A Holy Dissatisfaction
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Gideon
Gideon
Thanks to Pastor Thom and Shelby
Such great family friends
Pastor Stephen and Brianna
Always have a great time with them
There’s a difference between a preacher and a Pastor
Pastor Thom can preach!
But he’s an amazing Pastor and Has a heart for God’s people
Very thankful to know them
And I’m honored at the opportunity to speak here this morning
Open You Bibles to Romans 4
A HOLY DISSATISFACTION:
Small town barber shop:
Barber shop and Bow hunting equipment
This was 2008
So long ago
When I had hair
If I lived in this town and you needed to find me a slow day at the office
9 times out of 10 if I lived in this town instead of being at the bar, you could find me in RANCH AND HOME
That place is a dream
I would never leave If I lived here
Romans 4:
1 What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
17 (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;
God’s Word calls us out of who we are and into what He wants us to Be
6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Let me ask you a question this morning
Are you living up to your potential?
Not are you doing ok
Or I’m hanging in there
Are you living up to your potential
More importantly are living up to what God has for you
God should be doing things in us that unreasonable
I’ve had numerous stories in my life just within the last few years
I’m just like well that doesn’t just happen to people
I want the supernatural
See I don’t want wants good for me
What’s good for you is eating healthy
What’s good for you is going on a walk
And eating your wheaties
I don’t want what’s good for me I want God’s best
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
POWER- DOO-NA-MIS: force (literally or figuratively); specially, miraculous power (usually by implication, a miracle itself):—ability, abundance, meaning, might(-ily, -y, -y deed), (worker of) miracle(-s), power, strength, violence, mighty (wonderful) work.
WE have to think Bigger
I’m convinced we have to ASK BIGGER
God wants to do more through you
God wants us to think in terms of miracles
We limit God by our thinking
I want to have that doesn’t happen to anyone else type of miracles
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.
3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
The word Faith is Pistis
conviction of the truth of anything, belief; in the NT of a conviction or belief respecting man's relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervour born of faith and joined with it
conviction
The elders obtained a good testimony
If you look at the elders/the people God called were:
Unfit
unrighteous
un attractive
unable
unreliable
uncertain
unwanted
Unbearable people
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
And through His word HE shapes the world around us
By Faith we understand that the world were framed by the word of God
We frame our World by the word of God
What word of God is framing the borders
What word from God is constructing your future
Construction happens a day at a time:
God seldom works over night
What are they doing here?
Usually talks about it
Then there’s the inconvenience of it
Then you start seeing progress
Most people stop construction at the inconvenience
Before they see progress
I’m done with my Intro, Now I’m goin to start preaching:
I want to look at a Famous Story in the Bible
One you’ve all heard
1 Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years, 2 and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains.
Judges 6
Isreal does evil in the sight of the Lord
The Lord delivers Isreal into the hand of Midian for 7 Years
For 7 years they're getting their houses burned down
Their food stolen
And all the work they would do throughout the year would get stolen from them
To the point that all they knew was poverty and hiding
Mind you this was supposed to be the promised land That God had given them
It was the 5 star experience they were expecting
They weren’t willing to protect it
They let their relationship with God be replaced by other things
6 So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord.
They were down in the dumps
Why does it take rock bottom to cry out to God?
A holy dissatisfaction
Why do we wait until we are in a terrible situation to cry unto the Lord?
I believe this happens because of our trust and confidence in ourselves.
It’s only when we get in situations that are bigger than us that we recognize our need for the Lord’s help.
If we seek the Lord in good times, we at least we wont have bad times because of disobedience
So Isreal after 7 years or being victims they finally get fed up
They were dissatisfied with their current situation and they cried out to God
Usually Being used mightily of the Lord begins with a holy dissatisfaction
Your Holy dissatisfaction might look like:
I’m tired of this sickness in my body
I’m tired of being addicted to drugs or nicotine or alcohol
I’m tired of watching my family choose destruction
I’m tired of this weight or heaviness of sin in my life
I’m tired of seeing my friends go to hell
I’m tired of seeing children be abused or go hungry in our community
I’m tired of trying to do this life on my own
Enters Gideon:
10 Also I said to you, “I am the Lord your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.” But you have not obeyed My voice.’ ”
11 Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!”
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.”
I’ve read about what has happened in the past
I’ve heard about what you’re doing in other places
I’ve seen miracles take place in other peoples lives
BUT WHY isn’t it working for me
I’m the victim here
I’m the one hiding
Where have you been?
God you don’t understand what I’ve done
You don’t understand who I am
Gideon thought He was waiting on God to do something
When really God was waiting on Gideon to do something
We pray Lord send revival
God bring change in us
God do this and do that
God is saying when are you going to get fed up enough to do something about
We look at our weaknesses rather than His strength
I’m the weakest, the unqualified the smallest
I’m uneducated
He was comparing himself to everyone else
Comparison will hide you in inadequacy
A lot of people stay on the sidelines cause they think they won’t make the cut
Instead of looking around we should be looking up
Gideon Had a word (mighty man of Valor)
But he wanted a sign
17 Then 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.
He fleeces the Lord
As Spirit filled believers we don’t look for signs
We trust His word
39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
38 Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Many of us have a word but want a sign
God now does things internally
He gives us direction
EVERY RHEMA WORD FROM GOD I HAVE RECEIVED WAS HIS LOGOS FOR MY SITUATION
You’ll go to hell in with a squirt gun with a Rhema word
-Often times we are looking for audible
-Rhema: Logos became Rhema
-Your sign is when the LOGOS BECOMES RHEMA
You have to have the Logos in you so that it has the opportunity to become Rhema
His spirit is inside of us
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.
CUT DOWN the wooden Image:
Gideon’s name literally means the feller or one who cuts down
A logger
I believe this was a moment for Him where He was separating himself from Who He was and who God called Him to be
He did this at night
I don’t think he was confident in himself here but he did it
300
2 And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ 3 Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.’ ” And twenty-two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained.
4 But the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many; bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. Then it will be, that of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ the same shall go with you; and of whomever I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ the same shall not go.” 5 So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “Everyone who laps from the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set apart by himself; likewise everyone who gets down on his knees to drink.” 6 And the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people got down on their knees to drink water. 7 Then the Lord said to Gideon, “By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people go, every man to his place.”
33K
10K
300
vs.
Lapping Water
It goes from obedience to Sacrifice
Sacrifice is the currency of the Kingdom
Sacrifice is always done in Faith
Without Faith it is impossible to please Him
Sacrifice is when your obedience outweighs your comfort
I don’t want you to do it on your own strength cause I’m goin to do something bigger than you
This is a word for someone in here, you been at a stopping point cause you are comfortable where your at
There is no sacrifice without discomfort
God gave us a Rhema word and you’ve been waiting on resources
Provision follows vision
6. Exhausted but still in pursuit
4 When Gideon came to the Jordan, he and the three hundred men who were with him crossed over, exhausted but still in pursuit.
God is creating you for longevity
He doesn’t just want you to win a battle
He wants to give you faith for the War
He wants you to run your race with endurance
Endurance comes from the training
Endurance comes from the process
Train as one who wins
Romans 8, Yet in all things were more than conquers through Him that loved us
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
As much as God is concerned with your victories
I think He’s mostly concerned with you endurance
Exhausted but still pursued
If you get a Holy discomfort
You get God’s word so deep in you that it becomes God breathed Rhema
IF you can get outside of your comfort zone to where God can stretch you
That is what creates endurance
What is your Holy discomfort this morning?
I’m tired of this sickness in my body
I’m tired of being addicted to drugs or nicotine or alcohol
I’m tired of watching my family choose destruction
I’m tired of this weight or heaviness of sin in my life
I’m tired of seeing my friends go to hell
I’m tired of seeing children be abused or go hungry in our community
I’m tired of trying to do this life on my own
This is your Gideon moment today
Gideon had three choices: become a slave, continuing being a victim or fight back
What are you choosing today?
Alter call