Turn The Cat Around Week 2

In one paragraph

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. The service opened with a long stretch of open worship and shared words from the...

Read together

1. Luke 10:19 quoted from The Passion Translation after a congregant shared about rebuking the devil to get out of bed
2. 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
3. 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

What was said

• 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.

Talk about it

1. 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?'
2. 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?
3. Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress, using something for a purpose it was never designed for, and getting an inferior result because of it. Where in your own life might you be working outside of how God actually made you, and what does that cost you?
4. Brian said God always speaks to who he created you to be, not who you've become through the decisions you've made. When God's words about your identity don't match how you see yourself right now, which voice wins? What makes that so hard to change?
5. Two specific ways to 'turn the cat around' were named: don't mistake your circumstances for God forgetting you, and don't let anyone, including yourself, contradict God's opinion of you. Which of those two is the harder one for you personally, and why?