Father is favouring us because He favours Jesus within.  Christ in you is not only your hope of glory, it's God's hope of glory in the earth too. Christ through you is the way the Father will have His own glory and purpose fulfilled. So He's committed to being with you, favouring you, flowing through you and empowering you to act like a son, in your office and in your school. Christ lives within you so walk forth boldly into your world each day. As a New Creation, step out on the street as a devil-destroying, sick healing, hope-giving, gospel-living son or daughter of God.

When we talk about Favour, we're not talking about easier living or the fact that all of our food bills are halved necessarily, but the fact that we get an opportunity to act like a son. Joseph was favoured so he was given the opportunity to represent his God, in a prison. Jesus’ life was not always easy even though He is loved more than any other, but He had the opportunity to represent His Father. One of the things we often do as believers is interpret the Bible through the defensive lens of our own comfort. We might assure ourselves with the verse “All things work together for good for them that love God and are the called according to His purpose” that although life is tough and I feel troubled, I'm believing God is going to work it out and I'm going to get through. That is fine but what if that scripture is meant for sons on the offensive? “All things work together for good those that love God.” So, therefore, we know that we going to get opportunities to pray for the sick, bind Satan’s power, shine in the “prison,” share the gospel or give some money to somebody in need.

Friends, favour is not having ease, but having the opportunity and privilege as sons to rule in the prison, preach in the darkness, show somebody the love of God, in short, to go about doing good and healing all those who the devil oppresses. Now, that is favour!

Voltaire said if there was no God, we would have to invent one. No doubt he meant that only an intelligent designer God, makes sense of the intricate balance of the solar system, the perfect ecological systems of the world, and the fantastic design of the human body.  To say nothing of the moral and spiritual nature of man.

But that's only half the truth, this God would have to be a good God, for no person lives above their view of God.  If God was not loving, faithful and righteous, life on earth would be a high-risk hell. Only if God is love would people know to act with respect and honour towards one another. Only if God is righteous would people know to not steal, cheat,  murder their neighbour or injure their families. Only if God is faithful in relationships with His creation would people also form faithful covenant relationships like marriage. (Marriage conveys hundreds of benefits and protections not afforded to cohabitating couples. Married couples tend toward greater financial advancement and better health. Married couples also report higher trust, happiness and satisfaction in their relationships compared to unmarried cohabitating partners. Cohabiting men are four times more likely to cheat than husbands, and cohabiting women are eight times more likely to cheat than wives. The Pew Analysis. 21 Apr 2024.)

Only this type of loving, righteous and covenant-making God, would inspire men to love mercy, act justly and increase sexual fidelity, and family stability, through permanent romantic relationships.

 Of course, the most helpful thing God could do would be to come to earth to reveal Himself and show us how we are to live. And the greatest thing He could do to reveal a God-sized love, would be to bear the punishment that we all deserve for falling short, so that whoever believes on Him as Lord and Saviour should not perish, but have everlasting life with Him.

Praise Jesus this God does exist.  We don't need to invent Him we need to invoke Him and live like Him.

 The families stood huddled around the table to eat their first Passover meal. It was the night they were going to be delivered from Egypt and they were following His instructions. "And you shall eat of it this way, with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in a hurry. It is the Lord's Passover." Ex 12.11

The men were dressed in their work clothes, with their heavy-duty belts into which they would tuck the front of their long garments. In other words, they were to leave Egypt ready to run and ready to work. Passover for them did not mean settling in for a night off or quiet time at home.

They had sandals on in readiness for a long journey or some sort of military campaign. Sandals also showed the acquisition of new property, and they were exchanging their inheritance in the world for their inheritance in the city of God.

They ate with their staff in the other hand. With a staff, they could crush scorpions and snakes, drive off wild dogs and carry weights across their shoulders. They expected obstacles and opposition, but they were ready.

The Passover was eaten in a hurry. They were going to put as much distance between them and Egypt as they could because they knew if they lingered, Egypt would catch up with them.

Today when we come to the Passover sacrifice provided through Jesus Christ, we come ready to walk away from the world and into a new inheritance. We expect opposition but are ready to fight but most of all we eat the Passover with urgency. If we don’t come to the altar to receive Christ in a hurry and ready to forsake sin quickly and gladly, we don’t understand the gospel.

Friend, let’s use every Passover (Easter), to reaffirm our hatred for the bondage the world had over us, and to renew our passion to pursue the “Cloud”, the Promised Land in Christ and the One who saved us.

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.