Scripture referenced
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
-
Luke 10:19 quoted from The Passion Translation after a congregant shared about rebuking the devil to get out of bed
19 Behold, I give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will in any way hurt you.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Keep this verse
Judges 6:1-27
main sermon text read aloud in sections, the story of Gideon hiding and being called a mighty hero by the angel of the Lord
1 The children of Israel did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight: and Yahweh delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.
2 The hand of Midian prevailed against Israel; and because of Midian the children of Israel made themselves the dens which are in the mountains, and the caves, and the strongholds.
3 So it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the children of the east came up against them.
4 They encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, until you come to Gaza. They left no sustenance in Israel, and no sheep, ox, or donkey.
5 For they came up with their livestock and their tents. They came in as locusts for multitude. Both they and their camels were without number; and they came into the land to destroy it.
6 Israel was brought very low because of Midian; and the children of Israel cried to Yahweh.
7 When the children of Israel cried to Yahweh because of Midian,
8 Yahweh sent a prophet to the children of Israel; and he said to them, “Yahweh says, the God of Israel, ‘I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you out of the house of bondage.
9 I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their land.
10 I said to you, “I am Yahweh your God. You shall not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.” But you have not listened to my voice.’”
11 Yahweh’s angel came, and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press, to hide it from the Midianites.
12 Yahweh’s angel appeared to him, and said to him, “Yahweh is with you, you mighty man of valor!”
13 Gideon said to him, “Oh, my lord, if Yahweh is with us, why then has all this happened to us? Where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, ‘Didn’t Yahweh bring us up from Egypt?’ But now Yahweh has cast us off, and delivered us into the hand of Midian.”
14 Yahweh looked at him, and said, “Go in this your might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Haven’t I sent you?”
15 He said to him, “O Lord, how shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”
16 Yahweh said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”
17 He said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you who talk with me.
18 Please don’t go away, until I come to you, and bring out my present, and lay it before you.” He said, “I will wait until you come back.”
19 Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes of an ephah of meal. He put the meat in a basket and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to him under the oak, and presented it.
20 The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” He did so.
21 Then Yahweh’s angel stretched out the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes; and fire went up out of the rock, and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. Then Yahweh’s angel departed out of his sight.
22 Gideon saw that he was Yahweh’s angel; and Gideon said, “Alas, Lord Yahweh! Because I have seen Yahweh’s angel face to face!”
23 Yahweh said to him, “Peace be to you! Don’t be afraid. You shall not die.”
24 Then Gideon built an altar there to Yahweh, and called it “Yahweh is Peace.” To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
25 That same night, Yahweh said to him, “Take your father’s bull, even the second bull seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is by it.
26 Then build an altar to Yahweh your God on the top of this stronghold, in an orderly way, and take the second bull, and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.”
27 Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as Yahweh had spoken to him. Because he feared his father’s household and the men of the city, he could not do it by day, but he did it by night.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Joshua 24:16-24
read to show the full picture of Israel's covenant with God and the warning against worshipping foreign gods, as context for why God allowed the Midianites to oppress Israel
16 The people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake Yahweh, to serve other gods;
17 for it is Yahweh our God who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way in which we went, and among all the peoples through the middle of whom we passed.
18 Yahweh drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve Yahweh; for he is our God.”
19 Joshua said to the people, “You can’t serve Yahweh, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your disobedience nor your sins.
20 If you forsake Yahweh, and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you evil, and consume you, after he has done you good.”
21 The people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve Yahweh.”
22 Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen Yahweh yourselves, to serve him.” They said, “We are witnesses.”
23 “Now therefore put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to Yahweh, the God of Israel.”
24 The people said to Joshua, “We will serve Yahweh our God, and we will listen to his voice.”
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This message came from the "Turn the Cat Around" series. Pastor Brian walked the congregation through Judges 6 and the story of Gideon, asking everyone to watch for the places where Gideon's understanding was facing the wrong direction, and then showing how that same misalignment shows up in ordinary life today.
What was said
The service opened with a long stretch of open worship and shared words from the congregation, including a testimony from Lissa about hip pain disappearing during a prayer meeting the previous week without anyone specifically praying for her hips. That story set the tone for what followed: being in God's presence matters, and what happens there is not always predictable or asked for.
Before getting into the text, Pastor Brian invited the room to talk about the Asbury University revival that had been going on for about a week. People shared firsthand accounts, questions about whether it was a true revival, and some disappointment that the crowds had apparently been turned away. He said he was cautiously optimistic and pushed back gently on the label while affirming that God was clearly up to something. He also mentioned a prophecy from a man named Bob Jones, who said to expect revival when the Kansas City Chiefs win the Super Bowl, and connected that to what seemed to be happening at Asbury.
The reading from Judges 6 introduced Gideon hiding in a winepress, threshing wheat in a place where wheat was never meant to be threshed. The congregation read through verse 27, passing the microphone around, and Pastor Brian paused along the way to point out details in the text, including the significance of "the angel of the Lord" rather than "an angel of the Lord," which he said is commonly understood among biblical scholars to refer to Jesus.
The congregation was asked to identify where Gideon's cat was facing the wrong way. Two things came up, and Pastor Brian said they were exactly the two he had in mind. First, Gideon was bitter and did not have the full picture. Second, he did not know who he was. Both were affirmed from the text: Gideon challenged the angel of the Lord with a "why" question, and then when given a direct command, immediately argued that he was the least person in the weakest clan.
To fill out the first point, Pastor Brian read from Joshua 24, where Joshua warns the people not to worship foreign gods and the people agree, then immediately gets into why the Midianites were allowed into Israel at all. God had not forgotten his people or turned his back on them. He was, in the word Pastor Brian chose deliberately, chastising them, because they had broken their own word and turned to other gods. Gideon's bitterness came from not seeing that piece of the picture.
On the second point, he stayed in the winepress scene to explain why it mattered. Threshing wheat requires open ground, a tribulum, a winnowing fork and wind. None of those work in a winepress. The product you get from threshing in a winepress is inferior, diluted with chaff, because you are using something outside of its intended purpose. He said the same thing happens when a person is not aware of who God made them to be.
The application came as two direct challenges. Do not mistake your current circumstances for God forgetting about you, and do not let anyone, including yourself, contradict God's opinion of you. He pointed to how the angel of the Lord addressed Gideon as "mighty hero" while Gideon was hiding, and said God always speaks to who he created you to be, not to the version of yourself you have talked yourself into. The service closed with an invitation for anyone who needed to turn their own cat around to kneel at their chair and meet with the Lord there.
Touch points
Things you could actually do this week.
- When you catch yourself asking God 'why,' push past it and ask instead, 'Lord, what do you want me to know about you in this situation?'
- If there is something specific God has already asked you to do and you have been sitting on it, go back to that thing and take one step of obedience this week.
- Find someone outside your church circle to pray for out loud, and then follow up with them later to see how things are going.
- Mark June 25 through 28 on your calendar for the Wind River VBS and plan to go help, especially if the idea makes you uncomfortable.
- The next time circumstances make you feel forgotten or too small to be useful, sit down and remind yourself of how God addressed Gideon, 'Mighty hero, the Lord is with you,' and let that be the last word on who you are.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Brian talked about Gideon asking God 'why' and said God is under no obligation to answer that question. Have you ever been stuck in a 'why' question with God? What happened when you stayed there, and what might it look like to move toward asking 'Lord, what do you want me to know about you in this situation?'
- The sermon pointed out that Gideon didn't have the full picture. He thought God had abandoned Israel, but the bigger story told a different account. When has a limited view of your circumstances led you to a wrong conclusion about what God was doing?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Resumen en español
El mensaje resumido, en español.
El domingo, Brian compartió un mensaje de la serie "Turn the Cat Around," tomando como punto de partida la historia de Gedeón en Jueces 6. La idea central es que cuando la Biblia nos dice algo que no queremos escuchar, o que va en contra de cómo vemos nuestra propia vida, la respuesta correcta no es ignorarlo ni reinterpretarlo para que nos haga sentir bien, sino "darle la vuelta al gato", es decir, ajustar nuestra perspectiva a la de Dios. Brian señaló dos áreas donde Gedeón necesitaba hacer exactamente eso: primero, no tenía el panorama completo de por qué Israel estaba sufriendo, y por eso culpaba a Dios en lugar de reconocer que el pueblo había roto su propio pacto de no adorar dioses ajenos. Segundo, Gedeón no conocía su verdadera identidad: estaba escondido en un lagar haciendo el trabajo equivocado en el lugar equivocado, mientras el ángel del Señor lo llamaba "guerrero valiente."
A partir de eso, Brian dejó dos invitaciones prácticas. La primera: no confundas tus circunstancias actuales con que Dios te ha olvidado. La segunda: no permitas que tu propia voz ni la de nadie más contradiga lo que Dios dice sobre quién eres. Así como Dios vio a Gedeón de manera distinta a como Gedeón se veía a sí mismo, Dios te ve como un héroe poderoso aunque tú no te sientas así. Al final del servicio, la congregación tuvo un tiempo de oración personal arrodillada frente a sus propias sillas como altar, y se abrió un espacio de oración con el equipo de oración de la iglesia.
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Pasajes bíblicos usados:
- Jueces 6:1-24
- Josué 24:16-24
- Lucas 10:19 (citado de La Traducción Pasión)
Read the full transcript 11,771 words
Let's invite his presence. Alright. We're gonna get started. Let's invite the presence of the Lord here in this place today.
Just
calm your mind. Just ask the Lord to remove distractions today.
You'll feel me. Oh, I know you feel me. Yeah.
Just invite him right now.
Holy it again. Open up the gates, let heaven on in. Come rest on us. Come rest on on us. Us.
Firing Fire wind come
and do it again. Open up the We know that you'll fill us because it's just who you are. If our hearts are open and that we would come humbly before you with our hands stretched out in repentant hearts. It's just what you do when we're in your presence. So Lord, search our hearts right now if there would be anything from keeping that.
To We
that. We that
morning.
We wanna be a vessel ready this morning for your presence. It's our prayer this morning.
Just
talk to him this morning.
Just
let him search your heart this morning. Where are you dry? Where are you weary? He's that living water you need today. We long for you.
We long for you. As the deer pants for the water so our soul longs after you. Maybe the Lord is speaking to you, putting something on your heart to share. We just leave it some time right now. And Gretchen has the microphone for our livestream folks.
If you
have a picture, a word, an encouragement, a scripture, something to share, just encourage you.
Yeah. I just felt God's starting to talk to me about exercise and how we get out what we put into a workout. Right? I mean, a physical workout. And if you slack off, you're not gonna see the results that you're looking for.
And it's the same with exercising your faith. What you put in, you're gonna get out. So just go all in and you'll see the rewards.
So good. I was like, I'm hearing an angel or something. It's be leading I mean, I am hearing it. It's like there's other worship music playing somewhere. I'm loving it.
I love it. Fill the place with praise. Anybody else? The Lord put something on your heart.
So I'm running late today. And Renee, she I was coming up with all these excuses, and she's like, to hell with the devil. And I swear, I jumped out of bed, and I made it here.
Welcome, aunt. I love it. That's a good t shirt. To hell with the devil. I might have stolen
that from some eighties hairband.
I was just about to go there,
but I thought,
you know, let's keep the holy
spirit. What
she just said brought this scripture to mind. It's in it's in Luke. Now you understand that I have imparted to you my authority to trample over the devil's kingdom. You will trample upon every demon before you and overcome every power Satan possesses. Absolutely nothing will harm you as you walk in this authority.
Yes. Ten nineteen, and and it's the what's the t p t? Passion. Passion. Yeah.
Passion. I keep forgetting that. So, Lord, here's the deal. Some of us
I love it.
We don't feel anything. Yeah. Some of us of us feel a lot. Some of us are in between. But it's by faith that we enter into your presence, whether we feel something or whether we don't.
Mhmm. So, holy spirit, increase our faith. Yes, sir. If we feel like we don't even have any faith, then enable us to push into it, to literally step into it and say, I am stepping into the measure of faith that my lord, my savior has given to me. And so in the name of Jesus, this morning, we all we we say yes, and we enter into that the power of that that unity of meeting together.
Lord, we've not neglected to that's why we're here. We're here for you, and we're here for one another. Pour out your spirit. Pour out your spirit. Come, holy spirit.
Strengthen us. Encourage us. Whatever it is that we're lacking, whatever it is that we need. In the name of Jesus, we release that. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Jesus. Amen. Amen.
Anyone
else?
To
kinda piggyback this what he was saying what's the old saying? If not you're for me, you're against me. We we need to be in prayer. I have been blessed with having that glorious twenty minute drive up the canyon where I've had some definite prayer time that I have really needed and, you know, we need to be battling the devil. We don't need to be sitting back because if we're not doing anything, we might as well just be on his team and and helping him.
And I think one of the blessings of prayer is that god lays his hand on you and he kinda guides you through the situation or gives you that gentle push to get you through. We need to be active praying and I think one of the greatest but gifts that we have that we don't utilize very often in evangelism is prayer because prayer shows a person that you have faith, gives you the opportunity to talk to a person, and the greatest thing I think is when you pray for somebody, it gives you the opportunity to come back. It just gives you a a free pass to come back and say, hey, how are things? Where is this? Where does it stand?
And then, who knows how far it can go? But I think it's one of the most underutilized evangelistic tools that we have in our toolbox and I would definitely suggest and and encourage you to utilize that and it's just it's a blessing. Prayer is a blessing and I'll I'll leave it with this. Don't spend too much time praying for yourself. Okay?
If you're praying for yourself, something's not right. You need to be looking at that person in the mirror and figuring something out. We need to be prayer warriors for our community, for our body of believers that we come to every week, work, every situation. Let's be prayer warriors. Because
I feel so safe with with Clay standing next to me. That's totally right along with my morning devotion time. All of it. You know, and years ago, I had this dream where I was hiding in the woods, and I was watching Satan, who was Michael Jackson for some reason. And he was waging war against and I don't remember if I was Xenobarrior princess, but he was waging war against a superhero.
And I was hiding in the woods watching this battle, and she was losing. And so I ran out and I took on Satan, and I chopped him into a whole bunch of little pieces. But, like, many of us, I mean, myself included, are hiding in the woods during this battle? Like, we turn on the news and
it's like, oh my
gosh, the world is so evil. Look at it. And our struggle's not against flesh and blood. Right? And we have been given the power and the authority to tear down strongholds and to to kick the devil in the rear.
We're we've been given the power in prayer, right, to cut them to pieces. So I just wanna just pray a releasing of the coming out of the saints that we will, Lord, help us to come out of hiding and wage our weapons of war in this age to tear down strongholds, to close doors that have been opened and to open doors that have been shut. In Jesus' name, we we just we I just release the authority given to us, like, in a brand new way in this place. May the saints rise up and walk in the authority we've been given. In Jesus' name.
And let our prayers rise day and night, day and night, night and day. And day and night, night and day let incense arise. Day and night, night and day let incense arise. Of
us standing and fighting this battle that
you've already won. You are all things, and to you are all things. You deserve the glory.
The verse that we don't normally sing, we always go right to the chorus. It's so beautiful. It's just this beautiful picture of his power and his might and how the angels sing around his throne. And then we lift our prayers and they're worshiping around his throne. And the verse goes like this.
It says all the saints and angels. It goes, and the
saints and angels bow before your
Yes, You are. Let's be still before him for a moment. Let him just speak to you. Let me just search your heart today.
We
surrender to you today, Lord, as we dig into your word. We just ask for revelation today. Nothing less than just fresh wind, fresh fresh revelation. Just come in like a rushing wind today. Thank you for your presence already in this place.
That in your presence there is nothing that's impossible. There's nothing that's impossible. Let us long for it. I'm just gonna share a quick testimony that hopefully it'll encourage you. Last week we had a well, let me back up a little bit.
Year and a half, I've had like tons of pain in my hips and I was I've it's clunked and clicked since I was in high school and then finally something happened when I started running again a year and a half ago and just the pain especially in the last three months has been so bad and I can still exercise, but going from sitting to standing is like unbearable. And then about a month ago, two months ago, it started in my other hip both just so painful to the point where like when I get out of my car to get gas, I would pretend like I, you know, forgot something in my car because I looked like such an idiot just standing, like, wincing outside my car. People would look at me, and then I'd be like, oh, forgot my wallet.
Oh, I just want the sugar.
And then but and I had gotten MRIs and it showed I have a complete labral tear in both of my hips, just kind of what I was expecting from the pain. So just sitting on that and praying just, Lord, what would you have us do? And then last Sunday, after church, a few of us got together and to pray. And the prayer, I was there to be to pray and contend and then write down what the Holy Spirit was doing for this other person we were praying for. And so I was just in the room and we were praying for healing and we're praying for all these, you know, just whatever Jesus wanted to do.
Two hours, I was sitting on that back couch and we went to stand up and pray at the end and I just, you know, did my usual, like, I stood up and I just was ready to just wince and I had zero pain. And I thought, was like, that's a fluke. Like, we didn't even pray for my hips. That's just a fluke. And I thought, should I say something?
I was like, no, just let's test this out a little bit, you know. And then the enemy was beating me up, like, see, you don't have any faith in all, you know, that battle you go through. And so we walked down the steps and normally I'd take a step and, like, the my especially my left hip, you know, like every step. No pain. So we got in the car and I thought, well, this will be the real test though because it's going from sitting in my car to getting out.
That's really painful. And Gretchen was with me. So finally, I told Gretchen, I like, okay, I feel like I need to say this out loud. I feel like the Lord healed me while we were praying. Like, we didn't even ask for healing for my hips.
I feel like the presence of the Lord was there and I feel like I got healed. I have zero pain, zero. And and so we got out at Sidewinder's lunch and I was like, and still, so a week, a solid week and zero pain, like none whatsoever. Thank Lord. Yes.
Thank you Lord. So do not underestimate just being in the presence of the Lord, what he can do. That's the whole point is, you know, I had prayed for healing. I, you know, was believing the Lord can miraculously heal me and it still has a click and a thunk. I don't know what that's about, but I'm like, oh, Lord.
That's for you to figure out. I
don't know.
But zero pain. So, Lord, we just thank you that in your presence in your presence, I just feel like you're just reminding me all things are made new in your presence. And that sickness just has to go, and I know we don't understand why you do one thing one way and you do another thing another way. We I don't get it. I don't understand it.
Why in that moment did you take away that pain and not when I have asked? I don't know, but we just thank you and we trust your timing. We trust your mighty hand. We trust that you long to heal. And for anyone right now that's watching this, I just pray this would be an encouragement that all we need to do is get in your presence, draw close to you, be intimate with you, Jesus.
That's our part. And as long as we do that, rest is up to you. How, when, why, all of it is up to you. And we do rejoice and we do share our testimonies to raise other people's faith in what you're capable of, what you want to do, what you long to do, and what you can do. So we praise you today for who you are and just give us a deep hunger to just be in your presence.
Put aside anything that would steal from that precious time, distractions, TV, whatever it is Lord that would keep us from entering just truly into your presence where we just be still and know that you are God. Come and do that today, Not like you did yesterday, like a fresh, mighty wind. Come and just by your presence, come and touch hearts. In Jesus' name, So fill up your coffee, get your Bible out, and we'll get into God's word together.
Yeah.
Or a Wilson. Or a Wilson.
Alright.
As we shift gears to the next kind of worship, focusing on God's word, we worship him with song, and I love that. What a great time of worship. We're gonna worship him by getting into his word together. And as we're sliding into God's word together, let's talk a little bit about it's now been seven days since last we just touched on what was going on at Asbury University, and I'd love to hear just really quickly if you have any thoughts or observations if you've tuned into what a lot of people are calling revival at Asbury University in the chapel there. And the mic, Gretchen has the mic.
I'd love to hear thoughts that you have about that.
Is it on?
Okay. It's on.
At first I had deja vu because I was like, what? And it's because I watched the last stream from last week last night.
Ah, okay. Yes.
Second, my I had a couple friends who got to go to the revival because Ohio and Kentucky is, like, right beside each other.
Oh, okay.
So they got to drive over and they were just telling me about it. And they said when they first walked through the doors, they were able to feel that there was nothing but joy and transformation.
And I
was like, oh,
those are
some really
those are some good words.
Because we like walking to
the church servers or whatever. It's just like the main thing you feel is excitement first. Like a youth night or something like that with loud music and stuff. And she was like, it was no type of concert or anything. It was just people wanting more of the Lord.
And it's just really beautiful.
Wow. Because
we all never got to see social media.
That's great firsthand accounts that your friend told you. The town just exploded from like what? Like 6,000 people to like 70,000 people over however many.
In. It took three and a half hours to get in.
Any other thoughts about that?
I'm just inspired by any movement like that, that there are a lot of questions. And even though a lot of those questions may not be answered, I think it's I think it's a positive thing to be searching for answers and be being led to explore what we know as the one true God. And that, you know, I just think there's a lot of opportunities to learn, to grow in a situation like this. That it's not it doesn't necessarily have to be perfect. Know?
Right. It's it's a it's about it's about learning. It's about asking questions. It's about seeking answers and coming to know, in my opinion, the one true God.
That's great. Some I got a little bit of feedback last week. Okay, it was Lissa. That was like, I felt She's like, I felt like you were like a little bit poo poo on on in your words and how you you know, your your tone and what you said last week about what was going on. And that's not that's not my heart at all.
If anything, I wanna be I wanna be cautious cautiously optimistic. And I think I think any hesitancy that I might have expressed last week that I would echo again this week doesn't have to do with what God is doing there. It's it's perhaps just like the label.
Oh, yeah.
You know, like like, oh, we we see some of these. Like, let's let's call it a revival. Regardless of what you wanna call it, if it is, if you think it is, if you think it isn't, I think undeniably, God's up to something. He was up to something, is, was, have they switched from in person to online only? I'm not I'm not quite sure.
I tried looking at several different livestreams yesterday, but then after listening to, like, one of them for, a couple hours, it was, like, okay, as we gather here tonight. And I was, like, don't. It was prerecorded or you know, the livestream wasn't like exactly current. So I'm not sure exactly what's going on like right now in this moment. If anything, they've they've dismissed the crowds.
Yeah. Yeah.
Like disappointed, actually.
Go ahead and share.
Thank you. Dismissing?
And so from what I've learned, Renee has been hip to the scene and been telling me, and yeah, it feels like the town just was like, Nope, can't handle it anymore. Like, the town just can't handle the amount of people and stuff like this, and so they were just like, Call it. It's the gist that I'm getting. And so, wow, I just feel a sense of disappointment. They're just like, Shutting God off?
Wait,
what? That can't happen. Right. That doesn't compute. Yes.
So I feel a little frustration, I guess, and disappointment is what I'm saying. I'm gonna pass the mic to Renee, and then Carolyn.
Just because I didn't share with you part of my quiet time this morning, I shared with PB about Jesus dismissing the crowd after they were fed.
Mhmm.
Right? The 5,000. So the disappointment is, like, from old school God, you know, him hovering in a cloud, and then the Israelites would move when he moved and stop when he stopped. And this felt like man saying, you know what? We can't handle this presence anymore.
Like, it's just too overwhelming. So I definitely feel that. But, also, when Jesus fed the five or had the disciples feed the 5,000
Mhmm.
He dismissed the crowd after he sent the disciples in their boat. Right. And so, because I'm a dreamer, I'm all into, like, what does it mean when I'm in a boat in a dream or whatever? And usually, it means some sort of ministry. And I feel like, you know, we've all been given that go and tell.
It's our job to spread the spirit, to spread the revival in each of our own lives. And so I feel like now it's I mean, whether it was God's plan or whatever, he's like, you go. You spread it. Mhmm. Because you've got the Holy Spirit.
And so I feel like that's the message, whether, you know, they were acting like they heard from the
Lord and said, yeah, shut it
down or not. It's our job to
Mhmm.
To come out of the woods.
Essentially, was gonna say what Renee just said. So articulate. Nope. Thanks for taking the pressure off. But what I wanna say is that there have been others cropping up.
There's one in Texas and two other places that I cannot recall. Oh. Indiana?
I don't know the other one.
Yeah. So they're they're starting to you know, little fires are igniting all over the country, which I think is a beautiful thing. I had one more thing that I cannot remember right now. It'll come back to me. Yeah.
A woman of a certain age. It's only in there.
Right. Right. Maybe it'll rattle back in there. Very interesting. I feel like we, in the same way that people mark time with a presidential election or I think the single biggest early childhood memory that I have is the challenger disaster.
But probably moving forward through time will mark things as pre or post COVID, and I think that so much changed around the world and in America in that it'll take decades for us to like look back and be able to see accurately. But I believe that one of the things that changed here in The United States post COVID is I think revivals are going to look different. Moves of God will look different moving forward. Raise your hand if you know the main evangelist that spoke at that Asbury revival. Raise your hand if you know the the band.
How many Dove Awards has the band won that how were they a part of Bethel Collective? Were they a part of Maverick City Worship? No names in the worship team. A bunch of nobodies. I believe that there there was a man there was a man who mentored Mike Bickel in Kansas City.
He His name was Bob Jones, not the weird cult Bob Jones game. They're completely different.
Good to know.
Good to different. This is this is a different Bob Jones, and he had a strong prophetic gifting. And before he passed away, one of the things that he said was when you see the Kansas City Chiefs win the Super Bowl, expect revival. And the Kansas City since Bob Jones passed away, the Kansas City Chiefs have won the Super Bowl. Is it maybe twice?
And after that first win, everybody was like, here we go. Here we go. Here we go. So after this Super Bowl win, we see this pop up. And I think that we can expect to see more fires igniting that will go from school chapels straight to university stadiums.
Funding will come in and we're like, I think we need this stadium for like a week. And it'll be filled with hungry people, tens upon tens of thousands of people. The funds will come to rent the stadium. How long do you need it for? I don't know.
Let's go like day by day. Perhaps what I would imagine, what I feel like maybe stirring in my heart is that almost as quickly as they go from a chapel to a stadium, they will then go from the stadium to just disperse it now. That the Holy Spirit will dismiss the crowds and we can call it the city. And I think from what I've read, the city was like came to the university and it was like, we just don't have the infrastructure. We like see we physically can't fit another car in here.
Can you please? Was it the police? Was it God's hand? Like, alright now let's just We've we have a historical precedent. Jesus dismissing the crowds.
How about the movement that he started in three years and then what? He just leaves planet earth? But what the instructions that he tells his disciples like, now take this and go to the uttermost bounds of the earth. And so there's a biblical precedent for something huge and then like whoop. And so that kind of sounds like the Lord.
But I would expect to see in the future, I don't know how soon in the future, that we'll see more of these things. And I think we're going to see more outspokenness against them. There was a the the main evangelist guy from the Brownsville revival in Brownsville, Florida. Hill, Chris Hill maybe. I think that was his name.
He was like, hey, when like when the when the light gets turned on outside it just draws bugs. Bright lights draw bugs. And so with with the this is this is the second revival in modern history that has been fully televised and livestreamed. The first one was Brown Brownsville revival in Florida and it lasted for five years. Lasted for five years.
And every service is recorded on YouTube and like you see like the Pentecostal ladies with their like puffy sleeves and long flower dresses if you remember those days at all. So this is the second revival in modern history that has been fully livestreamed. We'll get to go back and look at it and study it and see. With the proliferation of capturing and posting, I think in moves of God in the future, we're going to see a lot more bugs being drawn to the light that are going to post all kinds of poo poo things and things that you're like, well now wait a minute, I hadn't thought about that. That's a good.
Uh-oh. Uh-oh. The the in the days ahead, I haven't started my keynote, but this is just a little teaser. In the days ahead, leadership of Jesus will be less complicated, but it will be more costly. It will be costly for you to put your personal stamp of approval to say, I believe that's a move of God.
I was just gonna say that when Trump went to Billy Graham's memorial, he hit the casket five times and said, may there be more Billy Graham's men and women.
I didn't see that.
I've got a mental picture here of thousands of Renee's running out of the woods going towards these stadiums sometimes with sometimes without a Barbie doll I don't know.
And if
you don't know what I'm talking about with Barbie don't spend too much time.
Lord, we're hungry. We're hungry. We're open. Lord, the world needs a move of your spirit, fresh touch. I I don't I have trouble say I'll I'll say it and then you guys can evaluate it.
But remember in in the gospels where there was the cripple that could never get down to the water. The an angel would come and stir the waters which is so like like not how the character of God works. But, the first person in the water would get healed. What's going on there that's super unbiblical like Holy Spirit? But I just feel like it's there is a a significant element of the sovereignty of God.
We do our part. We're open. We're hungry. We're available. We're asking for it.
We're seeking for a fresh touch and a move of his spirit in our hearts, in our church, and throughout this city. We're doing our part. But there's something about the sovereignty of God that just comes along and goes, Oh, I'm going stir the waters of this city. Lord, stir it up. Stir it up.
Judges chapter six. Judges chapter six. So we are in a series called turn the cat around. And if this is brand new to you, let me explain it to you. There is a pastor mentor of ours in Oklahoma that whenever he would deliver a challenging message, he would say something difficult, hard to swallow, challenging.
He would always say, if that pets your fur the wrong way, meaning steps on your toes or makes you feel uncomfortable, then what you need to do is turn your cat around. Because the Bible, you can't rewrite the Bible to make it say something that is satisfying to the lifestyle that you're living. I will say that a lot of cults have been started and a lot of people have wound up with their life in the ditch by taking God's word out of context and making it kind of say what they want it to say. See, it's right here in the Bible. God is love.
So you have to be very careful. But there are times when we encounter God's word and we're like, Oh, I don't like that. Then it pets your fur the wrong way. Well, this is a series of conversations that I'd like us to have inviting us all whenever we encounter something in God's word or by his spirit that rubs our fur the wrong way. What should we do?
Turn the cat around.
Turn the cat around. So again, we're going to take a look at another opportunity. We'll see a bible character today that has an opportunity to turn his cat around. And if you are taking notes at the title of your notes this morning, you can write, Mighty Hero, the Lord is with you. This will be out of Judges chapter six.
We're going to read verses one through 27 and we'll pass the mic around. And what I'd like you to do is read a few verses and then just pass the mic along so that we can not everybody, but we'll give a number of people opportunities to read God's word out loud together and then we're going to unpack it and look at it. Okay? Oh, and let me just let me pre queue you with what I'd like you to be looking for. So today we're going to be reading about this guy named Gideon, and I'd like you to be looking for how Gideon's fur was being petted the wrong way.
With that in mind, let's read verses one through 27. Who wants to kick us off?
The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and for seven years, he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves, and strongholds. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites oh, man. Amalekites and other eastern people invaded the country.
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. They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them on their camels. They invaded the land to ravage it. Midian, so impoverished the Israelites, that they cried out to the Lord for help.
When
they cried out to the Lord because of Midian, the Lord sent a prophet to the Israelites. He said, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says, I brought you up out of slavery in Egypt. I rescued you from the Egyptians and from all who oppressed you. I drove out your enemies and gave you their land. I told you I am the Lord your God.
You must not worship the gods of the Amorites in those lands which you now live, but you have not listened to me. Then the
Pause. Sorry. Interestingly enough, we can see that Israel's in a tough spot. Like like locusts, the Midianites have charged into their land. They're having their way with their crops and their livestock, leaving Israel frightened, impoverished, scared, hiding.
They cried out to God and what did God do? God sent them a prophet. The prophet said, I told you, I'm the Lord your God. You must not worship the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live, but you have not listened to me. Quick side question.
I wonder if that prophet is ever named. There are some prophets in the Bible that never get named, but I wonder who that guy was. They're crying out for help. God sends help in the form of a prophet saying, dudes, listen up. Verse 11.
Nice.
That's a good synopsis. Okay. 11. The angel of the lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abizrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the lord appeared to Gideon, he said, the Lord is with you, mighty warrior.
Alright. Quick quick pause so that we understand what's going on in verse 11. What's wrong with the picture? Okay, he's hiding, but what's he's threshing wheat in a wine press.
Now,
Carly, I'm sure you're like really, you get a really instantly a really clear picture of what's wrong with that picture that he's threshing wheat in a wine press. But if you know, that doesn't sound right. For right now, that's all you need to know. That don't sound right. It's not right.
Alright. Wherever we were. Go ahead. Alright.
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 out up out of Egypt, But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.
Another side point, what was wrong with Gideon's question? He asked a terrible question of the Lord.
Well, he assumes that if the Lord yeah. If the Lord is with them, then he has to act a certain way. Like, if the Lord was here then wouldn't these things be happening?
Yep. You're exactly right. And and that question started with a Why? Now, it's very human nature of us to ask why questions of the Lord. And I don't want to beat you up with your own why questions, but you need to understand this about the Lord.
He is under no obligation in perpetuity, that means forever, to answer any of your why questions. And we could just close the bible right there and and call that good. Now, I understand that all of us are human and we wanna know why. And we cry out to the lord with our why questions. And if you are engaging the lord with a why question, great.
Fine. Awesome. Just don't stop there. Don't say, why are you doing this? And then drive your fist down, scrunch your eyebrows, and stomp around like a bratty little punk demanding to know why.
He is under no obligation ever to tell you why he does or doesn't do anything ever. He's God you're not. So hopefully you heard what I said. It's okay, ask why because you're human. But don't stop there.
Think of a better question to ask. Here's a better one to ask. Lord, what do you want me to know about you in this situation?
Yeah. Yeah. That's good. What
do you want me to know about you in this situation? He's going to hear that question and go, Oh. Let's continue reading.
Then the Lord turned to him and said, go with the strength that you have and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you.
Quick quick pause, sorry. He didn't answer that question, did he? The Lord did not answer that question. Well, the reason why but but he's gonna get to it. Go ahead.
Go ahead. But Lord, Gideon replied, how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh?
Manasseh.
Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family. The Lord said to him, I will be with you and you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.
We'll go all the way to verse 24.
And he said to him, if now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out the presents and set it before you. And he said, I will stay till you return.
Quick pause. I like how one thing that Gideon asks, the angel of the Lord's like, no, dude. No. He doesn't answer the why question. But then Gideon asks something else, and the angel of the Lord's like, yeah, I'll I'll hang for a minute.
He's not unreasonable.
We're 19. Right?
Correct.
Gideon hurried home. He cooked a young goat, and with a basket of flour, he baked some bread without yeast. Then carrying the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, he brought them out and presented them to the angel who was under the great tree. The angel of God said to him, place the meat and the unleavened bread on this rock and pour the broth over it. And Gideon did what he was told.
Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the bread with the tip of the staff in his hand, and fire flamed up from the rock and consumed all he had brought. And the angel of the Lord disappeared.
Woah. Now, if I were a student, a junior high student pastor still, I would now have a competition with students on stage with the mic who can do the best sound effect that they think most accurately represented that moment. But I'll let you indulge yourself in your own mind of what that could have sounded like. Let's look at the text really carefully. An angel of the Lord or the angel of the Lord?
Thee. Alright. What's the difference between an angel of the Lord and when it says thee and it looks like that t is capitalized. All the details matter y'all. So the angel of the Lord, what what is that in reference to?
Oh, you know what? I was looking at verse 20 and it was the start of the sentence. In my bible too, it just in 21, then lowercase t, the angel. Alright, Brian. I had to really watch myself.
But the as opposed to a, what is that? There's a what are we getting at? What's the author the biblical author getting at?
Jesus. Yes.
Yep. It is commonly understood among biblical scholars that when an angel of the Lord appears, it it could have it could be any one of the myriad of messengers that God dispatches to accomplish his plans and purposes for the purpose of informing or protecting or intervening in the events of man. But when it says the angel of the Lord, that should be understood as Jesus. Jesus. Okay.
He's out there doing stuff.
Because he can look, take many forms.
Yeah. Oh yeah. The angel of the Lord. Alright. We only have a few verses left.
Alright. Keep going. When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he cried out, oh, sovereign Lord, I'm doomed. I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face. It is alright, the Lord replied.
Do not be afraid. You will not die. And Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and named it Yahweh Shalom, which means the Lord is peace. The altar remains in is that really Oprah? In Oprah?
Sure. Alright. In the land in the land of the
clan of Abyssar to this day.
Now, the the story goes on and is is fascinating. If you've never read that story of Gideon in Judges six, it it just gets better and better. For the purpose of today's conversation, that's as far as we're gonna go. So I preloaded you with the question to be looking for, to do some critical thinking. See if you can determine how Gideon's cat is facing the wrong way.
What do you see in the text where Gideon's cat could be facing the wrong way? I've got two things in mind that we're going to specifically drill down into, but I'd love to see what I'd love to hear what you see.
He said I'm too small and I'm cold.
Okay. Alright. We'll give you the mic and you can share that.
When the when the Lord gave him a direct command, he said, I can't do that. I'm too small. I'm the lowest in the clan. I'm not maybe physically small, but I'm the least important of my entire nation. So no, I can't do
that. Right.
Low self esteem.
You had low self esteem. Yep, you're you are you are pointing out great points in the text that that Gideon says or God says, the angel of the Lord says one thing about Gideon and Gideon disagrees with him and says, No, no. You got you got the wrong guy. What do you see, Colin?
Seems like Gideon might be a little bitter. He says, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?
Oh, man. That is so good. In fact, the two of you, Amanda and Colin, each award yourself one gold bible star each for for really identifying the two things that I want us to to focus on. And as we unpack each of these for just a few moments, there may be other things that that come up. But two things that I want to focus on.
He didn't have the full picture. As a result, he was bitter. And number two, he wasn't aware of his identity. And so what I'd like us to do is just look at those really quickly. Gideon, first of all, did not have the full picture.
He experienced the Midianites coming in and ravaging things and and stealing from them so that there's there's no availability for prosperity. And Gideon is trying to do all that he can do, but he just but he thinks that God has turned his back on the nation of Israel. But that's not entirely the full picture, is it? Let's look at what the full picture is. Just flip a few pages to the left, Joshua 24.
And would somebody read verse 16 through 24? We get the full picture right here. Joshua twenty four sixteen through 24. Yes.
The people answered and said, far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods. For the Lord our God is he who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage, and who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us through all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed. The Lord drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. We also will serve the Lord for he is our God. Then Joshua said to the people, you will not be able to serve the Lord for he is a holy God.
He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you after he has done good to you. The people said to Joshua, no, but we will serve the Lord. Joshua said to the people, you are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves the Lord to serve him.
And they said, we are witnesses. Now, put away the foreign gods which are in your midst and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel. The people said to Joshua, we will serve the Lord our God and we will obey his voice.
So here's here's what Joshua is saying. Joshua has led the nation of Israel into the promised land. By God's hand of deliverance, they have evicted all of the the illegitimate occupiers of that land so that Israel could obtain its full inheritance. But the peoples living in that land were a pagan people that didn't recognize honor God. They had they had filthy and detestable practices.
They worshipped God's foreign to the God of the Bible. They've gotten into the land and Joshua's like, alright, I'm about to leave, but you know dad giving the instructions for the house before he goes away for the evening. This is the one rule of the house. Are you kids paying attention? And they all shake their head.
Right? Here's what Joshua says, Don't worship foreign gods. Don't have anything to do with them. And all the kids were like, Okay, we won't. And he says, I am serious because if you do, there will be consequences.
The Lord's gonna turn his face against you. And they're like, no other gods but these couple. I mean, but God of the Bible alone got it. And then Joshua says, okay, let your words be a testament against you. The first thing you should do is smash all of the other gods and altars and tear them down.
Get rid of them. And they're like, we will listen to what you said. And then here we are a few pages later in Judges. The as an instrument of chastisement, the Lord allows the Midianites into the land of Israel. And they are causing all kinds of trouble.
Now why is and we didn't get to really see this in the story of Judges chapter six for the sake of time, we don't get to go too far. But if you're familiar with the story, what is the first thing that Gideon goes and does under the cover of darkness? He tears down an altar, cuts down an Asherah pole, and builds an altar to the Lord and makes a sacrifice to the one true God of the Bible right there. He kicks up a hornet's nest. So, what was the problem?
The problem was Israel had turned the affections of their heart to things that it did not belong to, and gone against their own word that said, we'll never worship foreign gods. Now, they're everywhere all throughout the land. God in His, this is a good word to use, in His chastisement has allowed the Midianites to come in and take from them the best of their land. So what's the first area that Gideon needs to turn his cat around? Gideon doesn't have the full picture.
He's mad at God and God's like, Bro, you did this. You did this. This is on you. Don't you be putting that on me, Ricky Bobby. I made a covenant with you to bless you and protect you.
And now you're turning your back on me worshiping other gods. Don't put this on me, Ricky Bobby. Are you see are you do you see that in the text? Clear Clear picture of Ricky Ricky Bobby. Gideon is all bent out of shape.
Second thing, he wasn't aware of his identity. The first thing is he didn't have the full picture. The second thing is he wasn't aware of his identity and that's what Amanda saw. In verse 11 it says, The angel of the Lord came and sat beneath the great tree at Oprah which belonged to Joash of the clan of Ebenezer. Gideon, son of Joash, was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide grain from the Midianites.
Now, I went on a long rabbit trail about that specific tree, about that species of tree, that location, what does that mean in the Bible, and it is so great I'm not going to tell you, you can go look that up yourself, but it's really cool. Okay. What's the problem with threshing wheat in a winepress? It's not its purpose. A wine press is for what?
Wine. Yeah. Grapes. I mean, wineskins are for wine while wine press is for grapes. So, it's very difficult to thresh wine, to thresh wheat in a wine press.
Now, perhaps from this series a while ago, what's a key ingredient to being able to thresh wheat and separate the wheat from the chaff? What is a key ingredient needed? Trebulum. Yeah, that's pretty hard to get one of those in a wine press. If you don't know what a wine press looks like, they come in various shapes and sizes, but imagine a big stone trough about the size of a large water trough.
Like like, you know, maybe the size of this carpet. This would be a very big wine press and it's it's made out of stones and plaster and then it has a drain at the bottom and you take the harvest of grapes, you put it in there and you just start squishing and squishing and squishing and squishing and the juice that comes out gets filtered and then other things are done with it. But in in in in in in deep or so, they're usually in the center of town and it's a big fun. It's a big fun to do with the community when it's time to harvest the grapes and to begin pressing the grapes. So here Gideon is threshing wheat, hiding in the wine press.
A key ingredient necessary for threshing wheat is not only a tribulum, but when after it's crushed, now you need to separate the wheat from the chaff from what was the ancient method of doing that was a key ingredient for
that? You
got to have a flat area. You need a winnowing fork and you need some You are not getting any wind in a wine press. So here's the idea, when you thresh wheat, it gets crunched up by the tribulum and then the farmer takes the winnowing fork and he throws it all up in the air. And then the wind comes along separating the wheat from the chaff. The kernels of wheat are heavier.
They fall straight back down. The chaff blows away. How in the world are you gonna do that when you're in the wine press? How are you gonna have a tribulum thresh it? How are you going to have a winnowing fork that can throw it up and where's the wind to carry it away if you're hiding out of sight?
You're doing it all wrong, essentially. The weed is meant to be threshed on a large open area on a hilltop. You get a lower grade product Because inevitably, there's going to be a lot of chaff that gets mixed in with your wheat. Wine presses are not for wheat, they're for grapes. If you don't know the intended use of something, you will end up misusing it.
That not be said of us if we're not aware of our identity. The same way that that wheat was diluted with chaff in there without a a full understanding of who god made you to be. Is there not some dilution in there? Do you not get a inferior product than other than what god fully intended for your life? But here's here's the great thing about god.
Look at verse 14. How does god address little, frightened, scared Gideon. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, Mighty hero. There's a great guy. He's British.
His name's Graham Cook. And how many of you have ever heard of Graham Cook? Okay. Yeah. Good.
And whenever he's preaching this story in verse 14 or verse 12, he says, The angel of Lord appeared to him and said, 'Mighty hero, the Lord is with you.' And Graham Cook always says, and Gideon turns around and says, Are there two of us named Gideon in here? I always think of that in my mind. There's a couple of things to note about our identity. The angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon where? Hiding.
You cannot hide from the Lord. You can't hide from him. You can you can try to switch your identity. You can try to pretend to be something that you're not. But the Lord knows where you are and he knows who you are.
God saw Gideon differently than Gideon saw himself. And God will always, always, always, always speak to who he created you to be, which is pretty cool and sometimes very challenging. Sometimes you have made such decisions with your life to take you on such a crooked path that when he calls you by who he created you to be, you don't even recognize the sound of his voice. I don't know who he's talking to. That's not who I've been for the last five years, ten years, fifteen years.
You might need to turn your cat around. Remember when Gideon asked that question, Why are you doing this? He was ignorant of the fact that God chastises those whom he loves.
And
that God was actually actively at work seeing everything. And he has a heart. He always has a heart of restoration. Let's fix it. Let's fix it.
God knows where you are right now. You may be thinking that you're hidden, safe from whatever it is that you're hiding from, and you're trying to go about your life in the effort of trying to be productive. But you could be threshing wheat in a wine press. God knows where you are right now. He sees you differently than you see yourself and he is always with you.
So let's turn the corner by talking about two things. So how do I turn my cat around? How do I use the story of Gideon to turn my cat around? How do I turn my cat around? You can write this down.
Number one, do not mistake your current circumstances for God forgetting about you. So easy for either ourselves or the voice of the enemy or popular culture. God is dead. He's no longer on the scene or active or involved. All it would take is for you to see the performance of Sam Smith on the Grammys that had like a pitiful, what, 3,000,000 views and see that disgusting performance for you to think, well, I guess God's dead.
Why? God, would you allow that to happen? And never seeing the hundreds of millions of views that the livestream the various livestreams from the Asbury revival got just a few weeks after. Do not mistake your current circumstances for for God forgetting about you. If you have thought of that for yourself or your circumstances or maybe your city or your job or whatever, the invitation today is to turn your cat around in the same way that he was aware of what was going on, knew where Gideon was, saw Gideon differently.
You need to turn the cat around and don't make the mistake of your of your current circumstances thinking that God has forgotten about you. Number two, how do I turn my cat around? Do not let you or anyone else contradict God's opinion of you. Don't let you or anyone else contradict God's opinion of you. Because the truth is, in God's eyes, you're a mighty hero, and the Lord is with you.
You're a mighty hero and the Lord is with you. Even now, I can almost hear those little voices of self talk trying to compete with my words. Yeah. But I'm not healed yet. Yeah.
But I don't own a home in Jackson. Yeah. But I'm divorced. Yeah. But yeah.
But yeah. But yeah. But it's exactly what Gideon said. But I'm of the smallest tribe of this land and then of whatever he said. And I what whatever the excuses that he gave.
How can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I'm the least in my entire family. God's like, exactly. Now I got something I can work with. Come from some pedigree.
You come from some beautifully curated lifestyle, highly educated, your life's all put together. He's like, that's gonna be tough to work with. But somebody that if anything amazing happens, they know and the rest of the world know, oh, that's God at work. I can use that. You're a mighty hero and the Lord is with you.
Every week for as long as we're on this series, which will be just a few more weeks, we will we will go into ministry time with an invitation for you to turn your cat around. It could be one of these two areas. It could be something completely different. I'll I'll you know, it's an anointed conversation when the person comes up to you afterwards like, man, God, that was so good. God was to me about it.
And it didn't have anything to do with my notes like that's just so so the Holy Spirit could be speaking to you about something completely different. Now is the opportunity where you can respond to what the Lord may be doing in your heart in this moment. If there's an area of your heart that is being highlighted to you this morning where you need to turn your cat around instead of coming up to the front of the stage for the altar because we have neither an altar nor a stage, we'll turn our own chairs into an altar, a place where you can meet with God. Remember Gideon said, oh Lord, this is you. Let me go whip you up a little something.
And the angel of the Lord said, I'll wait. So, Lord is waiting for you to meet with you this morning. So, what we're gonna do is as the Lord leads you, there's something that you need to take care of business on. I'm going to invite you to get your little biscuits out of your seat. Put your knees on the floor and turn your own chair into an altar where you can meet with the Lord.
Holy Spirit, come. Angel of the Lord, come. Show us where we need to turn the cat of our heart around so that we can be in line with the way you're petting us with in line with reality, in line with your will. And we demonstrate turning our cat around by turning around and getting on our knees for repentance. Thank you, Lord, for being good to us.
Thank you that that we cannot manipulate you at all into petting us the way that we wanna be petted. You love us too much. You have too much personal integrity. And you're so smart. And you have the benefit of foresight and infinite knowledge that if you were to pet us the way that we wanted to be petted, it would be disastrous for us.
We yield under your hand of chastisement. And if anything, we can say it's how we know that you love us and that you are our children. Wait. You we are your children. Oh, at your slightest correction, give us a heart that would so quickly run to you.
Help us to turn the cat of our heart around so that as you pet, we get petted the right way. Jesus, we love you. We love you.
As we remain in this attitude of worship just a few minutes longer and we think about the song that we sang today, I surrender. You know, it's so very easy to just say a word You can mean it in your heart. It is it's easy to say though. How do you practice for a speech? You know, you go over it again and again.
You practice. You say it in the mirror. You tweak it. How do you practice for a marathon? You get out and run.
Right? There's things you do that action steps that you take to lead up to the thing. And how do we surrender? It's so easy to just say. Well, it's by practicing acts of obedience.
They could be personal things that the Lord has spoken to you that he's asked you to do, and you feel stuck. And he's like, sweetheart, go back to what I asked you to do and obey. It could be big. It could be small. But one of the ways that we do that, especially when we're here as a tribe family every week, is that we bring our tithe and we give our offering to him.
It's a practice of surrender. It's like going out for a run when you're training for a marathon. It's one way that we say, God, I love trust you enough to give a portion of my hard earned finances to you. And if that feels easy, maybe give more. And I'm not saying that to like, oh, give tribe more money.
I'm saying that's a challenge to you. Obey the Lord in that area. So as we're here together, we're just gonna pray over this tithe and the offering today, and then I'll tell you practical ways to give. So bow your head or close your eyes. We say, Father, thank you so much for who you are and how you love.
Thank you that you are such a sovereign God that we can just trust you in what you say in your infinite ways. Help us just like when Gideon doubted and said, but why, God? Why? Thank you that you are such a good dad, that you love us through our why questions, and you want us to take it a step further because you want to be in relationship with us. But we just say that we love and we trust you, Father.
And even if we wonder why, we say we trust you no matter what. So as we bring tithe and above and beyond that, our offering to you today, it's an act of surrender. We say, God, our yes is on the table before we see the whole picture. We say yes to you. What do you whatever you wanna do in my own heart, whatever you wanna do in my family's heart and life, whatever you wanna do in the sphere of influence around me, I say yes to that.
Lord, speak speak to me. And so, father, thank you for the gifts. Thank you for your people today that are practicing obedience and bringing tithe and offering to you. And just saying, Lord, I love and trust you enough to give a portion of my finances even if it doesn't on paper seem like I can. Or maybe you're challenging us to give more and we do that.
But Lord, thank you for what that does that that builds that memory muscle in us of surrender to you. So even when harder things come, we can quickly say yes because we trust you, and you've shown it your faithfulness again and again and again. And we thank you that that's who you are in your character. And we just pray practically, father, as the gifts come into this local church called Tribe, that they will go and be used for exactly what you say. So more and more people can get come to know you and to come into your kingdom.
Help us to just love on people the way that you've asked us to and be obedient in that area under this authority of the local church. We thank you for it. In Jesus' name, we all say, amen. Alright. Practical ways you can give, if you have cash or check, just put it in that little black box downstairs right outside the front door.
If you wanna give online, we have tribejh.com. There's a little giving tab. Or the easiest way is to just start a text on your phone, 84321. You just type in the amount, and you can give any time and do it that way. Just a couple announcements.
We'll get you guys out of here. It is not too late. We sent money over to Wind River for their food drive, and we I forget exactly, but it was it was over a thousand dollars that we were able to give. 2,000. So, thank you so much.
It's never too late for that. If you're on the Tribe Planning Center app and you wanna give to food, specifically food to Wind River, there's a little tab that you can either pick tithe or whatever donation we have going on. So it's never too late to do that. I know that would bless them. And speaking of Wind River, we have a kids VBS that stands for Vacation Bible School.
By show of hand, how many went to a VBS, whether it was good or bad, as a kid? Yeah. VBS is just a classic classic thing we do as kids. But Wind River is hosting a VBS, and so many precious kids come in, and they've asked us if we would come and help them. If so, of course, we said yes.
But we're gonna load up our tri bus. It's in the summer, June twenty fifth through twenty eighth. But put that on your calendar. It'll bless you. You might be like, ugh, helping kids.
Ugh, kids are gross. Like, if that's how you feel, probably you should go because that's an act of surrender and obedience. Mighty mighty volunteer who can handle ons and sneezes and all the things that might be you. So come with us to that. Also, Tribe Mountain Adventures, let's see, is happening Tomorrow.
Tomorrow. So if you're like, what is that? Talk to Brian right after service, and you're gonna practice some backcountry skiing. And you'll hear of tribe mountain adventures a lot more and more as the Lord releases that to us, but it's exactly what it sounds like. Under the under the umbrella of tribe, whoever's leading, it'll be, because we live in the mountains, some kind of mountain adventure at various different levels.
So that's something that the Lord's asked us to do. So as he leads, we're slowly developing that and seeing. All ages. The what? All ages,
not just young adults. Yes.
All ages, not just young adults. So, pastor Brian, will you please come back up?
Alright. We'll we'll dismiss in a moment here. This is like an office and like a it's also our like production studio, our VIP room. As soon as we dismiss, we'll turn it into our prayer room. So, if there's anything that you need prayer for, if the Lord is resting on you about anything and maybe you need prayer, maybe you just need to talk to someone, maybe you need somebody to affirm over you God's identity for your life.
They're members of our prayer team that would love to pray for you. And I'm gonna ask two couples specifically individually to make themselves available. Number one, Lee and Colleen, just wave your hand right there. That's Lee and Colleen. And I'm gonna also ask Jen and Colin Green.
They're already in. Jen can stay. Colin's got to scoot and Jen's already back there in the VIP room. If there's anything that you need Here's the one thing. Don't make me come find you and be like, hey, what was the Lord doing with you?
Do you wanna pray about that? Like, don't make me come find you. Best thing you can do is scurry over there to one of them. Alright? Because the Lord puts on my heart and shows me like they need prayer.
Not all the time, but sometimes. Alright? Stand up. Let me pray for you.
That was an invitation and a threat at the same time. That
was that was a mustache talking right there. Uh-huh. Don't make the mustache come after you. Lord Jesus, I command a blessing over each and every member of our tribe fam. Lord, help us to turn the cat of our heart around so that in any circumstances we find ourselves in, that that we will not be tricked or convinced that you have forgotten about us, that you care, that you are involved.
And Lord, let us not hear a single other opinion about our lives other than yours. I release a pronouncement over each and every member of our tribe family that's here today and watching the livestream. That you have been destined and ordained by God to be a mighty warrior and that Lord you would be with them. Receive that blessing in Jesus name, the strong son of God. And everybody said, I love you guys so much.
I want you to have a great week. I command sniffies and crummies off of all of our tribe fam. March is coming. I want you to have a great week. Be blessed.
And remember, you got this. I always go like this to make it easier for you to get in here. Just pull it right back here. After
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