The Victory Belongs to:

Proverbs 3:5–6 NRSV

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Recap from Last Two Weeks:

Week 1: The Battle Belongs to:

The people of Israel have found themselves in a constant struggles for the last 7 years which the Lord God has allowed because of the evil they have done.

The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. (Judges 6:1 NIV)

The battle that the people of Israel desired to be fought was not the same battle that God desired to see won. God desired to see the root of the problem solved while the people of Israel were desiring to treat merely the symptoms of the proplem.

That night the LORD said to him, “Take your father’s bull, the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father, and cut down the sacred pole that is beside it; 26 and build an altar to the LORD your God on the top of the stronghold here, in proper order; then take the second bull, and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the sacred pole that you shall cut down.” (judges 6:25-26 NRSV)

The fact that the altar and the “sacred pole” was still standing are clear indications that the people despite the conviction of the prophet had not made efforts to change their ways, and or behaviors..

Week 2:The Warrior Belongs to:

Upon hearing the cries of the people of Israel God sends a prophet to the people of Israel so that they may have no confusion regarding as to who really has caused the issues which they are facing.

Judges 6:7–10 (NRSV)

When the Israelites cried to the Lord on account of the Midianites, the Lord sent a prophet to the Israelites; and he said to them,

“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt, and brought you out of the house of slavery; and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians, and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you, and gave you their land; and I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; you shall not pay reverence to the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not given heed to my voice.”

Now we are presented with Gideon who is God’s chosen vessel the Judge of Israel whom God will use to deliver the people of Israel from the oppression of the Midianites

We quickly see that Gideon is NOT one of the “Usual Suspects” that we, or even he himself would expect to have some an awesome responsibility thrust upon him.

Judges 6:15 NRSV

He responded, “But sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

We further see that this chosen hero, judge, and vessel of God’s redemptive efforts himself has doubts of God’s sovereignty!

Judges 6:13 NRSV

Gideon answered him, “But sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our ancestors recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has cast us off, and given us into the hand of Midian.”

Now We Come to The VICTORY!

It is not possible to experience Victory without THE BATTLE

Complaining will not accomplish victory

Wishes, and desires to accomplish vistory

Victories are won one battle at a time

Point 1

In the immense battle that Gideon faced he started at home in his OWN home, and obtained a victory for the Lord

Judges 6:27 NRSV

So Gideon took ten of his servants, and did as the Lord had told him; but because he was too afraid of his family and the townspeople to do it by day, he did it by night.

Practical Application

We too must start at home (within ourselves) when looking to win the battles that effect our world.

What sense would it have made for Gideon to go out and fight the battle abroad while this altar of idolatry sat within his own father’s home.

Are there areas of you “home life” which have prevented you from experiencing the full grace of God in your life?

Matthew 7:3–5 (NRSV)

Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye?

You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.

Point 2

The bigger the battle is, the more impossible it appears to be only means that we must seek the Lord just that much quicker for HIS power to fight, and not rely on our own abilities.

Are there victories in your life which you have not allowed God to help you acheive?

Judges 7:9–11 NRSV

That same night the Lord said to him, “Get up, attack the camp; for I have given it into your hand. But if you fear to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah; and you shall hear what they say, and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to attack the camp.” Then he went down with his servant Purah to the outposts of the armed men that were in the camp.

Practical Application:

MANY times we quit before the miracle takes place!

What miracles/victories have you perhaps missed out on?

Point 3

Gideon quickly was reminded that he was fighting God’s Battle, which must be fought by God’s warrior, and be fought with God’s resources to establish god’s victory

Judges 7:2–3 (NRSV)

The Lord said to Gideon, “The troops with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand. Israel would only take the credit away from me, saying, ‘My own hand has delivered me.’

Now therefore proclaim this in the hearing of the troops, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home.’ ” Thus Gideon sifted them out; twenty-two thousand returned, and ten thousand remained.

Practical Application:

We are not to immediately run toward our “earthly” tools and resources just to make the fight “easier.”

Point 4:

Gideon, eventually had to go all in, and ACT!

Judges 7:19–23 NRSV

So Gideon and the hundred who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set the watch; and they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands. So the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars, holding in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow; and they cried, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” Every man stood in his place all around the camp, and all the men in camp ran; they cried out and fled. When they blew the three hundred trumpets, the Lord set every man’s sword against his fellow and against all the army; and the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath. And the men of Israel were called out from Naphtali and from Asher and from all Manasseh, and they pursued after the Midianites.

Practical Application:

Praying, hoping, longing, our most heartfelt desires are not enough to bring upon VICTORY. Eventually we have to ACT.

If you always think, like you always thought You will always be who you always were. If you always are what you have always been You will always do what you have always done. If you always do what you have always done You will always get what you have always got! ---Dr. Larry Leanord