Sermon Central
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From Nobody To Somebody Series
Contributed by Robert Fa’atoia-Collins on Aug 24, 2010 (message contributor)
Summary: When God called Gideon, he was hidding and scared, but a few confirmation assured him of God's purpose in his life. What about you?
When I was a Dairy Farmer and up before dawn, I can testify to the fact that the darkest hour is just before dawn. But then the light breaks through and the darkness is quickly dispelled.
In the same way in the midst of impossible odds God breaks into our lives and our situations to declare himself as God!
Gideon in Judges 6 is a great example for us in the Old Testament of one who went from the winepress of circumstances and into worship that leads to deliverance.
As a background to our story we find Israel in dire straights because of the Midianites and Amalek. Everything Israel did was destroyed or stolen by the enemy.
Israel was terrorised in their own lands by their cousins Midian & Amalek, both descended from Abraham, but given over to the worship of strange gods. Having the look of Semites but living away from the truth of the God of Abraham.
The God of Abraham did deliver Israel. This story and our message today will encourage us to move from the winepress and into victory!
In your circumstance you may be ploughing, and planting but never seeming to move into the harvest. Because the Midianites who represent a false religious order are always plundering the goods!
The crop is progressing well then suddenly the Middianites come onto the scene and say! You can’t do that! And destroy the crop. Sometimes you even wonder are these midianites part of God’s plan? The simple answer is NO
These people may resemble what you think a son of Abraham looks like,
Their language sounds like the real thing. (Gideon could understand them Jug 6:10-11)
But they are not the Chosen of God, and we need to realign ourselves again with the God of Abraham.
Religious spirits seek to take our attention away from the Living God. They cause us to hide away in fear thinking that we don’t have the goods to be the true sons of God.
With Gideon God has demonstrated the way to gain full advantage of the harvest. A way of worship and trust that totally exalts the Lord of the harvest!
1) We don’t need to qualify
The first thing we need to get out of our head is the need to qualify to enter into the harvest. The Lords desire was expressed through a man who was hiding in a winepress, He was hardly a Benny Hinn in expression of his walk with God, but he was called, and that is all that mattered!
Jud 6:15 “But Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!” 16 The LORD said to him, “I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.”
William Seymore was an African American preacher who became filled with the Holy Spirit in 1905. He got kicked out of his Church and found an old run down grain store to meet in, in a Los Angeles street called Azusa. He had a lot standing against him. His race, His lack of education, He only had one eye and lots more, but God gave him a harvest! That harvest is still rolling!
2) It’s Ok to Ask questions!
Gideon asked lots of questions and God answered them all.
Often we are told your constant questions are just a lack of faith! But the Lord doesn’t mind us asking questions, especially when the answers give the Lord the opportunity to show his glory!
Jud 6:13 “Sir,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The LORD brought us up out of Egypt’? But now the LORD has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.”14
Jud 6:36 Then Gideon said to God, “If you are truly going to use me to rescue Israel as you promised, 37 prove it to me in this way. I will put some wool on the threshing floor tonight. If the fleece is wet with dew in the morning but the ground is dry, then I will know that you are going to help me rescue Israel as you promised.” 38 And it happened just that way. When Gideon got up the next morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung out a whole bowlful of water.
39 Then Gideon said to God, “Please don’t be angry with me, but let me make one more request. This time let the fleece remain dry while the ground around it is wet with dew.” 40 So that night God did as Gideon asked. The fleece was dry in the morning, but the ground was covered with dew.
