Discovering Your Full Potential

DISCOVERING YOUR FULL POTENTIAL

JUDGE 6:1-16

It amazing to see how God can transform a fearful man into a mighty warrior. If Samson is man of extra-ordinary strengths and power, Gedeon is an exact opposite. He is the man hiding on the back stage, afraid of the lime light and prefer the low profile attitude to avoid trouble. But God has a different plan. This time he want to use an ordinary man to do an extra ordinary task. Today, let us put ourselves in shoes of Gedeon as he experience the transforming power of God in his life.

Reading:

Jdg 6:1 Once again the people of Israel sinned against the LORD, so he let the people of Midian rule them for seven years.

Jdg 6:2 The Midianites were stronger than Israel, and the people of Israel hid from them in caves and other safe places in the hills.

Jdg 6:7 Then the people of Israel cried out to the LORD for help against the Midianites,

Jdg 6:11 Then the LORD’s angel came to the village of Ophrah and sat under the oak tree that belonged to Joash, a man of the clan of Abiezer. His son Gideon was threshing some wheat secretly in a wine press, so that the Midianites would not see him.

Jdg 6:12 The LORD’s angel appeared to him there and said, "The LORD is with you, brave and mighty man!"

Jdg 6:13 Gideon said to him, "If I may ask, sir, why has all this happened to us if the LORD is with us? What happened to all the wonderful things that our fathers told us the LORD used to do---how he brought them out of Egypt? The LORD has abandoned us and left us to the mercy of the Midianites."

Jdg 6:14 Then the LORD ordered him, "Go with all your great strength and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I myself am sending you."

Jdg 6:15 Gideon replied, "But Lord, how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least important member of my family."

Jdg 6:16 The LORD answered, "You can do it because I will help you. You will crush the Midianites as easily as if they were only one man."

We can learn five lessons how Gedeon discover his full potentials and become the person God want him to be - a mighty warrior for God.

I. BELIEVE GOD’S WORD AND PROMISES (6:16) Exhortation

Gideon’s Unbelief:

a)He is hiding in fear

Jdg 6:11 Gideon was threshing some wheat secretly in a wine press, so that the Midianites would not see him.

b)He asked God why v13

Jdg 6:13 Gideon said to him,..."why has all this happened to us if the LORD is with us? ...The LORD has abandoned us and left us to the mercy of the Midianites."

c)He asked God how v15

Jdg 6:15 Gideon replied, "But Lord, how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least important member of my family."

God’s Promises:

a)He was told of what he could become with God.

Jdg 6:12 The angel of the LORD appeared to him and told him, "The LORD is with you, you valiant warrior!"

b)He was cloth with divine authority

Jdg 6:14 The LORD turned toward Gideon and said, "Then use your great power and go save the Israelites from the Midianites. I am sending you to save them."

c)He was assured of God’s mighty presence

Jdg 6:16 The LORD answered Gideon and said, "I will be with you, so you can defeat the Midianites as easily as if they were only one man."

d) He was assured of his calling by supernatural signs

Jdg 6:36 Then Gideon said to God, "You say that you have decided to use me to rescue Israel.

Jdg 6:37 Well, I am putting some wool on the ground where we thresh the wheat. If in the morning there is dew only on the wool but not on the ground, then I will know that you are going to use me to rescue Israel."

Jdg 6:38 That is exactly what happened. When Gideon got up early the next morning, he squeezed the wool and wrung enough dew out of it to fill a bowl with water.

Jdg 6:39 Then Gideon said to God, "Don’t be angry with me; let me speak just once more. Please let me make one more test with the wool. This time let the wool be dry, and the ground be wet."

Jdg 6:40 That night God did that very thing. The next morning the wool was dry, but the ground was wet with dew.

e)He was exhorted by God through the words of his enemies

Jdg 7:9 That night the LORD commanded Gideon, "Get up and attack the camp; I am giving you victory over it.