No .04 King Asa

I like to read in the Old Testament about the kings, the battles and the adventures they went on. One of the battles that you might not have stumbled across is found in the life of King Asa.
The bible, when it talks about the period of kings in Israel and Judah, often says one of two things. 1. They did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, or 2. They did what was detestable in the eyes of the Lord.
Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God.
Asa was king in Judah and had a time of peace after he had gone through the land destroying all the paraphernalia set up to worship false gods. King Asa had about “300,000 from Judah, armed with large shields and spears, and 280,000 men from Benjamin that carried shields and drew bows. All these were mighty men of valour.”
2 Chronicles 14:8

“Here is the thing, sometimes, even when everything is right and you haven’t done anything to warrant the nightmare on your doorstep, it still turns up!”

King Asa had done a good job; he had sorted the people out and their wavering devotion to God. He had good relationships within the kingdom and around it, he had fortified the cities and established a decent army, good times.
Here is the thing, sometimes, even when everything is right and you haven’t done anything to warrant the nightmare on your doorstep, it still turns up! For King Asa this nightmare was an army led by Zereh the Ethiopian, and when I say army I mean an army of a million men and 300 chariots. That’s a big problem.
Asa cried to the Lord his God, “O Lord, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, you are our God; let not man prevail against you. 2 Chronicles 14:11
King Asa, his army and the authority from God, enabled him to defeat the Ethiopian army, all 1 million of them! King Asa chased them and not one survived. Again, this stuff isn’t easy reading but it is there in the bible and we can’t ignore it.
So what’s the point with all this stuff? Well I actually want to make two points. The first is the one we have just explored, stuff, trouble, chaos and the odd punch up in your life will happen. Even when you are ‘doing’ everything right. Depression might hit, financial crises, marriage breakdown, sickness and death. We can follow King Asa’s example and fall to our knees and call on the name of the Lord. Won’t mean you get the outcome you want! But it will ensure you are not alone in the fight.
Second thing to mention is that King Asa didn’t actually learn from this. Trouble came knocking again in his life, and instead of running to God, he ran to his network, his partnerships, he allies, basically he relied on his own strength, and it failed!

Image Credit: Word for WORD Bible Comic
The Word for WORD Bible Comic is a historically accurate, unabridged and untamed graphic novel of the Bible with a high view of Scripture.

No .05 Caleb and the Spies

So, we pick up this story with Moses getting a message from God to send some spies out and check out the land that God is going to give them. Remember that bit, that’s the important bit, the promise was there at the start.
Moses selects the fellas and sends them out on the mission. In this blog I want to drop in some verses from the bible to tell the story:
“When they came to the Eshcol Valley, they cut off a branch with only one bunch of grapes on it. They carried it on a pole between two of them.” Numbers 13:23
This was some bunch of grapes, can you imagine popping down the supermarket and filling the boot up with that bad boy? You would need to get the neighbours to help you get it out the boot and into the house. I also think the bible has a funny way of wording things, these lads decided to name that area on their journey, they called it ‘the valley of the bunch of grapes,’ original lads!
Point is, this all looked really good, so that’s what they reported back to Moses.

“What are the voices around you that you chose to listen to?”

“We went to the land where you sent us. It really is a land flowing with milk and honey. Here’s some of its fruit. But the people who live there are strong, and the cities have walls and are very large. We even saw the descendants of Anak there’.
Numbers 13:27-28
The land was amazing, almost too good to be true but most of the spies started to show their anxiety and pessimism. Caleb is the first voice we hear of optimism. This is important, it wasn’t just Caleb being unrealistic and foolhardy, remember the promise that Moses started off with? God told them, go and see the land I am giving you! This is yours!
“Caleb told the people to be quiet and listen to Moses. Caleb said, “Let’s go now and take possession of the land. We should be more than able to conquer it.” Number 13:30
However, even with Caleb calling out and encouraging the people to take God at his word and advance, all the others could see where mountains, problems and disappointment.
“But the men who had gone with him said, “We can’t attack those people! They’re too strong for us!” So they began to spread lies among the Israelites about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored is one that devours those who live there. All the people we saw there are very tall. We saw Nephilim there. (The descendants of Anak are Nephilim.) We felt as small as grasshoppers, and that’s how we must have looked to them.” Numbers 13:31-33
Giants, failure, fear, anxiety, mountains, difficulty – this is impossible!
I love this stuff. So often I am sadly the bloke calling out the mountains and giants in the way. It is a real challenge to be like Caleb, the men who are willing to remember the promises of God, stand on them with conviction and take action. Decisive action, bold and full of faith in who God is and how reliable His word to us can be.

Image Credit: Word for WORD Bible Comic
The Word for WORD Bible Comic is a historically accurate, unabridged and untamed graphic novel of the Bible with a high view of Scripture.

No .06 Samson

If there ever was an amazing action story in the bible is has to be that of Samson. You can have a look on YouTube of course and find some interesting films made about 50 years ago, but this is begging for a full Hollywood work up.
Samson’s parents had a visit from an angel and they knew that their boy child was to be set apart, dedicated to the service of God. This meant that Samson was living as a Nazarite with a particular set of skills, (sorry that should be code, I am mixing this with my favourite film!).
The code was simple and the benefit was massive. Samson must abstain from fermented drink, not touch any dead bodies and never let a razor cut his hair. The return for this code? A life of unique blessing and power from the Lord, well worth the effort!
The battles Samson got involved with are incredible, and a bit hard to fathom really. On one occasion after tying the tails together of 300 foxes he had caught, he secures a flaming torch to each set and lets them loose in the philistine’s fields to burn them all. Understandable upset they retaliate and burn two people to death, so then Samson gets very cross. Samson gets the jawbone of a donkey and sets about stabbing, slashing and clubbing about one thousand men to death.
There is a lot of stuff like this in the life of Samson, did I mention he found a dead lion? If you have been following this blog series you will understand.
The thing I want to point out in this short blog is simply about God’s grace being incredibly abundant in the Old Testament. Samson actually ends up losing the one thing that made him so incredibly distinct and focused in his life, the spirit of God.
Samson had let the Nazarite code go and the final straw was letting his deceptive wife know his secret, she cut his hair and boom, the Lord left him.
The sad bit is, and you can read it here in Judges 16:20 that ‘he did not know that the LORD had left him.’
“During that journey of wandering, prayer becomes stale and lifeless, the bible is like walking through treacle and going to church fells like just another thing to get done.”
I remember hearing Beechy (CVMs President!) speak about Samson, and I think he wrote this in 52 Men too. That for Samson the spirit of God was brooding over him and had taken such great power in his life, but Samson and his life choices were such that he just hadn’t noticed the spirit leave. I liked that.
Sometimes, we can actively walk in the opposite direction to the Holy Spirits leading in our lives. I have done it, been there and got the t shirt. Absolute conviction both in my spirit and in what I know of God form the bible however I wander off in the opposite direction. During that journey of wandering, prayer becomes stale and lifeless, the bible is like walking through treacle and going to church is just another thing to get done.
Have you been there? I have, a few times.
I think this is a place we can often find ourselves, I am not suggesting the Holy Spirit has packed up his bags in a tantrum and walked out the door of your life. However, I am suggesting that he retreats, steps back, let’s you wander and he did it with Samson.
Cool thing is, remember I talked about God’s grace being incredible in the Old Testament? Well for Samson he called out to God one last time, blinded and restrained by his enemies he called to God:
“Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.” Judges 16:28
Samson pushed the pillars in the building down with indescribable power killing even more of his enemies in his death than he had in his life. Not easy reading to be honest, but Samson discovered that God forgives, restores and hadn’t forgotten him. I found that encouraging anyway.

Image Credit: Word for WORD Bible Comic
The Word for WORD Bible Comic is a historically accurate, unabridged and untamed graphic novel of the Bible with a high view of Scripture.

No .07 Gideon

When it comes to action and battles, the bible is seriously packed full of this stuff. Don’t shy away from reading these passages, it can be hard to read but it is in the bible and needs to be explored. Some of it is very graphic and will leave you questioning how God was in this stuff, but that’s ok! You’re not meant to understand and be able to fathom all of God’s moves, that won’t ever be the case.
Gideon was hiding away in a winepress threshing wheat, not because he had invented a new and more environmentally friendly way to do it, he was fearing for his life. Let me set the scene.
The action starts with the Israelites being disobedient again in their agreement and relationship with God. So, God sent oppression and strife their way from the neighbouring nations. The Midianites that attacked were particularly vicious and punished the Israelites big time. (Remember what I was saying about God doing stuff and allowing things in the Old Testament that are hard to look back on for us today?)
The Israelites were so impoverished they had lost land, cattle, homes the lot and had fled to the caves for safety. Gideon is doing all he can, but he is from the smallest clan and the least in the family (and oh, that’s a dangerous place to be when God is looking for action!)

“Broken heart, broken spirit and looking to hide away. Have you ever felt like that?”

God promises Gideon that this will be sorted. The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.” Judges 6:16
God gives Gideon a plan and a promise, and puts some fire back in his heart again. Gideon trashes the old religious icons and symbols to the false gods the people had started to worship, a revolution was stirring!
Let me cut a long story short, Gideon managed to get 32,000 men together but the enemy had joined forces, there was a lot of enemy! The bible says that in their camp they were thick like locusts, more camels than the grains of sand on the shore! Oh dear!
But God spoke to Gideon and basically told him you he had too many men!
Well, lets just say at the end of this sifting process he is left with 300 fellas looking at him with spears, clubs, trumpets, empty jars and lit torches. Yeah, doesn’t sound like a win to me!
At night Gideon and his 300 men, circled as much of the camp as they could, with a mighty trumpet call they all shouted and held up their empty jars with torches in and smashed them.
A few things happened next. The enemy below assumed that with each light they could see was an army of men not just one bloke on his tod! They were literally surrounded and outnumbered. Then they decided that their newly formed alliance wasn’t actually that deep after all, and panic and chaos broke out, so they drew blades on each other and hacked each other to pieces. (God was sorting the chaos out!).
So, God took Gideon, with a broken heart and spirit, fearful and desperate and God gave them the most incredible victory. Sometimes, when I wrestle with the plan, when I can’t see all the details or even just get a glimpse at what on earth God is doing, I remember Gideon. You don’t always need to know, you need to trust that God is and will be working and sometimes that’s all we can do!

Image Credit: Word for WORD Bible Comic
The Word for WORD Bible Comic is a historically accurate, unabridged and untamed graphic novel of the Bible with a high view of Scripture.

Have you ever noticed the flurry of books and self-help guides to transform you into ‘the man’ that will rise to the top in this world? There are loads. At the start of the year this stuff is all the more visible. How to earn more, how to excel in business, how to be a success in life….
I am not knocking them, I am sure some of these books offer really helpful advice about positive thinking and goals, assertiveness, targets and ambition, great stuff if you have the time and patience for this sort of thing. They also cover stuff, which I think is perhaps, more helpful, like how we handle failure, drive forward with energy and focus, all good things.
However, in preparation to write this blog for the start of the new year I did a quick Internet search on how to be a success, and I even spelt ‘success’ wrong, not a good start.
You might desire to be a successful sportsman, or excel in some kind of hobby. (I am trying to get my dart game strong enough to compete in the World Darts Championships, but that’s another article.) You might be so driven at work that you strive to be a success in the office, on the building site, in the boardroom, in the classroom.
Perhaps for you it is about being the best dad you can be and aspiring to be a success at home and for your family to see you as a winner. You might even have some very godly spiritual ambitions, to succeed in evangelising 1,000,000 people and writing a library’s worth of devotional books and sermons to wow any congregation.
Again, this is all inspiring stuff so what am I saying? This may seem a shock but I don’t believe you are being called primarily to be a success in any of the above ways as a Christian man.
For me there is a really subtle voice inside, and it focuses itself around who I am and how I find my identity and value. When I set my value and ‘success’ on being a success in the office for example, when it doesn’t happen and my ideas or vision fails who am I? When I set my value on being the next big Darts player to come out of Essex and I just can’t hit that treble twenty who am I? When I strive to be the next great evangelist but can’t seem to communicate the gospel in ways that people hear, who am I? When I shout at my kids and completely lose it because they just can’t stop arguing or look up from their tablets, my measure of success has been floored. Even as a husband when I don’t always operate with a selfless, unconditional love I have somehow been defeated again.
I think that we can also perpetuate this ‘how we measure success’ stuff in our churches too. I have been to so many churches where the messages to men is ‘let’s be better dads, let’s be better husbands and men in the community.’ I get that and agree, but hold on, I need to be honest that it feels like the bar at which point I can measure if I am successful or not in these endeavours, keeps moving up. How will I cross this line or tick off some of these goals and aspirations when the only messaging I hear is ‘be better.’
Here is my take on it.
Inspiring growth, change, targets and helping men measure success is essential, and I think we can do that by setting obtainable goals and celebrating the journey.
The journey, the target and focus for me is to pursue Christ Jesus with all I have and let that pursuit shape my life, choices, actions, reactions, the lot. As I seek to measure my life as a success or not, of course I will go to the normal labels, father, husband, son, boss etc, but there is more.
Obedience, faith, integrity, honesty, commitment, action, generosity, kindness, patience, gentleness….Christ-like living! As we set the measure to this stuff and celebrate the journey men are on in this respect, the funny thing is, the result will be that we will excel in our families, homes, communities, places of employment and on.
So, at the start of this year let me ask you some questions.
How are you going to measure success this year?
What do you define as the points of success in your life?
How can you be part of encouraging and growing the men around you on their journey to pursue heavens agenda when it comes to being successful?
Happy New Year!

Image Credit: Samuel Zeller

No .08 The Nativity

So, we are well and truly on the run up to Christmas now, maybe you have got your tree all sorted or perhaps you just don’t do the decorations routine.
Maybe, when you started this series of blogs, the last thing you expected to see was ‘the nativity’ in this list of action moments. But this really is an incredible story, which I think our Christmas cards today do a terrible job of capturing!
The tension into which Jesus was born is incredible, with a horrific infant genocide just a moment away ordered by a mad king. The people of God had not really heard anything from God in, well, hundreds of years. There was so much waiting, expectation and hoping for the messiah, the saviour to come, but nothing, just silence.
But unbeknown to just about everyone a bloke entered a dark night in his own life. Joseph wrestling with the grief of a pregnant wife he hadn’t slept with, was silently working out his exit plan without bringing shame and death to Mary, the cheat.
She had spoken of a dream, a vision and a baby, the messiah! I think for a lot of men they would applaud her creativity and show her the door. Joseph was a decent bloke and God sent a messenger to reassure his heart and trust in his wife.
Together they set out to register themselves due to a census, talk about bad timing. They look for a place to rest but there is nothing. I know how frustrated I get when I have organised a trip and the accommodation has ended up being somewhat lacking. Imagine having your wife in labour and then your plans unravel!
They grab the only place they can, a cave-like hovel where animals feed. There Mary gives birth to a son. Now I have been at the births of all 3 of my children, it is a harrowing experience in lots of ways and this is in the safety and sanitised environments we are blessed with. Imagine how it was for Mary and Joseph.

“Sunken eyes that are dark with a mixture of fear, hope, exhaustion and expectation.”

Jesus is born and the parents must both be exhausted. Joseph might have started working out how to get home, sorting some food, blankets. I would have busied myself.
Just imagine for a moment the faces of Mary and Joseph.
Sunken eyes that are dark with a mixture of fear, hope, exhaustion and expectation. Hands caked dirty with mud and blood, skin cracked and cold. Hair matted and greased up from being on the road without decent facilities to wash and restore themselves. Faces cold to the night wind, confusion and anticipation etched on their young faces. Standing there holding this miracle child, looking at one another almost in disbelief at not only the human gift of life but the purpose and mission this child has been given. Pondering on the gifts given to their new baby of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.
Gold of great value, frankincense for a king, and myrrh commonly used for embalming the dead. What must they have been thinking?
The nativity for me needs some recapturing, away from the snowy Christmas cards of halo wearing individuals. Sheep smiling whilst considering the crib where Jesus was laid, shedding no tears just an angelic smile looking up.
This story was raw, real and some aspects to it are brutal and desperate. This is full of hope and a moment that the world groaned for. God with us, Immanuel. He has pitched his tent amongst us.
What an adventure, God’s son sent to us, not some statue to bow to or picture to send our prayers to. We got his son, in the flesh. He knows our pain, struggle and trial. He knows when you get up and when you rest. He knows the day you were born and the day your earth suit will give you up.
Wow.

Image Credit: Word for WORD Bible Comic
The Word for WORD Bible Comic is a historically accurate, unabridged and untamed graphic novel of the Bible with a high view of Scripture.

No . 09 Daniel

OK, so perhaps if you are following this blog you will be working out that I like lions, yes, another blog about lions, I know. I promise this is the last lion blog I will write. (for now.)
Anyway, aside from liking lions I also like paintings (see I told you I’m not the typical macho man!) Some of the art by Briton Rivière (14 August 1840 – 20 April 1920) (Who ? – Ed) is interesting as he used to paint lions! (sorry my attempt at humour.)
In one of Britons’ paintings he painted Daniel and the lions den and his art captures some really interesting thoughts on the story. Just in case you don’t know the story, here it is:
Daniel lived in a time where the king had complete power. The king had ordered that Daniel be thrown into the lion’s den because Daniel was praying to his God and that was banned, he could only pray to and worship the king. They grabbed Daniel, chucked him in the lion’s den and the king sealed the stone over the entrance with his royal seal.

“In the painting it looks like there is an invisible wall or barrier stopping the lions from getting their tea!”

So that’s the basic story, there is loads missing of course, so check it out for yourself in the book of Daniel. But, back to the painting, Daniel is standing there looking up as the stone is being shut above him, and behind him the lions are prowling, stalking and snarling away. However it looks like there is an invisible wall or barrier stopping the lions from getting their tea. They are all locked outside this invisible arc that stands between them. The animals look confused, this is simple, there is our food! But they just can’t get to him, if you have ever seen an inquisitive cat doing this you will know what Briton has captured in the picture.
What’s all this about? Did he fall into a lion’s den when they were not hungry vicious lions? Did he get lucky? Er…no. When the King returned the next day after a terrible night with no sleep, he called to Daniel and found him to be alive and well.
Daniel answered the king: “May the king live forever! My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.” Daniel 6:21-22
I love this story about Daniel, but can you just imagine the feeling as you slid down that trap door into what looks like certain, absolute death? Unimaginable. When Daniel is brought out of the den, the men who had stirred up the accusation against him were called. The king took them, their wives and kids and chucked them into the den! The bible says that before they even hit the floor the lions had crushed their bones.
So what? Well for me, the ‘so what’ is almost like God saying ‘this far and no further.’ I take a lot of comfort from that in my Christian life. Sometimes you look and think ‘why are things going on?’ or ‘how long will this continue.’ I think we can see God’s words too in this stuff, this far and no further.
As Christians we are never excluded from difficulty, trial and trouble. In fact, I would say that ever since Jesus called men and women to follow him life for those who respond to that call has involved difficulty, trial and persecution.
I do think however that God doesn’t do a runner when this stuff kicks off, he is with us, in it, through it and even drawing lines and stepping into the situation in some divine and incredible ways. I have experienced this stuff in my life, have you?

Image Credit: Word for WORD Bible Comic
The Word for WORD Bible Comic is a historically accurate, unabridged and untamed graphic novel of the Bible with a high view of Scripture.

So here it is, the truth, I love action films. I have tried period dramas but they make me feel a bit nauseous and dizzy. I have endured suspense and physiological thrillers, but I find them dull, pointless and upsetting.
I am not a macho man, I am not shaving my face with a broken shard of glass and gelling my hair with cooking lard. I am just a normal guy who happens to love action films, that’s all.
So, in light of that, let’s get to the action, here is my 10-blog series on My Top Ten Action Moments From The Bible. (Many more didn’t make this list, and will be in the next top ten I do.)

No .10 Benaiah

Benaiah means ‘The Lord has built’ or ‘son of the Lord’ – cool name, and in actual fact a serious warrior in the Old Testament.
Benaiah was not messing about, he was a sub commander under King David but soon got himself noticed for being a stand out fighter and general tough bloke. Benaiah slays a couple of brothers who were renowned to be very tough guys, they were even called the lion like brothers of Moab! Benaiah then kills an actual lion in a pit on a snowy day, then an Egyptian giant, he does him in with his own spear! Let’s just say Benaiah took his place as the head body guard for King David, who himself was no push over, and if someone needed sorting out Benaiah was called. Get the picture?

“In a pit, fighting a lion, on a snowy day….why would you do that?”

“Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, killed the two sons of Ariel of Moab. He also went down and killed a lion in the middle of a pit on a snowy day.” 2 Samuel 23:20
So, I don’t know about you but when I read that I was left with a question, a rather obvious one really. In a pit….WHY? Fighting a lion….WHY? On a snowy day….yeah, you guessed it…WHY?
Does any of that make much sense to you? It’s snowing, you have just defeated a couple of seriously tough fellas and your on your way home for a cuppa. It’s snowing, cold, slippery and you’ve come out in your summer sandals. You see a lion, now that is enough for most of us to call time out, and head in the opposite direction, fast! The lion goes into a pit, a PIT! Have you got the picture, slipping and tripping your way into the lions domain looking for a fight.
I can honestly say I would rather be somewhere else, completely. But for some reason Benaiah finds himself in a pit, on a snowy day fighting a lion. Did he wander the wrong way? Had he got lost and found himself in deep trouble or did he see that beast from afar and go after it?
Some theologians suggest that this lion had gone in to the pit for winter, out of the forest. The lion would wander out at certain times and attack and kill local people and this of course, was not going down well with the community. So Benaiah seems to be operating here on that theory, from a position of heroism, which I love because it’s a great adventure.
The rest is history, we don’t get the details other than the historical account that Benaiah came from that pit with a new fur coat. (Ok so I made that bit up but he did kill the lion.)
I am not a hero really, I like to think I am but the truth is I’m not. But, I have found myself before in situations where, a bit like Benaiah, there isn’t much more that can go wrong. He was in a bad place, bad weather and with bad company.
Sometimes I think we find ourselves in the post-modern equivalent of this pit, and we can look around and think ‘ok so this is not where I want to be at all!’
However, what I have also found to be true, in the pit, on a terrible day with the worst of company, God can use this stuff to refine us, shape us and equip us in ways and for things that we had never dreamed possible. There may also be a victory or two that we can emerge with as well.

Image Credit: Word for WORD Bible Comic
The Word for WORD Bible Comic is a historically accurate, unabridged and untamed graphic novel of the Bible with a high view of Scripture.

We made it, it has been almost 2 months, if you are still with me on this journey, thank you.
Let’s do it, No.1.

01.   And so, dear brothers and sisters I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.  Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

OK, here is my number 1 section of the bible (at the moment.)
However, it is a bit of weird one to choose and unravel. The idea of a sacrifice and it being me is all a bit weird really. So what does it mean? Well a sacrifice like this is like saying something is dedicated to and set aside for this cause. This is not however like the radicalised expression we see in the world today where a person’s ‘dedication and sacrifice’ means the loss of life for others. It is totally the opposite.
Eyes not lusting, tongue not cursing, hands not creating wrong, feet not walking us into sin and away from God. Instead your hands can build for good and help others, your ears can listen to the hurt in the lives of others and your mouth can speak blessing, encouragement and life.
The point of this for me is that we don’t copy the pattern of this world and how it behaves, it’s customs and expectations that are all around us. The ‘me first’ mentality, stepping on people to get to the top, buying more whatever the cost, grabbing a bargain at someone else’s expense. We should not be focused on getting but trying to give, leaning on grace, forgiveness and truth rather than un-forgiveness, suspicion and lies.
In our lives there will always be choices and we can chose to respond, act and behave how the world would expect us to. If someone hurts you the expectation is you hurt them back. If someone forgets to invoice you for that thing you bought, the expectation is to not tell them and get a free item. If someone breaks your trust you need to not trust them again it goes on. The thing is, I believe Jesus calls us to be transformed in the way that we think about this stuff. If the world goes one way, chances are we need to be looking and asking the question ‘what does it mean to go the other way?’
Do you bless when everyone expects you to curse? Do you love when everyone calls for hate? Do you forgive when the world would seek revenge? This has been my number 1 for a while now, what’s yours?

Here we are at No.2 in my top 10 Bible verses. I agonised a lot over this, there are so many sections in the bible that speak so clearly about the impact, scale and earth shattering implications of Jesus’ death on the cross, but I went for this. It just had to be this.

02.   “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and released his spirit. John 19:30

A man lived a simple a life, a carpenter by trade, skilled worker from a local community and family. He had no exceptional physical beauty that would attract anyone to him, no possessions, wealth or even a place to call his own. He studied, worked and remained a single man in the company of just a few close friends.
He began to travel when he turned 30, a message had burned itself into his heart and a mission that had been waiting in secret was finally being revealed.
When this man spoke, he had authority, when he taught he had unfathomable wisdom. The crowds gathered as this man began to show his full authority, even over the elements in life that we struggle to master: the spiritual world and its ugliness, the natural world and its raging seas and the physical world with life’s ailments and infirmities.
This simple man, with no physical beauty to attract us to him, no place to lay his head captivated the lives of thousands. He showed radical generosity, compassion and mercy alongside indignation at the corruption and manipulation of people.
This man spoke in parables, earthly stories with some sort of heavenly meaning, talked of a future to come of absolutes and a place that he knew of that wouldn’t ever spoil or fade. His closest friends heard even more about the meaning of these stories and started to write them down and record this man’s life and teaching.
He also said he could forgive sin, the mistakes and mess that for centuries only animal sacrifice could dissolve. But if he could forgive sin, that would mean he was God and God was unreachable not here on earth amongst us, flesh and blood. ‘This man can’t be allowed to go on living’ was the whisper that turned into a chant in the hearts of so many.
They took the man, not by force, because he didn’t fight or defend himself at all. They flogged him, beat him and dressed him as a fake god. Surrounded by ridicule and a jeering crowd, their whispers of death had been realised as this man was nailed to the cross. Lifted for all to see this man’s life draining away in the afternoon sun.
“It is finished” he cried, and with that HE released his spirit and died.
Fellas, this leaves you and me with a question. What was it he finished?
On that day that one man defeated death, it took 3 days for the world to see it, but it happened, death lost its sting and sin is no longer your master, Jesus is!