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The Spring of Harod
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Idols will be satisfying to us for a while and even make us feel strong, but they will always end up making us weak in the long run.
Alchol, Money, Drugs, Sex, Power, Control, Leasure, Fame, Sport, Politics, friends and even family can be become idols to us.
They can become more important to ys than Jesus.
What are Your Idols, It is not hard to pick them because you have brought them to Church with you toight.
They will be trying to teach you how to listen to this sermon tonight.
In Israel at the time of Gideon there was rampant Idolitory.
The Israelites who should have been following the one true God Yahweh were worshiping foriegn gods.
They had made them weak.
As we shall see from the sermon tonight, Yahweh was punsihing Israel for their Idolitory raising up their enemies to punish them.
Idolitary Fuels Weakness and Doubt
The author fills in more detail of various parts of the downward cycle Israel was in as he tells the story of Gideon in 6:1-10:5.
Idolitary, God gives them into the hands of their enemies and they cry out and God rescues them.
In this case by raising up the Judge Gideon.
The story begins with the start of another cycle of Idolitory.
“Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord” (6:1).
This verse is a summery of the begining of each of Israels downward cycles.
What was the evil that Israel was doing “did evil in the eyes of the Lord” is short hand for they again turned to the worship of the baals.
We see that from Judges 2:11 where the author shows us that idolitory or worshiping other gods is always at the root of Israels disobedience and that angers God.
Well In Chapter 1 of Judges the author reminded us of the warning to the people of Israel from Joshua who warned the people not worship idols escpecially the god’s of the amorites.
The amorites were cannanites who lived in what we call the trans Jorden to the east of the River Jorden.
They were one of the tribes of Cannan that God commanded Joshua to drive from the land.
But Israel did not drive them all from the Land.
We read about it in Joshua 10:10
Joshua did crush the anomites but did not completely drive them from the land.
The problem was that the cannanites would keep worshiping their gods and so the israelites would be tempted too.
In judges 2:3
One of the Amorite gods was Amurru a god of the monutains sometimes called a shepard or a storm god.
He was sometimes called Bêl Šadê.
This idol of the amorites could also have become the fertility-god 'Ba'al', the god of the Canaanites, a rival and enemy of the Hebrew God YHWH.
When the Israelites worshiped the Baals God gave them into the hands of their enemies.
This time it is the midiantites
Who were the midiantites?
Lived in the South.
They came from the son of Abraham Midian who was born to him to his second wife Keturah after Sarah Died.
Gen 25
It was to the midiantites that Moses fled when he ran away from eygpt.
They worshipped the baals and now they were terrorising Israel.
The Weakness of Idolitary
They were unable to thelp themselves, but they cried out to the Lord
Ethiopian conflict.
My heart breaks at such senseless destruction.
The rebels have attacked again in the districts we are connected with in North Shewa zone.
There are many causalities from both sides .
Tere (our home base) has been able to withstand the attack over the past day with no reports of death.
The village is surrounded.
Many family and friends are at great risk.
Shewa Robit (the main town) is under attack but resisting.
In Yelen (neighbouring village) the rebels went door to door and more than 30 civilians were killed.
Houses have been burnt and animals slaughtered.
The rebels (TPLF and OLF) have declared that if they can't rule then they will destroy Ethiopia.
In this roller- coaster of emotion I am not sure what to pray, however God hears the prayers of his people.
God sends a prophet in v8
The Saving Word of God Fuels Strength
God calls Gideon
Responding in Weakness and Doubt
Gideon’s 1st Doubt:
Gideon’s 2nd doubt:
In verses 19 prepares a sacrifice to God of a goat and bread.
The angle blesses the sacrifice by touching it and it is consumed by fire.
Again Gideon doubts:
Gideons 3rd doubt:
Living in God’s Strength
God Commands Gideon to tear down the Idols
Gideon’s 4th Doubt:
from v 29 we read that the towns people want to kill him in the morning, but his dad says if Baal is offended let Baal kill him.
The people called him Jerub-Baal let Baal contend with him.
Gideon is to be a Strong Warrior
The Spirit of God on Gideon is what makes all the difference.
He has gone from a doubting weak idolitora to a spritual Judge and leader of Israel.
But he is still Doubting
Gideon’s 5th Doubt:
Gideons 6th Doubt:
Gideon Defeats the Midianites
Ch 7 Camped at the Spring of Harod
God said still too many:
Gideons 7th Doubt:
Listened to the dream and was emboldened to attack
God told him to divide the me in 3 groups and in a moment reminsisent of Joshua and jericho the army took pots flames and trumpets.
They smashed the pots and blew the trumptes and the midianites and am alaktes were terrified and they fought each other and ran.
So God used the doubting Gideon to win a great victory that Isael were in no doubt was from God.
Ch 8 ephranites why did you not call us
They want Giodeon to rule over them but he says no only the Lord
But after his death his son Abimelek would seek to rule after his death
Turn From Your Weak Idols and Be Strong
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