(preached on 31 December 2017)

George Santayana is credited with a discourse on Progress: Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute, there remain no being (inner you-strength) to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement, and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual.”  Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

People use common clichés such as “Let by gones be by gone. Forgive and forget.” Yes, do that but learn from your pains, learn from your victories and let them to push you into a glorious tomorrow. See Paul’s example in 2 Cor. 1:3-4; Phil. 3:4-10.

Israel’s first Pentecost was labelled an important teaching post for coming generations – Deut. 4:7-11. Instead of 3000 dying as happened on Mt. Sinai in Exodus 32:26-28, 3000 accepted Jesus as Messiah and Lord in Acts 2:37-42.

While the feast of Passover marked the beginning of the barley harvest, the feast of Pentecost was celebrated during the wheat harvest – the word.
The Feast of First fruits was celebrated on 17^th of Nisan. Fifty days later falls on the 6^th of Sivan. Since the word Pentecost in Greek means 50, the Feast gets its name from the 50days interval between the 2 dates. In Bible days it was called Feast of Weeks, Feast of Harvest (Ex. 23:16; Num. 28:26).

The 2 loaves of bread (signifying Israel and the Gentiles) were made of fine flour that had been carefully sifted to separate the coarse matter from the wheat and baked with leaven.  Jesus is the bread of life (John 6:48) and you can’t continue to eat Him with leaven. The application of grace and the teachings of the word is supposed to remove the leaven and you now present only Christ.

Judges 6-8 is the story of Gideon. How does it concern us? It’s the meaning of the name first, and then what follows must follow all who bear that name, if the in-born potentials in them will come to fruition (display).

• Gideon means HEWER. A word used to describe the Ministry of Jesus and by extension our Ministry (Matt. 3:10; Isa. 61:1-3; 1Jn. 4:17b; Rm. 8:29: Judges 6:1-6
• A world of problems (Isa. 32:1-2)
• The power of prayer if it is people oriented, will be answered. Check not once did Jesus pray for Himself (Isa. 58:6-12). That’s the 2018 to look forward to.
• The answer came and the angel came to guide. After he destroyed the idols – identify yours and destroy them.

Those who didn’t were rejected at the pool of separation – key word KARWAH – immorality. This is beyond sexual immorality. Putting God secondary is Harlotry to God (Hosea 4:12; Ezek. 28:36-39).