The Fight for the Future
Judges 6:1-6 (NLT)
The Israelites did evil in the LORD’s sight. So the LORD handed them over to the Midianites for seven years. The Midianites were so cruel that the Israelites made hiding places for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, marauders from Midian, Amalek, and the people of the east would attack Israel, camping in the land and destroying crops as far away as Gaza. They left the Israelites with nothing to eat, taking all the sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys. These enemy hordes, coming with their livestock and tents, were as thick as locusts; they arrived on droves of camels too numerous to count. And they stayed until the land was stripped bare. So Israel was reduced to starvation by the Midianites. Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD for help.
1st See what God says
Judges 6:11-12 (NLT)
Then the angel of the Lord came and sat beneath the great tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash of the clan of Abiezer. Gideon son of Joash was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites.
Judges 6:12b-13a (NLT)
The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!” “Sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?
Romans 4:7 (RGT)
God... calls those things which are not as though they were
Romans 4:7 (NASB)
God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.
Judges 6:15 (NLT)
“But Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!”
Genesis 35:10 (NLT)
“And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel.”
Matthew 16:18 (NLT)
Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church
1 Peter 2:9 (NIV)
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession
Hebrews 11:1 (NIV-84)
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
2nd Set aside excuses and go in the strength we have
Judges 6:13 (NLT)
“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 up out of Egypt’? But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.”
Excuse Equation
IF that DIDN'T happen THEN I would go
IF that DID happen THEN I would go
Judges 6:14 (NLT)
Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!
See the enemy through the promises of God
Judges 6:12 (NLT)
“The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!”
Judges 6:13-14 (NLT)
“Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!”
Judges 6:16 (NLT)
“The Lord said to him, “I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.”
Judges 6:5 (NLT)
These enemy hordes, coming with their livestock and tents, were as thick as locusts; they arrived on droves of camels too numerous to count. And they stayed until the land was stripped bare. So Israel was reduced to starvation by the Midianites. Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD for help.
Judges 6:16 (NLT)
And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.
Romans 8:31 (NIV)
If God is for us, who can be against us?
Psalm 16:8 (ESV)
I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken
