Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 2: I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope
Speaker 2: this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it
Speaker 2: gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the message.
Speaker 2: I thought you were going down, but you're not anymore.
Speaker 2: Howa flathose hands and give God praid. He didn't lead
Speaker 2: me where I was like I was, and I believe,
Speaker 2: somebody shout, I believe that I'm not leaving like I came.
Speaker 1: Today, It's time for the Word of God. Put your hands.
Speaker 2: Together and welcome Ebath all around the world.
Speaker 1: Let's go.
Speaker 2: Into the Word of God. This word that God gave
Speaker 2: me today. He began to speak to me on March seventh,
Speaker 2: twenty twenty three, and it has taken me that long
Speaker 2: to figure out how to share it with you. Today,
Speaker 2: the Lord has released me to share it. I'm thankful
Speaker 2: and excited and expected about the implications to your life.
Speaker 1: In Judges chapter.
Speaker 2: Six, verse twenty two through twenty nine, there is an
Speaker 2: encounter with God between the Angel of the Lord and
Speaker 2: a man named Gideon, and the Bible says in verse
Speaker 2: twenty two, when Gideon realized that it was the Angel
Speaker 2: of the Lord, he exclaimed, a last sovereign Lord, I
Speaker 2: have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face.
Speaker 2: But the Lord said to him, peace, do not be afraid.
Speaker 2: You are not going to die. That's a good thing.
Speaker 2: Oh he's good to know. And I'll explain why he
Speaker 2: said that in a moment. But look at what the
Speaker 2: Lord said to him, Peace, do not be afraid, you
Speaker 2: are not going to die. So Gideon built an altar
Speaker 2: to the Lord there and called it the Lord is Peace.
Speaker 2: To this day, it stands in Ophrah of the Abiez Rites.
Speaker 1: Now, that same night.
Speaker 2: The Lord said to him, take the second bull from
Speaker 2: your father's herd, the one seven years old.
Speaker 1: Tear down your father's alter.
Speaker 2: To bail and cut down the ascheropole beside it.
Speaker 1: Then build a proper kind.
Speaker 2: Of altar to the Lord, your God, on the top
Speaker 2: of this height, using the wood of the asheropole that
Speaker 2: you cut down, offer the second bull as a burn offering.
Speaker 2: So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as
Speaker 2: the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of
Speaker 2: his family and the townspeople. He did it at night
Speaker 2: rather than in the daytime. Now you call him a whimp,
Speaker 2: I call him wise. He did it how he had
Speaker 2: to do it, And sometimes you do man. Sometimes you
Speaker 2: have to sneak in those victories at midnight. It's not
Speaker 2: always going to be some huge triumph and amazing things.
Speaker 2: Sometimes the victory is going to be that you made
Speaker 2: it through the night and you woke up the next
Speaker 2: day and you got to learn to praise God because
Speaker 2: of those two. So look what happened in the morning,
Speaker 2: verse twenty eight. When the people of the town got up.
Speaker 2: There was Bale's altar demolished, with the Ashero pole beside
Speaker 2: it cut down in the second bull sacrificed on the
Speaker 2: newly built altar.
Speaker 1: Last verse for now, verse twenty nine.
Speaker 2: They asked each other who did this. When they carefully investigated,
Speaker 2: they were told, Gideon, son of Joe Ash did it. Gideon,
Speaker 2: son of Joe Ash did it. Now I want to
Speaker 2: speak to you from this subject today. I want to
Speaker 2: talk to you about breaking the bondage of wrong belief.
Speaker 2: Breaking the bondage of wrong belief. And that's not one
Speaker 2: of those titles you can say to your neighbor. So
Speaker 2: let me give you a say to your neighbor.
Speaker 1: Title.
Speaker 2: Look at your neighbor and say, neighbor, I know I
Speaker 2: look a little different. I know I got a little
Speaker 2: extra pep in my style. Tell them I know I'm
Speaker 2: smiling more than the last time you saw me. But
Speaker 2: it's because me and God got back together. Yeah, me
Speaker 2: and God got back together. You may be seated. Me
Speaker 2: and God got back together. Thank you Lord for this word.
Speaker 2: I know he meant well, but I completely disagreed with
Speaker 2: his method. The preacher stood before a room full of
Speaker 2: professing Christians and asked a question, on a scale of
Speaker 2: one to ten, how close would you say you are
Speaker 2: to God right now? I gave him ten minutes, twenty minutes,
Speaker 2: thirty minutes benefit of the doubt, even to the end
Speaker 2: of his message, because I just knew that he wasn't
Speaker 2: going to give the people a scale to determine how
Speaker 2: close they were to God.
Speaker 1: Yet he did.
Speaker 2: I was waiting for the twist where he talked about
Speaker 2: the grace of God. And you know in the Bible,
Speaker 2: this one man prayed and he said, Lord, I thank
Speaker 2: you that I'm not like this. Enter over here praying
Speaker 2: next to me, and the sinner was beating his breast, saying,
Speaker 2: God have mercy on me. And Jesus said, the one
Speaker 2: that beat his breast was the one that went home
Speaker 2: justified because he had faith to believe that he needed God.
Speaker 2: And the one who thought he was so great, he
Speaker 2: wasn't so great because he was actually not close to
Speaker 2: the kingdom. But the preacher didn't do that, he continued.
Speaker 2: I asked Holly if she remembered it, and she remembered
Speaker 2: it too. Simon, just make this up to tell the
Speaker 2: people everything they could do. Watch this to move from
Speaker 2: a four to a five. You know, there's there's this
Speaker 2: big line, this linear approach to knowing the Lord. And
Speaker 2: you can go from four to five if you read
Speaker 2: the Bible daily, you go from four to six if
Speaker 2: you make it through the Book of Leviticus bonus point
Speaker 2: for certain Bible books. And he goes through everything that
Speaker 2: you can do to.
Speaker 1: Get closer to God.
Speaker 2: Now here's why I thought that the exercise was ridiculous
Speaker 2: respect to the person doing it, because I've done some
Speaker 2: ridiculous things and I'll probably say something ridiculous in here,
Speaker 2: and then I get up in ten years and tell
Speaker 2: you it was ridiculous. I'll tell on myself. It's ridiculous
Speaker 2: because it's relative how close are you to God right
Speaker 2: now compared to what compared to Jesus, who always knew
Speaker 2: the will of his father, who is supposed to be
Speaker 2: my standard. So if we're going by that, I'm staying
Speaker 2: zero until I die and compared to who I mean.
Speaker 2: I just don't even think the question is like you
Speaker 2: can rate a restaurant? Can you relate a rate rather
Speaker 2: a relationship with the eternal God who's spoke into nothing
Speaker 2: and there was something with the invisible God who exists, immortal,
Speaker 2: not seen to humanize, but known by the spirit, not
Speaker 2: by the flesh.
Speaker 1: I can't rate something like that.
Speaker 2: That's another thing is not only is it relative how
Speaker 2: close you are to God compared to what you think
Speaker 2: other people might be praying or doing or whatever, because
Speaker 2: you don't really know what the other people around you
Speaker 2: are like, and you judge yourself off of your delusions
Speaker 2: of them.
Speaker 1: So that's kind of dumb. But also also I.
Speaker 2: Didn't think it was a very good exercise because of
Speaker 2: something called recency bias.
Speaker 1: Do you know what recency bias is?
Speaker 2: It's when the last thing that happens carries the most
Speaker 2: weight with you, and you judge an entire thing off
Speaker 2: of the most recent thing that happened. So you begin
Speaker 2: to kind of act like the way it is right
Speaker 2: now is the way that it always is.
Speaker 1: And the way that it always was. But it's not true.
Speaker 2: And what I'm really trying to say, I guess I'm
Speaker 2: using fancy language to say that if you answer that
Speaker 2: question at a time i'm close to God, I'm a ten.
Speaker 2: It wouldn't really take that much to put you at
Speaker 2: a two. I can't figure out what happened to my church,
Speaker 2: because my church used to be real and honest.
Speaker 1: But I'm looking at a bunch of tens today. Okay, ten.
Speaker 2: There are days where at ten am you are a ten.
Speaker 2: But if I caught up with you at two, because
Speaker 2: at two you've had to deal with some people, and
Speaker 2: it can move you right back down the scale. Some
Speaker 2: of you are one text away from going from ten
Speaker 2: to two.
Speaker 1: Some of you are just.
Speaker 2: A little bit of traffic from a ten to a two, riding.
Speaker 1: Down the road.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, you sure big got.
Speaker 1: Of my way.
Speaker 2: Ten to two, just like that, not ten and two,
Speaker 2: ten to two, just some traffic no cross, no persecution,
Speaker 2: no martyrdom, just forty five ten to two like that.
Speaker 2: So stun question because it's relative. Who am I comparing
Speaker 2: myself to? Oh, I'm a two compared to Holly, Ali's amazing,
Speaker 2: Allie's perfect, Allie's wonderful, comparing myself to who I mean
Speaker 2: comparing her.
Speaker 1: To who's she? Not Mother Teresa, but she's great.
Speaker 2: So you see, I didn't really appreciate the guy saying
Speaker 2: you can move to a four from a three if
Speaker 2: you just make five minutes a day with the Lord.
Speaker 1: I thought that was so ridiculous.
Speaker 2: But the real reason that I thought it was so
Speaker 2: ridiculous is because it was a room full.
Speaker 1: Of people who are believers in Jesus. So why are
Speaker 1: we pulling out.
Speaker 2: A scale to try to measure something in our own
Speaker 2: minds and our own feelings based on our own experience.
Speaker 2: It's based on our own moods. How close are you
Speaker 2: to God? It depends if I had my coffee, Yet,
Speaker 2: it depends did I open a bill or did I
Speaker 2: open a check that was made out to me? Why
Speaker 2: are we measuring this on a scale that is subject
Speaker 2: to situations and self righteousness? Because I can always find
Speaker 2: somebody that I think I'm doing better than when I
Speaker 2: belong to Jesus, who already taught me that my relationship
Speaker 2: with him is not something.
Speaker 1: That is achieved but received. It's a gift. Somebody shouted,
Speaker 1: it's a gift.
Speaker 2: I know y'all are looking at me funny because I'm
Speaker 2: trying to get from a seven to eight. I'm trying
Speaker 2: to be a better man. I'm trying to be a
Speaker 2: better mom. Good try. I'm trying too. But understand that
Speaker 2: there is nothing that you will see on your reel
Speaker 2: and put into practice in your life. Some advice that
Speaker 2: you will scroll past and finally click with God, and
Speaker 2: God will say, oh, I've been waiting.
Speaker 1: For them to get to six. They've been stuck at.
Speaker 2: Five point nine. This is not the Olympics, and God
Speaker 2: is not watch this. God is a scale. God is
Speaker 2: not a religion. God is a person. His name is Jesus,
Speaker 2: and I got him.
Speaker 1: So I don't mind telling you.
Speaker 2: Ask me the question, pastor, how close are you to God?
Speaker 2: One to ten?
Speaker 1: A ten because of him, because of what he did.
Speaker 2: It's a ten because my relationship is not based on
Speaker 2: what I did what I didn't do. My relationship with
Speaker 2: Him is a covenant. A covenant is not like the
Speaker 2: relationships that we run around trying to build our lives
Speaker 2: on these days. The covenant that I have with God
Speaker 2: is not established based on the principles or the precepts
Speaker 2: that I find myself willing or able to obey. No,
Speaker 2: I am in covenant with God, God on the basis
Speaker 2: of the death of his dear son, who loved me
Speaker 2: enough to shed his blood for me on a hill
Speaker 2: called Calvary.
Speaker 1: And it's a ten high five.
Speaker 2: Somebody say, it's a ten. You can put your scale away.
Speaker 2: It's a ten. He loves me, you can put your
Speaker 2: scale away. It's a ten. He wants to hear me pray.
Speaker 2: You can put your scale away. It's a ten. God
Speaker 2: wants to hear me sing. I'm singing because He likes
Speaker 2: to hear me, not because you like to hear me.
Speaker 2: But it's a ten when I say because God hands
Speaker 2: me a mike and says, keep singing.
Speaker 1: That's my kid, that's my girl, that's my boy. I
Speaker 1: want to hear them praise me. Only they can praise
Speaker 1: me for what only I could do for them.
Speaker 2: It's a ten hot five. Your neighbor both hands, says say,
Speaker 2: I'm in It's a ten. I'm in covenant. I'm in covenant.
Speaker 2: I'm in covenant, not contract.
Speaker 3: Hey, if I break it, he already bought me.
Speaker 1: It's a ten because of him. It's a ten when
Speaker 1: I act like it too.
Speaker 2: Nevertheless, the Book of Judges demonstrates to us the unfortunate
Speaker 2: reality that we can be in covenant with God and
Speaker 2: still in captivity. That seems contradictory. How could you be
Speaker 2: in covenant with a God who knows no boundaries but
Speaker 2: be in captivity. Last year, I preached to you a
Speaker 2: series of messages about one of these rulers that God
Speaker 2: raised up to deliver his people, the nation of Israel,
Speaker 2: from the hands of a an oppressive enemy called the Midianites.
Speaker 2: I don't expect you to remember about the Midianites, but
Speaker 2: I do expect you to be honest today to admit.
Speaker 1: That you have your own version of them.
Speaker 4: No.
Speaker 2: I love messages when I hear them personally, that first
Speaker 2: of all, give me permission to admit my Midianites. If
Speaker 2: I can't admit that I'm fighting the battle, how can
Speaker 2: I see clearly enough to take the shot? So I
Speaker 2: have learned that you know for each and every one
Speaker 2: of us. And I'm just going to take my time
Speaker 2: today because this message has been building in me for
Speaker 2: over a year. So I'm certainly not going to rush
Speaker 2: this revelation because I think it's life changing. The idea
Speaker 2: that I could be in covenant with God and He
Speaker 2: could be completely committed to me, and I could still
Speaker 2: be in captivity. While a seeming contradiction on the surface
Speaker 2: is an experience that we all know too well, it
Speaker 2: is when you know that you are saved by grace
Speaker 2: through faith Ephesians two eight and nine. In fact, let
Speaker 2: me give you that Ephesians that other Ephesians first, I
Speaker 2: meant to show you this a moment to go. I
Speaker 2: forgot Ephesians to y'all.
Speaker 1: It says, but.
Speaker 2: Now in Christ, you who were once far away, have
Speaker 2: been brought near by the blood of Christ. So to
Speaker 2: be a ten in my relationship with God because of
Speaker 2: Him does not mean that there will not be times
Speaker 2: in my relationship that I feel too right. And the
Speaker 2: reason for this will never be because God's commitment to
Speaker 2: me has wavered. What I'm trying to say to you
Speaker 2: is you may try to break up with God, but
Speaker 2: God won't let you.
Speaker 1: The Book of Judges proves it.
Speaker 2: And you know what, some of you don't need the
Speaker 2: Book of Judges or a man named Gideon to prove it.
Speaker 2: You have spent your whole life stacking evidence for the
Speaker 2: fact that you can try to break up with God.
Speaker 2: You can flip your middle finger to your faith, and
Speaker 2: your faith will still stay inside of you, flicking you back,
Speaker 2: even if it's just a little flicker of a flame.
Speaker 2: Some of you tried to be a really bad kid,
Speaker 2: and all that did, all that you trying to be
Speaker 2: a really bad kid did. All that did was make
Speaker 2: your mom pray more. What you didn't know even your
Speaker 2: bad behavior was your Oh let me say this was
Speaker 2: your mom's answered prayer because she was praying for more faith.
Speaker 1: So she was praying for more faith.
Speaker 2: So God gave her your bad behavior to give her
Speaker 2: more faith.
Speaker 1: This is how amazing God is. We don't believe God
Speaker 1: is sovereign anymore. We think that.
Speaker 2: There is something we could do to push him back,
Speaker 2: and He would go, oh, never mind, can't use you.
Speaker 2: I'm looking for a ten. I'm looking for a ten, looking.
Speaker 1: For a ten? Do I have an eye? Can I
Speaker 1: get anye?
Speaker 2: Can I get an eight.
Speaker 1: Can I get a seven?
Speaker 2: Twenty twenty four of God might might take a six?
Speaker 2: The world is really going downhill. The Lord will really
Speaker 2: lower his standards.
Speaker 1: No, look at the verse.
Speaker 2: He says that Efesius two thirteen good news, but now
Speaker 2: not when I get it together.
Speaker 1: Ephesians two thirteen showing guys. But now put him on
Speaker 1: the screen.
Speaker 2: But now I'm shouting now and I'm having to wait.
Speaker 2: In Christ, Jesus, you were once far away.
Speaker 1: I was. I feel far from God, but I'm not
Speaker 1: far from God. I was. Somebody say it with all
Speaker 1: three notes.
Speaker 2: I was put it in a chat right now, I was,
Speaker 2: But I was. But the nation of Israel was slipping
Speaker 2: away from God, serving other gods, prostating themselves to the
Speaker 2: gods of the Canaan culture, and completely disregarding the covenant
Speaker 2: they had with Yahweh. Well, the Bible says that these
Speaker 2: Midianites were the instruments that God used to bring his
Speaker 2: people out of captivity, But they were also what God
Speaker 2: used to take them captive.
Speaker 1: And that is an interesting dynamic too.
Speaker 2: Isn't it that the Lord allowed the Midianites to oppress
Speaker 2: his people to bring his people back to him. Now
Speaker 2: we know that God uses all things. Even though God
Speaker 2: doesn't do all things. God doesn't do evil. But we
Speaker 2: have a God who, when evil is done, can use
Speaker 2: the transformation process that happens through that evil that was
Speaker 2: done in order to bring about His purpose in the
Speaker 2: earth for which you were born. And although Midian is
Speaker 2: oppressing the Israelites, God is using Midian as well. And
Speaker 2: it's so cool how Gideon's name rhymes with Midian in English.
Speaker 1: Now this wouldn't work if we.
Speaker 2: Were reading it in the original Hebrew, but we don't
Speaker 2: know Hebrew, so it works really well for us Gideon
Speaker 2: and Midian, and it's a total mismatch.
Speaker 1: Midian has all these troops. Midian has all this power.
Speaker 2: Every year they come in, they raid the Israelites, they
Speaker 2: take their crops, they take everything of value, They plunder
Speaker 2: the people. But what are we going to do? We
Speaker 2: are powerless to do anything about it. So now we've
Speaker 2: got people who are identified as God's special possession being
Speaker 2: plundered and feeling powerless. We have got people who have
Speaker 2: been identified as God's special possession who are being plundered
Speaker 2: and feeling powerless. There are some people listening to me
Speaker 2: today who are God's special possession because he bought you
Speaker 2: with his blood. You're in It's a ten. You are
Speaker 2: his possession, but you are being plundered. The enemy keeps
Speaker 2: taking your peace, your joy, your focus, your commitment to service,
Speaker 2: and others, even your very sanity. Somebody in this room
Speaker 2: feels like you've been going crazy today. But you have
Speaker 2: the mind of Christ. But you feel like you're going crazy,
Speaker 2: and you feel powerless to do anything about it. To
Speaker 2: the point that when we meet Gideon, he is threshing
Speaker 2: wheat in a wine press when God calls him a
Speaker 2: mighty warrior. This juxtaposition has been preached famously, not only
Speaker 2: many times from this little pulpit, but everybody who's picked
Speaker 2: up a microphone in a Bible has had something to
Speaker 2: say about a God who will call you a warrior
Speaker 2: while you're acting like a wimp.
Speaker 1: And this discrepancy when.
Speaker 2: God calls you something that you don't feel like you
Speaker 2: are right now, when God calls you to do something
Speaker 2: that you don't feel like you have the power to
Speaker 2: do right now, when God calls you to be something
Speaker 2: that you've never even seen before with your eyes, is
Speaker 2: at the heart of the Gideon narrative. Gideon is so
Speaker 2: unconvinced about it. He starts asking questions that start with why,
Speaker 2: Because when you're in a wine press, which is a
Speaker 2: dugout place to hide, you will be so stuck in
Speaker 2: why it happened that you will forget about who is
Speaker 2: able to deliver you from the situation.
Speaker 1: And this is the situation I feel. I preachi for Gideon.
Speaker 2: Now the Lord doesn't tell him why all the bad
Speaker 2: things have happened. But we know because a prophet has
Speaker 2: come to the nation of Israel, and the prophet said,
Speaker 2: you have forgotten what I did for you. You have forgotten
Speaker 2: the God who brought you out of Egypt.
Speaker 1: You have served the gods of the people around you.
Speaker 2: You have adopted the practices of the pagan nations. You
Speaker 2: have even started adopting their god gods as your gods,
Speaker 2: not only.
Speaker 1: Their practices as your practices.
Speaker 2: So that if we look at the life of Israel
Speaker 2: in this seven year period that they were oppressed by Midianite,
Speaker 2: there is nothing to tell them apart from the nations
Speaker 2: that surround them. They have come into a land whose
Speaker 2: customs have.
Speaker 1: Become their captivity. They have come into a land.
Speaker 2: That God gave them and the customs of that land
Speaker 2: become their captivity. The Lord says Gideon, I want to
Speaker 2: use you to lead a revolt and a revolution. I'm
Speaker 2: going to enable you and strengthen you and supply you
Speaker 2: and give the enemy into your hand, and you will
Speaker 2: strike them all down. And Gideon said me, I'm the
Speaker 2: least in my family. My plan is the least in
Speaker 2: the nation.
Speaker 1: Why me?
Speaker 2: God said, why you couse me? God turns twos into
Speaker 2: tens instantly. Only God can do that. Nobody's helping me
Speaker 2: preach because y'all don't believe it. You must be the
Speaker 2: two God sent me to preach to today. Yeah, God sent.
Speaker 1: Me to preach to you because you've been feeling like
Speaker 1: a two. Now.
Speaker 2: The beauty of this is God doesn't say, Gideon, I'm
Speaker 2: gonna put you.
Speaker 1: Through a preparation process. This is gonna take three years
Speaker 1: to get it done.
Speaker 2: He has actually been preparing Gideon while Gideon has been hidden.
Speaker 2: Do you know that God has been preparing you while
Speaker 2: you have been hidden too?
Speaker 1: Do you know that God has been giving.
Speaker 2: You tools, resources, lessons, words, confirmations while you have been
Speaker 2: in the cave of what you perceive to be your
Speaker 2: abandonment and wasted season.
Speaker 1: So he tells Gideon to go.
Speaker 2: He gives Gideon a sign, and we pick up where
Speaker 2: I started today. The Angel of the Lord said to Gideon, peace,
Speaker 2: do not be afraid. You are not going to die.
Speaker 2: Sometimes when God shows up in your life, the first
Speaker 2: thing you feel is fear. Feeling close to God is
Speaker 2: not always. I'm sorry, Eagles a peaceful, easy feeling.
Speaker 1: I love the song, but in my experience.
Speaker 2: Sometimes the first thing I feel when God is doing
Speaker 2: a work in my life is fear.
Speaker 1: I feel safe in the cave or the wine press.
Speaker 2: I feel scared when I step out to do the
Speaker 2: next thing God has called me to do. And it
Speaker 2: amazing that the Angel told him you are not going
Speaker 2: to die, and Gideon didn't even ask, am I going
Speaker 2: to die? Hmmm, something's happening here. He's preparing Gideon for something.
Speaker 2: Gideon is so encouraged.
Speaker 1: Can you feel it?
Speaker 2: He's so encouraged. Wow, God sees me. God's got me.
Speaker 2: God's with me. God came to me. God spoke to me.
Speaker 2: God gave me a sign.
Speaker 1: It's him. He is so enthralled by this experience.
Speaker 2: In verse twenty four that impulsively he built an altar
Speaker 2: to the Lord verse twenty four there and called it
Speaker 2: the Lord is Peace. To this day, it stands in
Speaker 2: Oprah of the abs Rights. That's as far as I
Speaker 2: got when I preached last year, maybe because that's what
Speaker 2: people want to hear of how it's going to go.
Speaker 1: That God is going to bring you closer to Him
Speaker 1: and fulfill his purpose for your life. But this is an.
Speaker 2: Alter that Gideon decided to build, not one that God commanded.
Speaker 2: This alter, while not evil in its own way, was
Speaker 2: just his idea to commemorate the moment that he had
Speaker 2: with the Angel. He lays down that night, probably feeling
Speaker 2: nervous and excited. The Lord told me that I'm gonna
Speaker 2: strike down the Midian Ice. It's going to be amazing.
Speaker 2: I gotta start getting an army. I gotta start learning
Speaker 2: jiu jitsu. I gotta start, you know, whatever. He's doing
Speaker 2: to get himself excited about this big battle that is
Speaker 2: before him. But that same night verse twenty five, the
Speaker 2: Lord said to him, Now, the Lord's already been speaking
Speaker 2: to Gideon for a while. It just took Gideon a
Speaker 2: while to realize it. But that same night, the Lord
Speaker 2: said to him, take the second bull from your father's herd,
Speaker 2: the one seven years old. Tear down your father's altar
Speaker 2: to Bail and cut down the ascher a pole beside it.
Speaker 2: Then build a proper kind of altar to the Lord,
Speaker 2: your God on the top of this height, using the
Speaker 2: wood of the ascher a pole that you cut down,
Speaker 2: offer the second bull as a burn offering. So let's contrast.
Speaker 2: Gideon says, Oh, I'm not gonna die. Let me build
Speaker 2: you an altar God. I'm gonna call it the Lord
Speaker 2: is Peace, Jehovah Shalom. I'm gonna name this altar the
Speaker 2: Lord is Peace. Now I'm gonna go to sleep. It's
Speaker 2: been a long day. This has been very traumatic. The
Speaker 2: Lord wakes him up and says, your altar was nice,
Speaker 2: but there's another altar. Touch your neighbors say, there's another altar.
Speaker 2: There's another alter that is built not to Yahweh. It's
Speaker 2: look at the wording in verse twenty five. Your father's
Speaker 2: alter to bail and while get In is busy trying
Speaker 2: to build an altar to God, like I see some
Speaker 2: people that I preach to, you're trying to build your
Speaker 2: life back.
Speaker 1: You're trying to build your hope back.
Speaker 2: You're trying to build your business back, You're trying to
Speaker 2: build your family back, you're trying to build your sobriety back.
Speaker 2: You had eighty one days and now you're back on
Speaker 2: day two. But that's okay because as you are trying
Speaker 2: to build it back, God wants to show you something
Speaker 2: that will make sure that this time you build it,
Speaker 2: what you build will stand the test of the battle
Speaker 2: that you face.
Speaker 1: Because because if.
Speaker 2: All I do is build an altar while Pastor Stephen
Speaker 2: is preaching, and if all I do is say, Okay,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna stack some new habits and I'm going to
Speaker 2: do some new things, and okay, the Lord is peace.
Speaker 1: I found out.
Speaker 2: Something that you cannot have God's peace and keep it
Speaker 2: without having God's priorities. God's peace without God's priorities is
Speaker 2: always temporary. The kind of peace that you've been seeking
Speaker 2: in your life, craving in your life, crying out for
Speaker 2: in your life, that kind of peace, that permanent piece,
Speaker 2: that storm speaking peace that lay your head on the
Speaker 2: pillow of a lion's main kind of peace that I'm
Speaker 2: in a fire, but I see the fourth man kind
Speaker 2: of piece, the kind of peace that can know that
Speaker 2: greater is he that is in me than he that
Speaker 2: is in the world, And there's more with us than
Speaker 2: with them, and I don't have to be afraid about
Speaker 2: any of it.
Speaker 1: That kind of peace only.
Speaker 2: Comes from priorities. I don't know how to get you
Speaker 2: to shout about priorities.
Speaker 5: Breakthrough, Yeah, priorities.
Speaker 2: I couldn't figure out how to make it sexy. I
Speaker 2: couldn't figure out how to make a sing I figure.
Speaker 2: Maybe if he played organ behind me priorities, maybe that
Speaker 2: would trick you into thinking it was really sexier than
Speaker 2: it was.
Speaker 1: But any sexy.
Speaker 2: Nothing sexy about putting stones on top of stones on
Speaker 2: top of stones. And definitely watch this. There is absolutely
Speaker 2: nothing convenient or appealing about what God told Gideon to
Speaker 2: do next, you know, fighting a battle.
Speaker 1: Against an enemy.
Speaker 2: Well I got testosterone for that, taking an army and
Speaker 2: seeing God through the impossible, which Gideon eventually did, by
Speaker 2: the way, But before he did that.
Speaker 1: He had to do this.
Speaker 2: Take the second bull from your father's heard, the one
Speaker 2: seven years old, And this must have been the hardest
Speaker 2: thing for Gideon to understand. Tear down your father's altar
Speaker 2: to bail Before Gideon can win the battle against Midian.
Speaker 1: He must break the altar to Bail.
Speaker 2: You've got a Midian in your life, an external enemy
Speaker 2: that you so badly want to see God drive back,
Speaker 2: and he can and he will, and he has plans
Speaker 2: to do it and to use you in the process,
Speaker 2: not just for you, but for everybody that God has
Speaker 2: called you to impact.
Speaker 1: That's all true.
Speaker 2: But before you can defeat.
Speaker 1: Midian, you must dethrone Bail.
Speaker 2: Would it be helpful if I explain to your neighbor
Speaker 2: what Bail is? I know you know all about Bail,
Speaker 2: but maybe your neighbor doesn't.
Speaker 1: He was the local god.
Speaker 2: It's not even his name, it's his title because Bail
Speaker 2: was said to control the fertility and the weather. Without
Speaker 2: those two things, you can't eat or recreate. But we
Speaker 2: understand Bail isn't real. We understand we have progressed as
Speaker 2: a society. We are so advanced, and thank God that
Speaker 2: we're alive at this time in the history, because we
Speaker 2: no longer trust in stuff that claims to be God.
Speaker 1: But is it?
Speaker 2: Wake up, baby, I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm coming.
Speaker 1: I didn't start slow because I got nothing to say.
Speaker 2: I just want to give you a minute to settle
Speaker 2: in for this one. It's not like we have bales
Speaker 2: in our culture, right. It's not like we have stuff
Speaker 2: that controls.
Speaker 1: Us in our culture. Right.
Speaker 2: It's not like we're a bunch of zombies in the
Speaker 2: zoo of twenty four to seven news cycles telling us
Speaker 2: what's gonna happen in.
Speaker 1: The world, when our.
Speaker 2: Savior already told us I have overcome the world before
Speaker 2: I can feet this army called Midian and have real
Speaker 2: peace with God. That's what Gideon said. He said, the
Speaker 2: Lord is peace. I'm gonna build an altar, and that's great.
Speaker 2: And the Lord is peace. And he does love you,
Speaker 2: and he will never leave you nor forsake you. In fact,
Speaker 2: he loves you too much to leave you like he
Speaker 2: found you. And when God comes into your life, not
Speaker 2: only will he break through for you, but the next
Speaker 2: thing that happens when God does break through for you
Speaker 2: is God will call you to break up with something.
Speaker 2: See how much we love to shout about breakthrough, But
Speaker 2: what if there's a breakup before the breakthrough? Is that
Speaker 2: why you've been feeling restless? Is that why you've been
Speaker 2: feeling uncomfortable doing the things you used to do? Is
Speaker 2: that why there has been a conviction in your heart that,
Speaker 2: you know what, I'm not living like this anymore. You
Speaker 2: know what, I'm not talking like this anymore. You know what,
Speaker 2: I'm not walking like this anymore. You know what, I'm
Speaker 2: not accepting this negativity that comes from my inner critic anymore,
Speaker 2: because I need to hear what God says in this
Speaker 2: season of my life. Maybe you're in a smashing season
Speaker 2: of your own. Maybe there are some things that God
Speaker 2: is breaking off of your life in this season.
Speaker 1: Maybe there are some bails.
Speaker 2: That you have been believing in that have let you down,
Speaker 2: and maybe you're going through a breakup with bail. I
Speaker 2: was talking to a lady the other day who had
Speaker 2: a boyfriend. I said, how's he doing? She said, I
Speaker 2: don't know. I quit answering his calls. I said, so,
Speaker 2: y'all broke up? She said, I guess. I said, does
Speaker 2: he know? And she said he will called ghosting. She's
Speaker 2: just gonna ghost ghost the man how goes mad? When
Speaker 2: I was a kid, the most cowardly thing you could
Speaker 2: do is send somebody else to tell. Not that I
Speaker 2: was traumatized by Melissa in fifth grade, but why would
Speaker 2: you send Why would you send someone else to tell me.
Speaker 2: How do you think it's disrespectful to break up by text?
Speaker 1: Raise your hand by text?
Speaker 6: At least? All?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so too, if it's been over two
Speaker 2: weeks in the relationship. We'll get into this later, but
Speaker 2: here's what I want to say.
Speaker 1: Israel has ghosted God.
Speaker 2: When I said earlier you tried to break up with God,
Speaker 2: You're like, Nope, nope, didn't do it.
Speaker 1: Didn't do it.
Speaker 2: I did not, you know, like like like what I
Speaker 2: meant by that was that you did your a pentagram
Speaker 2: on your wall, started listening to Slayer worshiping the devil,
Speaker 2: And you know, I think sometimes we just stop answering.
Speaker 2: Stay right there, stay right there, and act like I'm
Speaker 2: not talking to you.
Speaker 1: All you're doing is proven that you're the one. This
Speaker 1: message is for.
Speaker 2: Stay right there and act like you're always a ten.
Speaker 2: The only reason you're a ten is because he kept
Speaker 2: coming to get you. The only reason you're in is
Speaker 2: because he kept coming, not because you did like you
Speaker 2: always prayed, like you always did it right, like you
Speaker 2: always deserved it, like you were always so wonderful, like
Speaker 2: you always wrote around.
Speaker 1: Singing way maker.
Speaker 2: Miracle worker, like you always were kind like you always gave,
Speaker 2: like you always forgave. The reason that I didn't break
Speaker 2: down is because God wouldn't let me break up with him.
Speaker 1: All Right, I'm gonna tell you a story. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: take you a story I canna tell you?
Speaker 7: Ready for it?
Speaker 2: Did y'all know Holly tried to break up with me.
Speaker 2: She tried to break up with me. Watch this for
Speaker 2: the summer, for the summer. This has never been told
Speaker 2: from the pulpit. It has only been discussed behind closed doors.
Speaker 1: She looked at me seriously.
Speaker 2: She was really thought this was gonna be something I
Speaker 2: was gonna accept as a term of negotiation. She says, well,
Speaker 2: you're going to do this this summer, and I'm gonna
Speaker 2: do this this summer. What if we just see if
Speaker 2: the Lord brings anybody else.
Speaker 1: Into our lives? Can you believe I'm telling them this?
Speaker 2: But she's on the front road because I, like God
Speaker 2: wouldn't let her.
Speaker 1: I always wanted to be God in an illustration. I'm
Speaker 1: so far from God in my real life. I just
Speaker 1: wanted like for fun, Usually she gets to be the
Speaker 1: good one. I'm so happy that I said.
Speaker 2: Now you're talking, I know what I gotten I wanted
Speaker 2: and I.
Speaker 3: Will not.
Speaker 1: God. He didn't leave me like God.
Speaker 2: And God feels this way about you, and he loves
Speaker 2: you so much that he would let you be in
Speaker 2: bondage for a little while rather than let you worship
Speaker 2: bail for the rest of your life.
Speaker 1: Bail is a false God. Bail is a God who
Speaker 1: keeps you in bondage.
Speaker 2: Bail is a God that you cannot appease even with
Speaker 2: human sacrifices. Bail can't make it rain. Ask Jezebel. She
Speaker 2: thought Bail could make it happen, but she was wrong.
Speaker 2: She had to apologize before she died because she found
Speaker 2: out that Bail is not God, and before Gideon could
Speaker 2: build an altar to God. Before you can build a
Speaker 2: new beginning in your life, before we can get past
Speaker 2: this temporary behavior modification that doesn't last ten minutes after
Speaker 2: we leave church, there might be something you have to
Speaker 2: go home and Drake. If somebody sent you this YouTube link,
Speaker 2: they might be breaking up with you, but it might
Speaker 2: not be a relationship. Don't go quit your job talking
Speaker 2: about I'm smashing my bail onto the I could just
Speaker 2: see a kid, you know, Because people like to take
Speaker 2: the message and twist it all up. I could see
Speaker 2: a kid going home and smack take a baseball bat
Speaker 2: to their parents' car. I'm smashing my father's alter to Bail.
Speaker 1: I know you're not. You've about to you about to
Speaker 1: feel the wrath.
Speaker 2: Amazing, he said, Before you can go forward and fight
Speaker 2: this battle, I need you to demolish your father's alter
Speaker 2: for the purposes of the class that we're having today.
Speaker 2: I do not want you to think about your father's
Speaker 2: alter as being about what your family taught you Biologically.
Speaker 2: That would be too limited, for it was not only
Speaker 2: Joe ash that had erected an altar. He was just
Speaker 2: the custodian of the cultural corruption. So what God was
Speaker 2: really telling Gideon in this passage, what he's really speaking
Speaker 2: to us as a New Testament church today, has nothing
Speaker 2: to do.
Speaker 1: With the family that you were raised in. It has
Speaker 1: to do with the beliefs.
Speaker 2: The belief everybody say, belief, the beliefs that you cherish,
Speaker 2: the beliefs that you behave out of the beliefs that
Speaker 2: are ingrained in you. The belief the beliefs, that's what
Speaker 2: Bail was.
Speaker 1: Bail was not just an idol you picture just the object.
Speaker 2: The object was just pointing to the belief behind it,
Speaker 2: that we need something other than God to make it rain,
Speaker 2: that we need something other than God to give us life,
Speaker 2: that we need something other than God to defend us.
Speaker 2: How's that working for you? How is your bail doing?
Speaker 2: Because you said if you succeeded this much, you would
Speaker 2: be happy, and you got success. How did success serve
Speaker 2: you when you made it a God? I guarantee you
Speaker 2: it left you emptier because more success came with more pressure,
Speaker 2: and you found out that there is nothing that can
Speaker 2: make you feel full if you are empty without him.
Speaker 1: Mm hmmm hm. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: That's what I'm saying smashing Bail's alter. This isn't you
Speaker 2: going home and deleting Facebook for a week. It may
Speaker 2: include that, but that is not what I'm trying to
Speaker 2: achieve by preaching this message. When I say there may
Speaker 2: be a breakup with Bail that needs to happen, what
Speaker 2: I actually picture in my spirit is a kid going
Speaker 2: back to school this week and there are things that
Speaker 2: you believed last year. But God has been working on
Speaker 2: your heart not only in this message, but in this
Speaker 2: season and when you go back to your school in
Speaker 2: a few days, or if you've already gone back to school,
Speaker 2: when you walk in tomorrow. You walk in, and after
Speaker 2: a while people notice that you are not as easily
Speaker 2: drawn to and seduced by the things that you were
Speaker 2: drawn by, seduced by, duped by, and destroyed by in
Speaker 2: a previous season.
Speaker 1: And they begin to say things to.
Speaker 2: You like you've changed, you're different. Maybe they even make
Speaker 2: it a little bit meaner. And they start calling you
Speaker 2: names because you won't have sex, and they start leaving
Speaker 2: you out because you won't go places.
Speaker 1: And you have the audacity, Gideon, to.
Speaker 2: Look at them and say, yeah, I know I look
Speaker 2: a little different, and I know I act a little different,
Speaker 2: And it's not that I'm better than you, but it's
Speaker 2: just that something happened to me over the summer that
Speaker 2: I don't know if I told you about this, but
Speaker 2: I've been through a break up. Me and Bail broke up.
Speaker 2: I decided he wasn't doing it for me. I decided
Speaker 2: that living to be popular was costing me too much
Speaker 2: peace ma I decided that living for pleasure cost me
Speaker 2: too much paint. On the other side, I decided that
Speaker 2: not having God's priorities. Men, I can't have God's peace.
Speaker 2: So y'all be anxious. If you gotta be anxious, y'all
Speaker 2: be crazy. If you got to be crazy, y'all be hateful.
Speaker 2: If you gotta be hateful, y'all call me what y'all
Speaker 2: gotta call me.
Speaker 1: But the one who called me is more important than you. Haddah.
Speaker 2: High five of your neighbors say, I'm breaking up with Bail,
Speaker 2: so I might not look the same next time you
Speaker 2: see me. Use I'm gonna be going through a breakup,
Speaker 2: and it might be a painful breakup, and I may
Speaker 2: have to relearn some things, and I may have to
Speaker 2: be alone sometimes, and I might have to cry some
Speaker 2: nice but I'm determined to see this through. Why because
Speaker 2: after the breakup there will be a breakthrough.
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 2: Get happy because I'm gonna cry for a little while.
Speaker 1: But we've been may endure for a night.
Speaker 2: But high five your neighbors say, after the breakup, when the.
Speaker 3: Sun came up, When the sun came up, when the
Speaker 3: sun came up, there it was the altar of fan demolished,
Speaker 3: the pieces broken to pieces, sash the basis, find the
Speaker 3: power oh God, hot pot ten. People say I'm a
Speaker 3: tam right now, I'm a tin right now.
Speaker 2: I'm all Sein right now?
Speaker 3: Who almost said I'm all him?
Speaker 5: How thoughts you are too hollahs. But me and God
Speaker 5: got back together?
Speaker 3: How how whoa? That's why I'm president sow whoa? How good?
Speaker 3: You are falling apart?
Speaker 5: Hollow?
Speaker 1: But me and God.
Speaker 2: In fact, I'm not even telling Bail myself. That's gonna
Speaker 2: send him a message. Why are you breaking up with
Speaker 2: me because you're not God? Stop thinking this is a
Speaker 2: marriage seminar. I'm not talking about a divorce from your spouse.
Speaker 2: I'm talking about a divorce from your belief system that
Speaker 2: is keeping you stuck. You might have a better spouse
Speaker 2: if you had a different belief system about marriage, and.
Speaker 1: It might not even be a different one.
Speaker 2: So before you take the bat to the marriage, take
Speaker 2: the bat to Bail.
Speaker 1: And all of that. I was gonna preach to you
Speaker 1: all of.
Speaker 8: That, and then I realized it wasn't about that alter.
Speaker 8: It was about what was on it.
Speaker 1: Read it with me.
Speaker 2: I'm almost done. Don't even sit back down. Put the
Speaker 2: pressure on me to be expedient and concise. By standing
Speaker 2: on your feet he said, I want you to tear
Speaker 2: down your father's altar, the one to bail, the cultural
Speaker 2: crap that you keep doing. I want you to clear
Speaker 2: your algorithm this week for what you think is a
Speaker 2: normal attitude. I want you to I want you to
Speaker 2: smash that so that I can do something amazing through you.
Speaker 1: That's what this is about. In your life.
Speaker 2: You think every season of breaking is contrary to the
Speaker 2: season of blessing.
Speaker 1: But after the breakup there's always breakthrough. Well, no breakup,
Speaker 1: no breakthrough. You will keep.
Speaker 2: Going back to bail, and you know what you'll do.
Speaker 2: You will blame it on Midian You will keep thinking
Speaker 2: the the problem is what is against you that you
Speaker 2: can see. But the problem isn't what I can see
Speaker 2: that's against me. It's what I keep abandoning that is
Speaker 2: within me.
Speaker 1: Because greater is He.
Speaker 2: I don't know who this is for, but this thing
Speaker 2: is burning a hole in me today. It is not
Speaker 2: the Midianites to keep defeating you. It is not the
Speaker 2: addiction itself. It is the altar to bail that keeps
Speaker 2: you believing that you need something other than God.
Speaker 1: And the Lord.
Speaker 4: Challenged me to read this scripture again and again, and
Speaker 4: I said, okay. God, he got up and he built
Speaker 4: a new altar, and he tore down the altar to Bail.
Speaker 4: I begin to study about the altar the proper, because.
Speaker 2: In verse twenty six it says, build a proper kind
Speaker 2: of altar to the Lord, your God.
Speaker 1: What is the proper altar that you would build?
Speaker 2: Well, it was uncut stone so that no human hand
Speaker 2: could defile it. It was piled up and made ready
Speaker 2: for the sacrifice, because the altar was a place to die.
Speaker 2: But then I realized that there was one altar that
Speaker 2: was smashed the next morning, and there was one altar
Speaker 2: that was standing. But the thing that made the altar
Speaker 2: proper was not what it was made of, as.
Speaker 1: Much as what was on it.
Speaker 2: The Lord told Gideon, get a bull from your father's
Speaker 2: heard a bull was a common sacrifice. So far we
Speaker 2: see no real revelation as to what needs to happen next,
Speaker 2: but there is significance in this detail. The second bull,
Speaker 2: the one seven years old, smash the altar to Bail,
Speaker 2: build the altar to God. And after you have taken
Speaker 2: the asherah poll which was an idolatry.
Speaker 1: And you put the second bull as a burnt offering
Speaker 1: wait a minute, The bull is not random in this passage.
Speaker 1: The bull.
Speaker 2: Represents Bail, not just because they sound alike, but all
Speaker 2: of the false gods of the Canaanites had mascots.
Speaker 7: For Astrarah, who was their sex god, the mascot was
Speaker 7: a pole, But for Bail, who was the weather in
Speaker 7: fertility god, the mascot was a bull. So when the
Speaker 7: Lord told Gideon, I want you to take the bull
Speaker 7: on the altar that you build to God and smash
Speaker 7: the altar that your father built to Bail, what God
Speaker 7: was saying is I want you to believe Me more
Speaker 7: than you believe Bail.
Speaker 1: And it is very.
Speaker 2: Simple to say, but very hard to apply, because the
Speaker 2: enemy will lie to you and lie to you, and
Speaker 2: lie to you and feed you with beliefs about the
Speaker 2: way things are, about what is important, about what really matters.
Speaker 2: He will feed you as much bull as you will
Speaker 2: listen to. But the Lord said, today is the day
Speaker 2: for you to put the bull on the altar.
Speaker 1: You hear what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: You hear what I'm saying online, touch your neighbors, say,
Speaker 2: put the bull on the altar. Every lie you've believed,
Speaker 2: every stronghold you've exceed every.
Speaker 1: False god you worshiped. Put the bull on the altar.
Speaker 2: As long as we keep building altars to things that
Speaker 2: we ought to let die, we will be in covenant
Speaker 2: with God, but be in captivity in life.
Speaker 1: You have got to put the bull.
Speaker 2: On the altar. I mean, they're playing slow music behind me,
Speaker 2: but I feel like I'm really preaching. Every time the
Speaker 2: devil lies to you, put that bull on the altar.
Speaker 2: Every time he tells you you're insignificant because you're not famous.
Speaker 2: Put that bull on the altar every time he starts
Speaker 2: trying to tell you and attict is all you'll ever be.
Speaker 1: Put that bull on the altar. Whom the sun sets
Speaker 1: free is free.
Speaker 2: Indeed, put that bull on the altar. I heard about
Speaker 2: a basketball game where Michael Jordan scored sixty nine points
Speaker 2: in the game.
Speaker 1: There was a rookie who was interviewed after the game.
Speaker 7: It was his.
Speaker 1: First game in the NBA. This was nineteen ninety.
Speaker 2: They said, what are your comments on your first game
Speaker 2: in the NBA.
Speaker 1: And he said boldly, I'll always.
Speaker 2: Remember this as the night that Michael Jordan and I
Speaker 2: combined to score seventy points. He said that because when
Speaker 2: you're connected to the right one.
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about a bull. Now, I'm not talking
Speaker 1: about a bull.
Speaker 2: I'm talking about the spotless, perfect lamb of God. Slay
Speaker 2: from the foundation.
Speaker 1: Wah.
Speaker 2: So the Lord says to get in. You are not
Speaker 2: going to die. But there are some lies that you
Speaker 2: have believed that must die so you can live. There
Speaker 2: are some lies that you have believed that must die
Speaker 2: so you can live.
Speaker 1: There are some lies you have believed that must die
Speaker 1: so you can live. What that bull on the altar.
Speaker 2: Stop thinking that there's something that will fulfill you or
Speaker 2: complete you outside of God.
Speaker 1: There is nothing. It's nobody else's job to complete you.
Speaker 1: It's nobody else's job to fulfill you. It's nobody else's
Speaker 1: job to make you happy. That's God's job. Let him
Speaker 1: do it. Build a proper altar.
Speaker 2: Let God fill those deep places in your life. And
Speaker 2: remember this that there is nothing you can do that
Speaker 2: would separate Him from you. Every time the devil tells
Speaker 2: you you're too far gone. Now, remember you serve a
Speaker 2: God who can make a two to ten by his blood,
Speaker 2: and me and Michael Jordan can score seventy points together
Speaker 2: on a single night, and God can use you to deliver,
Speaker 2: and God can use you to be a blessing, and
Speaker 2: God can use you to give wisdom, and God can
Speaker 2: use you to build it up, and God can use
Speaker 2: you to tear it down. But it's going to be
Speaker 2: because of Him. And when they investigated in the daylight
Speaker 2: to see who had done it in the night, they said,
Speaker 2: Gideon did it.
Speaker 1: Gideon. Isn't he the one who was hiding in the
Speaker 1: wine press? I like to imagine at that moment Gideon says, yeah,
Speaker 1: I was.
Speaker 4: But me and God God back together, and we have this.
Speaker 1: Ministry of reconciliation.
Speaker 2: I know what you've done alone, and I know what
Speaker 2: you've done in your own strength, and so do you.
Speaker 2: I know that bail has failed you. He fails all
Speaker 2: of us. I know how your faults, bail leafs, have
Speaker 2: led you to a place of codependency with substance. Mail
Speaker 2: always does that. I know how thinking that somebody needs
Speaker 2: to approve you before you can be worthy of love
Speaker 2: has left you running drinking salt water in an ocean
Speaker 2: that you're.
Speaker 1: Already drowning in. That's what bail always does. Break that alter, break.
Speaker 2: That altar, Delete every opinion that tells you what a
Speaker 2: young lady is supposed to be like. And ask your
Speaker 2: father what a woman of God looks like. And put
Speaker 2: your virtue on and where your values proudly. And when
Speaker 2: they say you don't post no more, tell him Yeah.
Speaker 2: Me and Bail broke up, and me and God got
Speaker 2: back together.
Speaker 1: That altar is gone.
Speaker 2: I'm ant worship at it another day. I want you
Speaker 2: to grab the hand of the person next to you
Speaker 2: because they're in a battle right now.
Speaker 1: They're in a breakup right now. Now stand through your feet. Everybody.
Speaker 1: I thought y'all were standing.
Speaker 2: I was preaching so hard. Only ten percent was the
Speaker 2: front road. Fooled me again. Squeeze their hand right now,
Speaker 2: because they're in a battle. Squeeze their hand because they're
Speaker 2: in a battle. I want you to squeeze their hand
Speaker 2: to let them know you didn't die. That's how you
Speaker 2: know that the covenant keeping God of Abraham, Isaac and
Speaker 2: Jacob is with you too. Even though it was seven
Speaker 2: years of sin. Isn't it weird that the Bible said
Speaker 2: Graham it was a seven year old bull, which was
Speaker 2: the exact length of time they had been in captivity.
Speaker 1: It was the bull that kept them in bondage.
Speaker 2: You can be free the moment you come into agreement
Speaker 2: with God what he says about you. So you can
Speaker 2: be free from the moment that you decide there is
Speaker 2: no more condemnation for those who are in Christ. Jesus
Speaker 2: cuts through Christ. Jesus the low spirital life. Set me
Speaker 2: free from the lost, sin and death. You don't have
Speaker 2: to stay in this another seven years. You can be
Speaker 2: free the moment you believe. Put that bull on the altar,
Speaker 2: by a new bull. Believe you believe in him, you
Speaker 2: will be saved. And right now there's somebody in this
Speaker 2: room who needs this message as a matter of life
Speaker 2: and death.
Speaker 1: You're not gonna die. You're not gonna die.
Speaker 2: But Thomas said, I would have despaired unless I believe
Speaker 2: that I would see the goodness of the Lord in
Speaker 2: the land of the living. You're gonna see it. But
Speaker 2: there's some altars you've been running to in the land
Speaker 2: that you've been occupying, that have been keeping you from
Speaker 2: being the person God sees.
Speaker 1: But you're a warrior in this wine press, always have been.
Speaker 2: He knows there's a better you. He loved me like
Speaker 2: I was, but he didn't leave me like I was Lord,
Speaker 2: I thank you that you loved me like I was.
Speaker 2: You didn't see me as a two.
Speaker 1: You turn me to a ten.
Speaker 2: Woo. I get grateful when I think about your grace.
Speaker 2: I don't have to think about my car. I appreciate it,
Speaker 2: my house, I love it. I don't have to think
Speaker 2: about any of these things, just to say thank you
Speaker 2: for your grace.
Speaker 1: Lord. Why don't you pray that thank you for your grace? Lord?
Speaker 2: I thank you that all I have to do to
Speaker 2: be closer to you is believe that you're already here.
Speaker 2: Like that angel was staring at Gideon, and Gideon finally
Speaker 2: realized it.
Speaker 1: Maybe today is today we finally.
Speaker 2: Realize that the lies belong on the altar before your presence. God,
Speaker 2: I ask you to set your people free today.
Speaker 1: Now drop the hand, but keep your head bout in
Speaker 1: your eyes closed, no one moving around.
Speaker 2: There's somebody in this place who needs to give their
Speaker 2: life to Jesus Christ today. When you do, you don't
Speaker 2: go from a one to a two and spend the
Speaker 2: rest of your life going three, four, five, six.
Speaker 1: Seven, eight, nine, ten.
Speaker 2: You don't start perform and God will see if you
Speaker 2: can really do a triple double Somersault split spiritually the
Speaker 2: God we Sir said, I will not only give you
Speaker 2: the grace, but I will give you the faith to believe.
Speaker 2: So right now, if you know that today is your
Speaker 2: day and God is calling you to bring your life
Speaker 2: to his altar, I want to lead you in a prayer.
Speaker 2: This prayer is an expression of faith, believing in what
Speaker 2: Jesus has already done for you. And if you're ready
Speaker 2: today to repent of your sin and make Jesus the
Speaker 2: Lord of your life, I want you to repeat after me.
Speaker 2: We're all praying this out loud for the benefit of
Speaker 2: those who are coming to God or back to God.
Speaker 2: Repeat after me, Heavenly Father, today is my day of salvation.
Speaker 2: I am a sinner in need of a savior.
Speaker 1: I believe that.
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the savior
Speaker 2: of the world.
Speaker 6: And today make Jesus the Lord of my life. I
Speaker 6: believe he died that I would be forgiven and rose
Speaker 6: again to give me life, and I receive this new life.
Speaker 1: This is my new beginning. Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 2: this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 2: You can click the link in the description to give
Speaker 2: now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more
Speaker 2: information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1: You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2: You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
Speaker 2: share it on your social stories and tag us at
Speaker 2: Elevation Church.
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. God bless you.