realizing the strength that even 300 have in corporate prayer, he thinks he’ll be ok.

A man in our Church wore a tee shirt which said, “I am the devil’s worst nightmare” and that certainly should be true.  (Let’s not put that tee shirt on while we’re still arguing with our family, not praying or thinking daily about Jesus and His Word) but that is what we are meant to be. 

Friend, we are living on a battleship, not the love boat.  We have a victory won by Jesus that must be enforced by faith-filled prayer and enjoyed by action - personally and corporately as the church in our city. Then if we listened in on the enemy’s camp, we'd hear that they are worried. Let’s increase their nightmare.

The first part of 1800's, came to be known as the romantic period in history.  Movies set in that period usually involve magnificent gardens, men on horses, long dresses and no one seems to have to do the laundry. Invariably there is some shocking mismatch between the lovers. Like a royal princess who falls in love with the poor coal merchant or tenant farmer.  One day in her bored "locked down" life, she is looking out her window and sees the coal delivery boy in the yard below.  As their eyes meet, they know in their souls that they are destined to be together.  The woman knows that no matter how much a scoundrel or mismatched he is, he would be a perfect husband. Until he wasn't!

This idea of the "Soulmate" continues its unhelpful reach even today. Popular thinking suggests that when eyes meet across the room, and there is an instant connection, they have found their soulmate.  The only person in the whole world who can complete you, who will remove all traces of insecurity and loneliness from your soul, and who completely understands you. So well in fact that communication isn't really necessary.  But, of course, that’s rubbish. I still don’t fully understand Anneke, and we need to talk a lot just to keep things straight.
For centuries before the romantic period, people used more pragmatic and helpful criteria for finding a spouse: Do they have a similar background or culture, shared values, alignment on matters of faith, marriage, raising children, work, and perhaps even politics? Ever since humans began reading the Bible, they understood that everyone—yes, even that beautiful soulmate whose eyes you caught across the mall—is a selfish and broken sinner. The image of God in people, while magnificent, is tragically broken and therefore living with others will be challenging.

 Sometimes we think there is a “Soulmate Church” for us too. It will be welcoming, understanding, accepting of us and possibly sinless.  But no, the church is full of sinners, and we are all still learning how to love. We grow best by being surrounded by imperfect people.  So instead of seeking a church that is just perfect for us, that understands our needs before we even communicate them, just find one that loves Jesus passionately, believes the Bible, is unaffected by woke liberal thinking, has places where you can serve others and join the family!  As you show up, store up, pray up, pay up, and stay there among all the rest of us sinners we will learn to grow up together.

Of course, only Jesus can be our perfect “Soulmate”.   He saw us from “above” and although we are truly mismatched, He completely understands us. Beyond reason, He still loves us with our imperfections and offers a royal proposal to share His estate and live with Him forever.

I can't understand atheists, but I admire them for their type of faith and courage. Neitzche the famous atheist who proclaimed “God is dead” is himself long dead and now knows better. He at last realises that only man’s foolishness and pride could claim to have absolute knowledge about things that are invisible or that cannot be empirically proven. But some things can be..

Rodney Stark is one of the world’s leading authorities on the sociology of religion. This Pulitzer Prize nominee was a sociology professor at the University of Washington for many years. He spent much of his life studying religious people vs nonreligious people. After he researched thousands of people, Stark concluded that religious people: are much less likely to commit crimes at all ages; are far more likely to contribute even to secular charities, volunteer their time to socially beneficial programs, to be active in civic affairs and enjoy superior mental health – they are happier, less neurotic, and far less likely to commit suicide. They also enjoy superior physical health, having an average life expectancy of more than seven years longer than that of the irreligious; and express a higher degree of satisfaction with their marriage and are substantially less likely to abuse their spouses and children. They even perform better on standardised achievement tests and are far less likely to have dropped out of school, which is especially true for ethnic minorities; and were therefore far less subject to being on unemployment benefits or welfare.

 So parents, politicians and everyone who has breath should think about how much we are losing as a society by becoming less religious.

Not only that Dr Caroline Leaf, quotes research by Dr Gail Ironside, professor of psychology and psychiatry who found that the most significant factor in recovery for those with HIV, was their belief in a benevolent and loving God. Over a 4 year trial, those who did not believe in God lost their healing “T cells” three times faster than those who believed in God. Their viral load also increased three times faster along with higher stress levels and damaging amounts of cortisol. Her conclusion was a belief in a benevolent God, was way more protective and if you believed that Jesus loved you personally, that protection and recovery were even greater.

It turns out that when it comes to the enjoyment of life and health, you have to be quite brave to be an atheist. We were just not created to be unbelievers. That is living against the grain of life. So dear atheist, I admire your courage, but I still wouldn’t want to be you!

Though he never started an organization he left a legacy far beyond the effect of his ministry to a few thousand people in ancient Palestine.  His ministry to the deformed, diseased, demonised and dying was beautiful.  He attacked everything contrary to the kingdom of God in the lives of those he was led to by the Spirit. Jesus was an exemplary minister, but he was also a model leader.

He led His disciples by example in devotion and lifestyle, but He also cast vision, planned, set goals, mentored, delegated and built a team. He was a minister and a leader.    Teaching and training of the disciples became more important than ministry, as the time of entrusting the message to the twelve, becomes closer.  For instance, there are only six instances of miracles after Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem, compared with at least thirty, in His early Galilean ministry.

Jesus understood that the world would not be changed by ministry alone, or by what He alone could accomplish.  It would take direct leadership of the 12 and the 70 to achieve His purpose.  Ministry is whatever we do to help and bless people in need.  Leadership is whatever we do to facilitate other people doing ministry or leading. Ministry is about meeting needs that you see whereas leadership comes from a belief in something yet unseen and moving toward it.

Friend, lead and lead well.  Leadership maximizes your life. Ministry builds individuals, but leadership builds the Church.  Through ministry you can build a reputation but only by leadership can we leave a legacy.

 Esther hurried away from the meeting with her uncle and she already had a plan in her mind. The young Jewish woman had recently been selected as the gentile King’s new wife. In a previous episode, the king’s governor Haman had convinced the king that the Jews were his enemy and had gained royal permission to write a decree, that every Jew should be robbed, killed and destroyed. When her Jewish uncle Mordecai heard about the decree, he asked her to intercede on behalf of their people. The king didn’t know that Esther was one of the now-condemned Jews until she exposed Haman’s plot to the King. God gave her favour with the king and Haman was hanged on the gallows.  Even though Haman was destroyed, according to the custom of the day the first royal decree allowing the attack on Jews could not be changed. But the King wrote another decree, giving the Jews full authority to fight back. They had a great victory which they still celebrate at the feast of Purim.

God made His first decree that mankind would be delivered to death if they chose to rebel against Him. God then defeated Satan on the cross, (as the king destroyed evil Haman on the gallows in Esther’s story). However, while Satan is stripped of legitimate authority, he still works against us whenever we drift into his dark kingdom through wilful sin and even ignorance of His Word. There, his minions seek to steal, kill and destroy God’s people. Therefore like the king of old, God has empowered us by a second decree, to fight and defeat the devil and all his plans in the name of Jesus.  What the enemy means for evil, God has already planned to use for your good. God is using him to make you stronger and to teach us to make war. God is using us to destroy the enemy’s plans against you and your family.

Friend, never fear what the devil can do to you, but in the decreed authority that Jesus has given you, live in a way that makes him fear what you can do to him.

At one point in their history, Israel had not yet possessed all the land God gave them. Saul was king, but the army was under-equipped.  While trying to possess their Promised Land, the Philistines removed all their weapons. The only blacksmiths were the Philistines, so the Israelites had to go down to the enemy to have their tools sharpened but not well. The Philistines couldn’t keep Israel completely out of their land, but they kept their weapons blunt.

If the devil can’t stop you from entering your promised land, he takes away your weapons and if he can’t do that, he will make sure they are blunt and ineffective. If our axe is dull, our ability to build the house and get to the root of matters in people’s lives; is limited.  And when our sickle is used in the harvest blunt, it only bruises the harvest.

There are battles to be won and in the field the fruit is ready and the harvest is ripe. Fortunately, God has His own “blacksmiths shop” where weapons and harvest tools are created in the fire of devotion or adversity.

Friend, that shop always has a fire that roars. Sometimes it may seem like a dark place where there is hardness and the forging of things with hammers. It may even look like hell. But mostly the fire we see through the darkness is the fire of His presence. As we run to that Fire and sit in His flame, He forges the harvest tools and the love we need. And even when the fire has done its work and our implements are forged into the shape of His heart, time spent close to the "Oiled Stone" will give our life and “sword” the finest edge.

The people of Israel stood on the edge of Canaan but even after being told of the beautiful, promised land, they couldn’t rise to the opportunity God gave them. They still saw themselves as powerless slaves, even as grasshoppers.  We also can see a Promised Land before us but if we don’t see ourselves as those able to enter it, we won’t be able to.  Corinthians tells us that we are “new creatures” in Christ; a brand-new species and our future is as bright as the promises of God. God can do exceedingly abundantly above what we can ask or think. (Eph 3:19 -20). But we need to think about ourselves differently. 

It’s not your haircut or clothes or address that changed, but you; you're now God’s child. Your potential, your future and the impact of your past upon you, have changed completely. Certainly, our perception of God has changed but how you see yourself is more important than how you see your future. We might even have ignored ministry or work dreams and opportunities because we never saw ourselves as able.

Friends, people don’t necessarily grow into their potential; they only grow into what they think they deserve or what they believe they are capable of. God has made you more than able by putting Himself within you! The most important vision is not what you see ahead of you but who you see inside you. If you see yourself rightly, a new future will appear.

No wonder Easter is still the premier celebration in the universe. And no wonder the devil seeks to deceive the masses as to its consequences. “For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. (2Jn 1:7)   

Christ means Messiah. God come in the flesh to be our Saviour. This is such good news because it means a number of fabulous things.

1.                If Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, then God has revealed Himself! That means that we don't need to look for any other saviour. The gospel just needs to be told to all nations, races and religions.  It means we can all give up our false gods with false hopes and turn to Jesus Christ.

2.               If Messiah has come in the flesh, then God has spoken to man.  That means we can put away every other religious book, every other philosophy and ideology and give allegiance to the Word of God.  God’s Word is the standard by which every other book, every thought and every word is to be judged and weighed for truth and justice.

3.               If Jesus the Messiah has come in the flesh, then Jesus has modelled righteousness and right living. That means that we can judge all our behaviour, speech, and moral life based upon the teaching and example of Christ.

4.               If the Messiah has come in the flesh, then God has shown us the only way for us to be forgiven.  On the cross, Jesus paid the penalty for the sin of all mankind, so we can give up our pride-filled efforts to save ourselves and call on the Lord.

5.               If God came in the flesh, died and rose again, then allegiance to Christ alone is desirable and reasonable. Putting our trust in His word is life-saving and necessary. The Bible is not outdated. It matters not whether a man rides a horse or a helicopter, the Bible is always relevant and offers him hope.

What a fabulous Saviour! If we were saved by His death, how much more shall we be saved by His life? Romans 5.10.