Mighty Man of Valor

In one paragraph

Brian picked up a series on working with the gifts and talents God gives us, this week turning the focus to identity. Using the story of Gideon from Judges 6, he pressed on a simple question: whose label of who you are is actually true, yours or God's? The congregation also spent time in a guided confession, renouncing false identities and speaking true ones out loud together. Two weeks ago the...

Read together

1. 1 Kings 5:6 Sidonians' reputation for cutting timber, used to introduce the series on keeping tools sharp
2. Judges 6:11-16 Gideon hiding and threshing wheat, God calling him mighty man of valor, used to teach on identity
3. Isaiah 29:16 the potter and clay, used to argue only the creator has authority to define his creation
4. 2 Corinthians 5:17 we are a new creation in Christ
5. Romans 8:15 adopted back into God's family
6. Romans 6:14 no longer slaves to sin
7. Romans 8:37 we are more than conquerors
8. Jeremiah 31:3 listed as one of several passages showing we are deeply loved by God
9. Ephesians 1:4-5 listed as one of several passages showing we are deeply loved by God
10. 1 John 3:1 listed as one of several passages showing we are deeply loved by God
11. John 16:33 Jesus says you will have trouble in this world but take heart, I have overcome, quoted during the offering prayer

Talk about it

1. Brian pointed out that Gideon was hiding in a wine press threshing wheat, which is the wrong place for that job, and called his tool 'super dull and super inefficient.' Where in your own life do you notice yourself working in the wrong place or in the wrong way, and what do you think is behind that?
2. When God greeted Gideon as 'mighty man of valor,' Gideon had not yet accomplished anything. How does it sit with you that God speaks identity over a person before any track record exists to back it up?
3. Brian said 'only the creator has the authority to define his creation,' and then asked why humanity largely rejects that. Someone in the room answered with pride, not wanting to be responsible to anyone above them. Do you agree with that answer, and where have you seen that play out in your own thinking?
4. Renee made the connection that Gideon's everyday work as a baker, threshing wheat and making bread, may have been exactly what God was using to prepare him for what came next. Can you think of something ordinary in your own life right now that God might be using in a similar way, even if you cannot see where it leads?
5. Brian led the congregation in a spoken confession, renouncing a false identity and then naming five things that are true for anyone who has invited Jesus into their life: new creation, adopted, no longer a slave, more than a conqueror, deeply loved. Which of those five is the hardest for you to actually believe about yourself on a regular Tuesday, and why?