God Is Bigger Than....the Fight Series

TEXT: Judges 6:1 - 7:25

TITLE: God is Bigger than the Fight

SERIES: God is BIGGER than… (part 2)

TOPIC: God’s power; God’s might!

OCCASION: Burnside Christian Church, October 12th, 2008

PROP.: Fighting an enemy with God’s help assures victory!

INTRODUCTION: The Rocky Movies. What I loved about them was you KNEW who was going to win! They were predictable! You knew exactly how they were going to end! And maybe that’s why I liked them! Rocky was going to face a battle that seemed larger than He was! He was going to get hit. He was going to bleed. But in the end he was going to be victorious!

This month we are in a series that I pray will inspire you to remember that our God is BIG! He’s Bigger than ME. He’s Bigger than the STORM in your life.

And today, I want you to know: GOD IS BIGGER THAN THE FIGHT!

Before we begin…there is something you need to know:

you need to know:

1. There are different kinds of fights!

In the sporting world, there are a wide variety of fights out there…

--Boxing

--wrestling

--kickboxing

--Fencing

--Karate

We even have

--thumb wrestling

START TRAINING TODAY!!! (picture of thumb exercise)

--Each fight has it’s own set of rules for what determines a victory. You can’t show up to a wrestling match with boxing gloves.

--For each type of fight, you have to train differently! Training for one type of fight will be totally different for training for a different type of fight.

IN THE WORLD OF THE CHRISTIAN…there are many different types of fights as well.

--Fights with yourself - For some, there is a war waging inside of them. They struggle with self esteem issues; or with fighting off an

addiction or bad habit, or temptation. Every single

day, is a battle.

--Fights with circumstances - In this case, a long-term illness could be something you fight day in and day out, a job that is

demanding…a poor economy…OR broken

relationships…

The third type of fight is what we will be focusing on today…the third type of fight you will face in life is…

--Fights with people (fighting for truth) - Conflicts will arise; disagreements will occur. Whether it be because you’ve been wronged or because you are standing up for what’s right…

And this brings us to our text for the day…

Judges chapters 6 & 7

While you’re turning there…Let me just say that if you find yourself in a fight; a conflict; a trial; a difficult enemy - that God is BIGGER than anything you will face in this life!

Turn in your Bible to the book of Judges. If you have ever thought the Bible was boring, if you’ve ever thought the Bible was dull, it might just be because you’ve never read through the book of Judges.

Allow me to show you how the book of judges fits into history.

This book follows the book of Joshua. In Joshua, you learned about the Israelites finally taking residence in the promised land (in the land of Canaan). Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt…Moses died and Joshua took over. And Joshua leads the people into the promised land. But Joshua did not destroy all the enemy nations living in Canaan. And so Israel is constantly being attacked by the enemy nations still living in the area. In judges you learn about the leaders who kept fighting these enemies of Israel within Canaan.

And so throughout the book of judges, we see God calling judges - or leaders - who will defeat the enemies of Israel.

In chapter 6, we’re introduced to Gideon. And we learn that things are bad for Israel!

Let’s read Judges 6:1-4

1 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. 2 Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 4 They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys.

Verse one of Judges chapter 6 explains a LOT! The nation of Israel finds herself in trouble again. They are being persecuted by the Midianites! Why? Because they “did evil in the eyes of the Lord!”

So the nation of Israel needed to be rescued. Rescued from the Midianites.

Well….Who were the Midianites?

The midianites were a nomadic people who dwelled in this area (just east and south of the promised land). This is where the Midianites came from. The land of Midian is where Moses fled after he killed an Egyptian, remember?