Have you ever been outnumbered?  I’m talking about a time when the odds were so stacked against you it wasn’t even funny.  That scenario seems to be the standard setting of many Bible stories.  

Let's see, there was Jacob up against Esau and his 400 men.  There were the newly escaped Jewish slaves against Pharaoh's armies at the Red Sea. Who can ever forget Gideon and his 300 men against the masses of Midian?  While David and Goliath was a one-on-one battle, the young shepherd boy was certainly the underdog in that match.  And what about being surrounded by five-thousand hungry people when all you have are five loaves and two fish?  I would say that is being outnumbered!

Second Kings chapter 6 tells the story of a man of God who was seriously outnumbered.  As the chapter begins, the king of Syria was having a meltdown because someone was informing the king of Israel of his battle plans.  No matter what course of action he took, the king of Israel knew about it in advance.  At first, the Syrian king thought he had a traitor on his team.  He then learned the truth.  God was revealing the Syrian battle plans to the prophet Elisha, who in turn informed the king of Israel.  The solution to the problem was simple - take out Elisha!

A few mornings later, Elisha's servant was up early when he happened to look out of the window. What he saw caused a panic attack!  During the night, the Syrian army had surrounded Elisha's hometown of Dothan, and it was obvious what they were after - one Jewish prophet.  Realizing the situation they were in, the servant cried out, “Oh, sir, what will we do now?" (v15 NLT)

Elisha took a glance out the window and said, "Don't be afraid...For there are more on our side than on theirs!" (v16)  Really?  The servant probably thought, "Elisha and I make two. There has to be a gazillion Syrians out there!  How in the world do we outnumber them?” 

Sensing the young man's struggle, Elisha prayed, "'O LORD, open his eyes and let him see!'  The LORD opened the young man's eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire." (v17)

So, have you ever been outnumbered?  Do you feel outnumbered now?  Like Elisha's servant, are you surrounded by more problems than you can count?  If so, ask God to open your eyes of faith. Look!  You are not alone.  There are horses and chariots of fire encamped all around you! "For the angel of the Lord is a guard; he surrounds and defends all who fear him" (Psalm 34:7 NLT).

Sometimes the bullies of life gang up on us.  We are surrounded.  But never forget the wonderful truth of Romans 8:31, "If God is for us, who can ever be against us?"  You and God always make a majority.  In this world where it seems like evil is winning and the godless are prevailing, hang on to the timely words of Elisha and be encouraged, "Don't be afraid...For there are more on our side than on theirs!"

Pastor Todd Weston​

​This past Sunday was a significant day for the Church of Jesus Christ universal.  The Bible speaks of the Church in terms of universal and local.  The universal Church is made up of all believers worldwide (Hebrews 12:23).  The local Church is made up of members and adherents in a particular community.  For example, Paul addressed the first letter of Corinthians, “To the Church of God which is at Corinth…” (1 Cor. 1:2).

As I said, last Sunday was a significant day for the universal Church.  Easter Sunday isn’t just another special day on the Church calendar.  It’s the most notable day because it’s the celebration of the most remarkable event - the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ!  The resurrection matters for three fundamental reasons:

1.     It’s the proof of Christ’s deity

In Caesarea Philippi, Peter confessed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16).  As powerful as that confession was, there was a more powerful declaration yet to come.  Romans 1:4 states that Jesus was, “declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead.”  When it comes to the deity of Jesus Christ, there is no greater proof than the empty tomb.

2.    It’s the plan of salvation

The Bible tells us that Jesus purchased our redemption through His death on the cross.  But how do we know that His sacrificial death was an atoning death that paid for our sins?  How do we really know that it wasn’t just an ordinary death?  There’s only one way.  We know by the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, "He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Romans 4:25 NIV).  Without the resurrection, there would be no salvation (1 Cor. 15:17).  God’s gift of salvation is available to all because Jesus is risen.

3.    It’s the promise of eternal life

In John 11:25, Jesus stood at the grave of Lazarus and offered this word of hope to the family, “I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.”  It’s the resurrection of Jesus Christ that gives us hope because His resurrection guarantees ours!  “Because I live, you will live also” (John 14:19).

As I said, Easter Sunday is a significant day for the Church universal.  It was also a significant day for our local church, River of Life Assembly of God.  We praise God for 455 in attendance.  The presence of the Lord was strong throughout both services.  The presentation of the Easter message through music and word was especially anointed.  Most of all, we rejoice with the twelve people who responded to the invitation to receive Christ as their personal Lord and Savior (6 first time salvations & 6 recommitments).  I was also very moved when a young man who attends our church approached me between services, and with a big smile on his face, reminded me that it was his first Sunday to celebrate Easter as a Christian!

Easter Sunday is over for another year.  But the great truths of Easter are timeless:  Jesus is Lord, Jesus saves, and the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ guarantees ours!

Pastor Todd Weston

It was the ministry opportunity of a lifetime.  Imagine being invited to participate in one of the most sacred of all meetings.  I'm talking about the prayer meeting in the Garden of Gethsemane.  As far as I can find, it's the only time Jesus asked anyone to pray for Him. Imagine being among the group handpicked to intercede as Jesus prepared for the ordeal of the cross. 

Peter, James, and John were the ones selected from the eleven (Judas was gone by now) to stand with Jesus in His great hour of need.  They were given this ministry task, "Watch and pray."  That's it?  Yes!  Stay alert and pray like never before. 

You know the story.  Leaving them with this assignment, Jesus later returned to find the three disciples sound asleep.  Stirring Peter, James, and John from their sleep, Jesus encouraged them to pray hard, after which, they promptly managed to fall asleep again.  A second time, Jesus returned and repeated the same words, and again the disciples dozed off.  A third time, Jesus found them sleeping when they were supposed to be praying.

Have you ever failed in a ministry assignment?  I will never forget my first attempt at being a guest preacher in another man's pulpit.  I was about nineteen years old and was approached a few minutes prior to a Sunday night service in Stillwater, Oklahoma with the invitation to speak.  To this day, I cringe when I remember that service.  I will spare you the gory details, but I will tell you it was really awful.  Did I say really awful?  Actually, it was worse than really awful!

So what happens when you fall flat on your face attempting to do something for the Lord?  What happens when you mess up the message, or forget the words to the song, or blow the witnessing encounter, or fall asleep in the prayer meeting?  What happens when you make a left turn in ministry when you should have turned right?  Does the Lord rebuke you for the failure and relegate you to the ministry "B" team?  Are you benched?  Is it over for you? 

Thankfully, the answer is no.  Upon finding His disciples sleeping for the third time, Jesus said, "Rise up, let us go" (Mark 15:42).  In the face of ministry failure the Lord says, "Rise up."  Jesus knows we can do better and desires to give us another chance.  He also says, "Let us go."  I like that word "us."  Jesus doesn’t abandon us when we fail.  And the word "go" speaks of forward progress.  In spite of past mistakes, we still have a future.
So if you have taken a ministry tumble or two, don't let the devil convince you that you are down for the count.  Every Christian is called to serve in ministry.  Open your eyes and see the outstretched hand of the Savior.  Time to get up; there’s work to be done.  And as the strong arm of the Lord lifts you to your feet, hear Him say, "Rise up, let us go.”  

Pastor Todd Weston

Are you a confident Christian?  Are you confident in your confidence in Christ?  Are you sure that you’re sure?  The apostle Paul was.  He said, “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6).

Look at the verse again.  Paul wrote, “Being confident of this very thing, that He…”  Are you confident in God?  Let’s start there.  Do you believe in the God of the Bible and in His Son, Jesus Christ?  Have you entrusted your life to Him?  Are you convinced that He is, and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him?  

As a born again believer, are you confident that God is at work in your life?  Do you know that the Holy Spirit was sent to live within you for that purpose?  Do you believe that God is at work even in those times when it seems like nothing is happening?  Are you confident of that?

Are you certain that He is doing a good work in you?  Do you know that God loves you with an everlasting love, and that He will take the bad things that happen and make them work together for good?  It’s obvious that Paul was convinced of that when you remember he wrote Philippians 1:6 from prison.

Are you confident that God is faithful and able to finish what He started in you?  God will not fail, and He isn’t going to walk off the job.  And do you have the confidence John talked about in his first epistle? That when we see Christ, the work will be complete for “we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is”?  What a day that will be!

Unbelievers place their confidence in all the wrong places.  They trust in things like money (Job 31:24), government (Psalm 118:8), people (Psalm 118:9), or even in themselves (Jeremiah 17:9).  Of course, those are all dead-end streets.  The Christian is different.  Our confidence is in the Lord, and in Him alone (Proverbs 3:26).

The world needs to see more confident Christians!  No wavering allowed.  Learn to say with Paul, “Being confident of this very thing…”  Hold your confidence firm to the end (Hebrews 3:14).  Cast it not away (Hebrews 10:35) for it will be rewarded.  

Pastor Todd Weston

Have you ever wrestled with God?  Jacob did.  The story appears in the 32nd chapter of Genesis.  Jacob was in-between two major struggles.  The first, was the near miss with Laban who was a bigger con-man than Jacob (and that’s saying something!).  The second, was the impending disaster of meeting Esau whom Jacob had cheated twice some twenty years earlier.

Why did Jacob wait twenty years to return to his home in Canaan?  In part, it was probably because he didn’t want to face Esau.  The last words he had heard from his brother’s mouth were threats of murderous revenge.  But now the time had come to go home.  You can’t run forever.  Sooner or later we have to face the difficulties of life.

The first half of Genesis 32 is a “good news,” “bad news”  scenario.  The good news is that God sent angels at the very outset of Jacob’s journey as a sign of His divine protection.  The bad news is that Jacob learned Esau was quickly approaching with four-hundred men.

Hearing about the approaching band, Jacob panicked then flew into action.  He prepared a series of gifts hoping to appease his brother’s wrath.  In case that didn’t work, Jacob divided his family into two groups - the thought being if one was attacked the other had a chance of escape.  

Having done all he could think to do, Jacob sent his family across the ford of Jabbok for the night.  That’s when Genesis 32:24 says, “Then Jacob was left alone.”  There are experiences in life you face alone.  Others may care and pray, but you walk that valley alone.  Actually, Jacob wasn’t really alone.  The verse goes on to say, “And a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day.”  This was no ordinary man.  Notice that the word is capitalized.  This man was none other than the pre-incarnate Christ.  

Alone in his hour of crisis, God came to Jacob.  God always draws near when His people are in trouble, “I will be with him in trouble” (Psalm 91:15).  God initiated the contact, for it says the Man wrestled with Jacob.  There were some major issues in Jacob’s life that needed straightening out.  The impending crisis brought Jacob to the breaking point, which is exactly where God wanted him to be.

As the night wore on and the struggles continued, the Man touched Jacob’s thigh, dislocating his hip.  Is that fair?  I mean, did God cheat?  In a modern-day wrestling match the Man might have been disqualified.  But God doesn’t play by our rules.  Of course, God is always just!   But even in those times when it seems He has acted unfairly, you can trust that what God does is always right and for our good.  

Jacob knew this was true for by morning he was a crippled man, and yet a changed man.  Broken, but blessed.  The meeting with Esau would go well, and for the rest of his life Jacob would remember the night he wrestled with God.

Who won the match?  God won, and Jacob lost.  And yet when you think about it, Jacob won too!  At some point in the night, Jacob was no longer fighting.  He was just holding on for dear life saying, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!” (v26)  Jacob got his blessing and won.

If you are facing a crisis of your own today, learn from Jacob.  God can handle the Laban’s and Esau’s of life if we will learn to depend on Him.  So maybe it’s time to get alone with God and lay hold of Him until the break-through occurs and the blessing comes.  Fight on in the place of prayer and don’t stop until you hear the Spirit say, “You have wrestled with God…and prevailed!”

Pastor Todd Weston