Jesus would have us recognize our king, follow our king and pray to our king.

We are reminded of the importance of being spiritually awake and alert. There has been a long wait for Jesus to return, and we need to be careful how we handle this wait - the reason for the delay is so that everybody can hear the gospel. We need to be prepared - we can't rely on the spirituality or prayerfulness of others.

Perhaps, like Nicodemus, some are watching the church service from afar. Christianity is about being born again, and Jesus reveals himself in ways we can understand. Nicodemus went on to follow Jesus, so will you?

The year 2020 is a year of drought, but the righteous are not anxious in the year of drought because their delight in the Lord in whom they trust.

Jesus was the heavenly Son of Man of Daniel 7 and yet he came to serve. not to be served. He was glorified as he was lifted upon the cross, with a thief on either side of him. James and John didn't know what they were asking for when they asked to sit on either side of him.

Salt is a preservative, and it brings out the flavour. We are meant to be different from the world, but our danger is compromise . We should be more defiant than we are. We should challenge things in the world that need challenging, even though we will experience kickback for this.

Perhaps we are meant to be experiencing the things we are experiencing. We might ask of this is the right time, but Joseph was faithful in the here and now - as a slave, as a prisoner and as a leader in Egypt. God is with us in all our circumstances.

God can use us whoever we are. Whatever the problems around us, the real problem is our sin, and God wants us to deal with this and to walk faithfully with him.

Perhaps we need a wake-up call. A church can fall asleep by lying down (assuming a low profile), getting comfy (living for pleasure), and staying still (not acting on what we hear). A church can make sure it's woken up by standing up (making it clear we're with Jesus), getting dressed (getting rid of sin) and having breakfast (being sustained by God's Word, not our own will-power). It is worth waking up because we get the opportunity to walk with Jesus and will be honoured by Jesus before the Father.

Jesus doesn't ensure that bad things don't happen but that they don't separate us from the love of God. God's plan for us is not that we don't face danger but that we depend on his grace.