Judges
6:3-4
3 So
it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and
the people of the East would come up against them. 4 Then they would
encamp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and
leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey.
Judges
6:24-35
24 So
Gideon built an altar there to the Lord, and called it
The-Lord-Is-Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the
Abiezrites.
25 Now
it came to pass the same night that the Lord said to him, “Take your
father’s young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the
altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the wooden
image that is beside it; 26 and build an altar to
the Lord your God on top of this rock in the proper arrangement, and
take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image
which you shall cut down.” 27 So Gideon took ten men from among his
servants and did as the Lord had said to him. But because he feared
his father’s household and the men of the city too much to do it by
day, he did it by night.
28 And
when the men of the city arose early in the morning, there was the altar of
Baal, torn down; and the wooden image that was beside it was cut
down, and the second bull was being offered on the altar which had
been built. 29 So they said to one another, “Who has done this
thing?” And when they had inquired and asked, they said, “Gideon the son of
Joash has done this thing.” 30 Then the men of the city said to
Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has torn down the altar
of Baal, and because he has cut down the wooden image that was beside
it.”
31 But
Joash said to all who stood against him, “Would you plead for Baal? Would you
save him? Let the one who would plead for him be put to death by morning! If
he is a god, let him plead for himself, because his altar has been
torn down!” 32 Therefore on that day he called him
Jerubbaal, saying, “Let Baal plead against him, because he has torn down
his altar.”
33 Then all the Midianites and Amalekites, the people of
the East, gathered together; and they crossed over and encamped in the Valley
of Jezreel. 34 But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon;
then he blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites gathered behind
him. 35 And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also gathered
behind him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali; and they
came up to meet them.
1. Too many of God’s people are
oppressed by their enemies. Midian became bullies over time. Israel opened
themselves to this oppression with their rebellion…there are other times however,
where the enemy simply oppresses because they are not impressed by our
devotion.
They always
oppress / attack what you’ve produced in your life…you can never grow in Christ
without demonic opposition…
Matthew 13:24-28
24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of
heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept,
his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.26 But when the grain
had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 So the servants of
the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field?
How then does it have tares?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’
This is the
type of oppression that will sometimes make you question God, much like Gideon
did…
Judges 6:13
13 Gideon said to Him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then
has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles
which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from
Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and
delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”
Even though his and our whining and complaining is totally
unjustified, God will still call us what we would become, rather than who we
presently are.
2. Gideon gets this revelation that God
is a God of peace because, in light of his discouragement & despair over
his present circumstances – God chose to believe in him! It was there, that
Gideon built an altar of worship based on that revelation alone…where is your
altar?
This is
where the plot thickens…God tells him to tear down the false altars of his
community…you cannot build an altar to the Lord & to the devil at the same
time.
Exodus 20:3-5
3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or
that is in the earth
beneath, or that is in the water under
the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them
nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate
Me,
This is
where your devotion touches others…look out!
The war is now on!!
Text verses 25 - 32...
25 Now
it came to pass the same night that the Lord said to him, “Take your
father’s young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the
altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the wooden
image that is beside it; 26 and build an altar to
the Lord your God on top of this rock in the proper arrangement, and
take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image
which you shall cut down.” 27 So Gideon took ten men from among his
servants and did as the Lord had said to him. But because he feared
his father’s household and the men of the city too much to do it by
day, he did it by night.
28 And
when the men of the city arose early in the morning, there was the altar of
Baal, torn down; and the wooden image that was beside it was cut
down, and the second bull was being offered on the altar which had
been built. 29 So they said to one another, “Who has done this
thing?” And when they had inquired and asked, they said, “Gideon the son of
Joash has done this thing.” 30 Then the men of the city said to
Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has torn down the altar
of Baal, and because he has cut down the wooden image that was beside
it.”
31 But
Joash said to all who stood against him, “Would you plead for Baal? Would you
save him? Let the one who would plead for him be put to death by morning! If
he is a god, let him plead for himself, because his altar has been
torn down!” 32 Therefore on that day he called him
Jerubbaal, saying, “Let Baal plead against him, because he has torn down
his altar.”
The people
rose up in anger because his relationship with God disrupted their relationship
with false gods…this is a sure sign of salvation!
You know
that you are truly saved, when your life begins to rub other people the wrong
way…
Matthew 10:33-35
33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before
My Father who is in heaven. 34 “Do not think that I
came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. 35 For I have come to
‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a
daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’;
This is the
part of Christianity people don’t want to deal with…but it’s the reality of
life in the Kingdom…put it simply, we cannot please everyone, and we must be
able to take stands against compromises, no matter who or where they come
from…even our own family.
I’ve known
husbands to threaten their wives about the KOG…and vice versa…
Gideon was mentally and spiritually prepared for that day of
reckoning with the people, because he judged the Lord to be a God of peace. He
knew that no matter what, God had his back and was able to keep him, and bring
about victory; not only for him, but for the entire nation…
3. We get the benefit of knowing that
Gideon through God brought about a great victory over the enemy who was
oppressing them…he put his faith in God, and recognized that God would bring
about victory by bringing peace to his heart.
Knowing that
God is in control, no matter what is a great source of peace for you and for
me. We must be obedient to God, take risks of faith for Him, knowing all along,
that no matter what happens…God will take care of you and of me…
*Pioneering
in Dallas was a risk – my confidence was in knowing that God had our back
*Coming to
Pasadena was a risk – my confidence was in Jehovah Shalom…
Where is
your confidence? Who do you trust in when the chips are down? Who do you run to
when things get tough – whoever / whatever that is, therein lies your god. That
place should be given to Jesus Christ if we are to be the Christians He’s
called us to be.
The God of
peace is not only fighting for you – He lives in you! Victory is yours!!
