Encountering Power

Encounter May 29/30 2021 Series opener Intro / Pray for Service Members / families of those deployed and those lost...Judges 6 - OT - 1st 3rd of paper Bible... To start I want to share a story just received yesterday...God story - we keep a database of God stories..... ROXY CORYELL - how to pray for others: Ever since our class on Tuesday evening I've been asking God to give me opportunities to pray for someone else, and I also asked my small group last night to pray that I would have the courage to do so if God highlights someone. I am normally an introvert. I stopped at Martin's on Bittersweet this morning at about 9:30--I don't shop there usually - I went to the self-check out area with my few items, and was immediately drawn to the one check-out that had someone at it--a clerk was opening up bags to get them ready for customers. I thanked her for all she was doing for us, and said I really appreciated her. She said thank you in a kind of surprised way. I said that there's a lot of extra work involved that no one sees in the self-check-out part, and she then said, "yes, and I'm in a lot of pain." She tried to straighten up and it was difficult, so I asked if it was her back that hurt, and she said it was her whole body I didn't even realize how close I had moved to her, but I was right next to her and I had my arm around her, and before I knew the words were out of my mouth I asked if I could pray for her. She said yes, and I asked her name. I don't even remember the words I prayed right now, but it was a short prayer, and then she looked as if she might cry so I asked if I could hug her. She said yes to that, too, and then she went to help someone who needed assistance, so I checked out my stuff. I walked up to her after I was done--she was at the part where the bags and things are at the front wiping stuff off--and asked her if she was all right, and she said yes, and thanked me. Again--the words were out of my mouth before I thought about it--I said "You know, God loves you so much. I love you, too." Then I left the store, and it kind of hit me on the way to my car what just happened, and I thanked God for it!!! Scrolling through God stories - having a grand time this morning - ran across this one: - From someone anonymous that wrote the church - came in last year. So here I am working every day for the past few weeks alone. Overwhelmed with worry concerning family, employees, friends and a future that seems so broken. A heavy sinking feeling came over me. A depression has been setting in. I had allowed fear to enter my thinking. Thinking about self-pity , the loss of control and an overwhelming feeling that no one cares and I should just shut down everything and give up. So on this very day that the feeling in your gut says "You Can't". A member of your church stops by. Me being paranoid. I backed away, to a point he offered to wear a mask. I said no just keep your distance. [He] took a seat and just sat there. He just sat there enduring my heartache. Once I settled down he listened to my rant. He gave me an envelope and said many are praying for you. Of course I set it aside until I could disinfect it properly. I, being extra careful, allowed the card to set in Lysol for a while prior to opening it. Once I did, I found an envelope of money but mostly what I found were the words " you mean so much to so many". I needed that. Those words. Not only of encouragement but of truth. Someone came to visit me.... Goes on to say " I can be strong in the truth that I have value this side of heaven ......" Aren't those stories great? people getting out of their comfort zone and praying to invite God into the situation - because when God shows up powerful things happen. An employee at Martins realizes that God cares and the person full of stress realizes she is valued by God.... God is powerful! Isn't this what we see in scripture.... Blind man by the name of Bartimaeus encounters Jesus - sitting on the roadside begging, but hears that Jesus was there - likely has heard the accounts of Jesus miracles - Bartimaeus shouts at Jesus above all of the others who were trying to keep him quiet and look what happens Mark 10:51 51 "What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked him. The blind man said, "Rabbi, I want to see." 52 "Go," said Jesus, "your faith has healed you." Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. That's a beautiful encounter that shows the power of Jesus...Here is another example - goes beyond just healing the sick. Paul in the NT is traveling around talking about Jesus - traveling from town to town - getting ready to travel to Asia and look what happens... Acts 16:6 - 6 And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. *(ESV)* Don't have the perfect detail of HOW, but the power of God FORBID them....Wouldn't that be great - to have the power of God show up and prevent us from going into an area that might become a problem? While we don't know the exact reason they were kept from Asia - but God didn't want them to go there and they had an encounter with the Holy Spirit that prevented them. Some clarity - an encounter with God can bring the things we need the most - guidance, protection, freedom, encouragement - the FRUIT of the spirit of God that we read in the bible (love, peace, kindness, gentleness, self-control) - An encounter with God leads to salvation from our sins, leads to freedom our hurts, guidance in times of trouble and confusion, power when we are weak.... It's the encounter most of us need regularly - Want to ask a question - I realize this is a generic question, but I want us to take this seriously..... What is one area of my life that could benefit from God's power? I'm asking myself the same question.... Can get tiring when out of my own strength I'm trying to figure everything out - reminder we have a living God that wants to interact with us! As I speak with people I realize that we are all searching for and encounter with something but for clarity - No amount of time with others, exercise, fasting, positive energy (what is that?!), drugs, drinking, yoga, sleep or sex will fill the void that an encounter with God will fill. So what is the area of your life that could benefit from the power of God? Hold that thought - we are starting a three weeks series called Encounter [Series Slide] where we are exploring this verse 2Tim 1:17 - For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline - each week we will look at the importance of encountering God and in those moments we shows up in power, love and self-discipline. SO NEEDED TODAY! Today I want to share an account in the book of Judges chapter 6 - where we can really learn about the Power of God in an encounter. Need to give you a little background on what is going on - Israelites are in a mess - they were not following the Lord to the best of their ability and at the beginning of Chapter 6 we find that the Lord is allowing the Midianites to oppress the Israelites - its bad - the Israelites are crying out to God because of the hardship and trouble - God hears them and the angel of the Lord shows up to a man named Gideon... and he calls Gideon Judges 6 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior."13 "Pardon me, my lord," Gideon replied, "but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, 'Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian." 14 The Lord turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?" 15 "Pardon me, my lord," Gideon replied, "but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family." 16 The Lord answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive." In that text and in the encounter that Gideon has with God I want to unpack a few areas that can help us as we explore the power of God. [PRAY] An encounter with God.... 1. Often starts with an invitation Such an important point - Let's review this account with Gideon again - The spirit of the Lord comes down to Gideon who is struggling with the rest of the Israelites under the oppression of the Midianites ....- who wouldn't like the angel of the Lord to visit us - but look at Gideon's response....13 "Pardon me, my lord," Gideon replied, "but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about.... Can we just appreciate the honesty of his response? This raw moment - Have you ever had that response? I have.... Significant troubles - daughter passed away after 17 days people would try to lovingly encourage and provide spiritual support and I feel like I that raw response of but if the Lord is good then why"? Can you appreciate Gideon's reply? And look what the Lord answers him this way... 14 The Lord turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?" Do you see it - it's an invitation - GO in the strength you have. He doesn't answer the why... just says ... GO with what you've got... Interesting observation as that is frequently how an encounter with God works: * Moses - leader of Israelites - God tells him that he's the one that has to go talk to Pharoh - and Moses isn't a great speaker, has questions... God essentially tells him - go with what you've got. * Disciples that Jesus invited were fisherman - not experts in the law, no political power - not rich or powerful - God invites them, certainly with questions - invites them to change the world * Does it with us....Romans 5:8 - But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. God's not waiting for you to clean up your life before you come to Him.... God's invitation comes before you have it all together News Flash - God knows you don't have it all together (you might be hiding it well, but not that well)... he knows where you are weak, sin, created a mess this week, can't bench press 200 lbs... yet still invites us. God knows you we have questions... why did that thing happen, why is it so difficult, why are you doing this God. But instead of getting everything all in order or answers all your questions he just extends the invite... Matthew 11:28 - Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Read scripture - invitation or Hear about opportunity that God might be prompting you to, nudge from God - and we pause - wait - start listing the reasons we can't - start listing questions. Well what about that appointment?.... Not sure I can?.... I'm not qualified... and we think ourselves out of the very moment that God might do something powerfully in us or through us! Some of my biggest moments with God (all of them?) were when I didn't have everything together - gave my life to Christ and my life was messy, got involved with homeless when I didn't know what I was doing - went to India on a mission trip - didn't know what I was getting myself in to. NOT PERFECT @ This! just last week walking @ river walk - thinking through this message - gentlemen saw walking coming toward me across river walk -really felt like I was supposed to stop what I was doing and go talk to this guy - just felt like something was wrong - maybe pray for him - his head was down walking... didn't do it ... the guy literally looked at me eye to eye as he walked past.... Pit in my stomach... missed it... wonder what God would have done? If we go back to my opening question regarding the area of your life that you could use the power of God in it, then a great question to follow that up is? (resist things like, getting prayer, accepting Jesus, talking about Jesus at work, reading the bible, etc etc) How willing are we to respond to an invitation from God? Just an important side note - invitations don't last forever. Jesus shares a parable about invitations for the kingdom of God..... Luke 14:16,18 - A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. But they all alike began to make excuses. Just purchased something, have to work, just got married - all real excuses... the parable ends this way... Luke 14:24 - I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.' If God's got a banquet, I want to feast on it - I don't want to miss it! I want to be part of a church that doesn't miss the banquet - we have to be open and running to the invitation in our weakness, setting our questions aside! An encounter with God.... 1. Often starts with an invitation So if we step into the invitation we also need to realize that God 2. Makes up the difference The Lord invites Gideon to make a big impact and go in the strength he has... Gideon has more questions 15 "Pardon me, my lord," Gideon replied, "but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family." 16 The Lord answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive." Pause / Time out... you'll be with me God, but I'M going to strike down the enemy? Still sounds scary to me.... Not sure about you, but the easier answer here would have the spirit of God saying - you know what Gideon - you're a little on the weak side, seems like you've been through a lot - I see you don't have it all together and things have been rough - so you sit down here, keep doing your thing - and I'll go wipe out the enemy.... Isn't that the answer we are looking for? Is that not what the majority of our prayers sound like? But the game changer is the spirit of God says - I will go with you. All the questions no longer matter, because God's with him! Same thing Jesus tells his followers - Matthew 28:20 - And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. When you accept an invitation from God, you're no longer in it alone! The defining difference in what Gideon was about the face in his own strength is the reality that the spirit of God would be with him to make up the difference. Gideon responds to the invitation IN HIS WEAKNESS so God makes up the difference in everything Gideon lacks. When we walk this encounter out with Gideon - It's an amazing journey - you should read the entire account today - Gideon accepts the invitation - Gideon musters 30,000 men to go take on the Mideonites.... Preparing for a big fight - before they go into battle the Lord stop Gideon and says " Judges 7:2 - The Lord said to Gideon, "You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, 'My own strength has saved me.' God's clarity is that it will be HIS power not Gideon's power or the power of the army Gideon could muster that should be the reason the battle is won - So Gideon sends 20,000 troops away - left with 10,000... the Lord says it's still too many and Gideon gets down to 300 men.... Barely enough to be called an army to go up against a powerful enemy... Can you imagine?! The account ends with the Lord causing confusion among the enemy and they fought against themselves and ran away - not even a fight! The Lord the Yes from Gideon - the guy who is from the weakest clan and he's the least in his family and yet the Lord makes up the difference. That's a powerful encounter with the right person! If that's God in scripture and He never changes, Now shift to us - God is regularly inviting us to encounter Him - He sees you with your challenges, hears all the questions... and isn't asking you to make up 100% of what you don't have before he does anything - he's willing to make up the difference! Is 40:29 - He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. My weakness provides space for Gods power Doesn't mean we shouldn't work to get better, but what it does mean is that God is so amazing that he would take us, with all of our weakness / gaps / flaws, and invites us into partnership with Him so he can show up with HIS power so HE can get the celebration. I want to bring us back around - full circle to where we started today with Gideon. When the spirit of God showed up to Gideon, all Gideon could focus on was his present situation and the lies but this is what God saw 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior." God saw what was possible in the invitation - He saw who Gideon was in partnership with Him.... Where Gideon saw problems and weakness and history and tons of questions, God saw something different. God saw a mighty warrior that He could partner with...God saw the potential of an invitation for His power to show up - Not for Gideon to be the hero, but for the power of God to show up and change things forever. God's inviting us to a fresh encounter with Him more often than we realize. For some he's inviting you to a new relationship with Him... * might have been coming to church for a while, but you've never surrendered your life to him - you've heard invitations before, but there is a banquet before you and you've had questions * for some it's baptism - you've heard the announcement but you've had questions - what are people going to think - do I really need to do it... * Some of you have been praying "God will you...." And it's time to shift to Here I am Lord send me..... Those invitations don't last forever and thank GOD HIS power makes up the difference of our shortcomings! An encounter with God.... 1. Often starts with an invitation 2. Makes up the difference [MINISTRY TIME] --- --- --- --- Handout Text : Judges 6:12-16 An encounter with God.... 1. Often starts with an invitation God's invitation comes before you have it all together 2. Makes up the difference My weakness provides space for Gods power 1