0:07 He who overcomes I will grant to him to sit with me on my throne. As I also overcame and have sat down with my father on his throne. Who do you know that these words were 0:25 spoken to? Was it to the world? Was it to unbelievers? No, it was to the church. It was to Christians. Now, this is a message that's offensive to many people. Many I I've heard it even said 0:44 personally to me that we shouldn't draw distinctions among Christians. Let God be true and every man a liar is what I say. Because the Bible does draw distinctions among people who take the name of Jesus. And if we erase lines that Jesus that 1:03 God has drawn, it's a very dangerous thing. For example, the distinction between male and female is all the way back in Genesis chapter 1. Very first chapter of the Bible. The devil is in the business of erasing this line. 1:20 Yeah, doesn't really matter. You define what do you want to be. It's likewise with all of God's work. When God made light, he separated it from darkness. He said, "Light, there must be a circle defining light and another circle 1:37 defining darkness." When he made the dry land and the water, he drew a circle, as it were. There must be a distinction between what's dry and what's not dry. Now, it might seem trivial, but it's a very important distinction for us to know 1:55 when it comes to discerning spiritual things. One of the most clear words in scripture that defines the the power of the word of God is Hebrews 4:12, a verse that you know well. But you know what it says? It is a divider. 2:14 Yes, the word of God has a fruitfulness to it. Brings fruit. But Hebrews 4:12 is very clear, the word divides. Brings division. There is a division that is of God that is necessary. There is a division of the devil which 2:30 is unnecessary. We must know the difference. So, this distinction that this verse brings out, he writes to a church that was planted by the apostles, perhaps by the Apostle Paul himself. Church in Laodicea in Revelation 3. 2:46 And he says to this church, "Among you are some who will overcome and some who won't." Perhaps all of them will get to heaven. He's not talking about forgiveness of sins. He's not talking about those who will just make it to heaven. 3:04 He's drawing a distinction within heaven among Christians. The overcomers and the non-overcomers. I hope that when you hear something like that, the desire of your heart is not to blur out that line and say, "Ah, it doesn't 3:20 matter. I've given my life to Jesus. Repented of my sins. But I still live defeated. Bad moods, complaining, grumbling, lust, anger." There's a call to come up higher and say, "Do you want to sit with Jesus on his throne?" I mean, he promised it. 3:38 For all eternity. It doesn't matter what happened to me on this earth. If I got to you know, for you singles, if you got to get married or not. If you got to have a job or not. If you own a home or not. Do you know that none 3:52 of that will matter? It's a vapor for which we get to have these things. And then for all eternity to sit with Jesus on his throne. I would call myself a liar if God hadn't said it in his word. I think we must turn there and look at that first. 4:11 Revelation chapter 3. It's too good to be true. One of those things. You mean Jesus, you actually I mean, how dare I? Wretched, sinful man that I am. 4:27 How dare I be offered a place with Jesus on his throne. How dare I? I mean, I'm the most undeserving of it. And yet Jesus says, "Come. Overcome. And you will sit." 4:46 Revelation 3 verse 21. If you're in the habit of underlining in your Bible, I'm not, but if you are, this is a good one to underline. I usually just make a note in my phone of a good verse for me to go back to when the devil tries to shake me. 5:01 Try to get me to doubt God's purpose. Do you want to know God's purpose in your life? Is your life lacking purpose? Dear brother, dear sister, let the Holy Spirit give you purpose this morning. You have a destination. You have a 5:15 purpose. Don't miss out on it. Your and the finish line for you must be this, to sit down with Jesus on his throne. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with me on my throne. 5:34 As I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne. This word overcome, my children and I were talking about it last week. In the context of Genesis 1 and 2 where the devil well, God told Adam and Eve 5:54 that they must rule over all of creation. So, he made the the earth and the universe and all of that and then the you kind of see it like building up. Then you see uh the waters and the land and plant life and then animal life 6:12 um different types of animals, fish, birds, animal life and then man. Man was the last and greatest as it were to rule over all of creation. That was his goal. And then we destroyed it. You know why we are afraid of my children and I were talking about this. 6:32 Why are we afraid of lions and snakes and elephants? I mean, if you saw a lion roaming the street, you're the one that's afraid. And yet you know that that wasn't our destiny. Our destiny that the was that the lion would see me and run from me. 6:50 Not really run actually because there was no fear until sin came into the world. But that lion would come up to me and snuggle up to me. I mean, these days I saw a video of of one guy doing it in South Africa. It's pretty amazing. He's 7:02 built a relationship with these lions, these ferocious man-eating animals. And they snuggle up to him and they hug him and all that. You know, that was how it was supposed to be for every one of us. Even the little children. 7:17 The lion would lie down with a lamb and a child would lead them. God's one day going to restore the rightful order. So, we were called to rule. And we didn't rule with fear. That's why the lion would come up to us not afraid 7:31 of us. The mammoth and the elephant, whatever they might be, these big animals would come up and just there was a joy in in the garden of Eden. And then we destroyed that. We handed the keys of that authority back to the 7:45 devil by the lie that he sold us. You can be like God. God is the one who gave you authority over all of creation, but that wasn't enough for Adam and Eve. That wasn't enough for us. That's essentially what sin is. It's discontent with what God has given 8:04 me, and the devil feeds into that. I'm not happy with my wife. Not happy with my husband. Not happy with my job. I'm not happy with my house. I'm not happy with this or that. I want more. Unable to see how we owe everything to God. 8:22 And so we we became slaves, as it were. Now, fear of animals is not not that big a deal, because that can only harm me physically. But the fear that comes from slavery to sin, fear of the devil, fear of death, that was the most serious of what we 8:41 lost, what we what happened to us when we sinned in the Garden of Eden. And so we became slaves to sin, and we were underneath all of this creation. And now God says, "I want to put you back on top." So, the difference between 8:55 what Adam and Eve had as rulers, reigning, and what we will have with Jesus is this. The overcomer is one who has to come over, as it were. He is down. He starts at the bottom 9:13 and rises up to the top, not by his own power, but because God, Jesus has granted him that position of authority, and he has overcome. That means he was This Again, I want to be for you to be clear about this distinction. The difference between Adam 9:29 and Eve ruling over creation, as God placed them there, and then losing that authority because of sin, And now Jesus says, "You who overcome sin, I will grant you to rule forever with me on my throne." So, it's a beautiful picture. 9:47 So, even though Now, the reason this is a wonderful picture is it means that even if I've made a mess of my life, even if you've made a mess of your life up to 2 minutes ago, up to a minute ago, you were hopeless without hope, 10:02 God says it doesn't matter. Are you down here or down here or down here? Or how far down doesn't matter. Your destiny is all the way at the top sitting with Jesus on his throne. I'd like to talk about that a little bit more. 10:16 Um In Matthew chapter 21, we don't have to turn there yet, but Matthew 21, we've been looking at what Jesus described as the condition of the church, the people of God in his time, in the synagogues, with what it should have been. 10:36 "My house should have been called a house of prayer, but it is called You've made it a den of thieves." And we've been looking at what it means to be that church of that house of prayer. Last week I was talking about or 2 weeks 10:51 ago I was talking about it's a house, not just a gathering of bricks. And how when we're really built into a house, we're cemented in. It's uncomfortable. It's we're we're smashed together, as it were, but there's a security, there's a 11:09 unity that's there as opposed to just a pile of bricks that's gathered together. We're not a pile of bricks, we're a house. Doesn't matter how big the house is. Would you rather have a small little house that's firmly established on the rock 11:25 than a mountain of a pile of bricks as a shelter? And so, it doesn't matter how big it is, as long as there's unity there. And what I want to talk about today is the authority that God has given us as his church to rule over Satan, to exercise this 11:42 authority to authority to be overcomers. And I want to draw this picture of a small body against a large enemy. A small body against a large enemy. We'll start by looking at Judges chapter 6. 12:00 It's a story that most of you probably know well and if not, we'll learn it we'll look at it today. And children, you must know this story. It's a very very good story. It's a very fascinating story. Um if they if if Hollywood was to make a 12:16 movie about it, this would be one of the best of all time. As it should be. And Jesus is making it one day going to show us the movie of this and we'll be more in awe by that than by any other movie we've seen. In Judges chapter 6, I want you to see 12:32 the condition of God's people at this time in verses 1 through 6. First of all, the sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. And the Lord gave them into the hands of Midian 7 years. This is again a retelling of that same story. 12:52 The people of Israel were promised the land of Canaan. But they chose to relinquish that authority by disobedience to God, by serving idols, worshipping idols. So, as a result of that, because they did evil against the same picture, they were 13:08 supposed to be the This was their land. Imagine if you you know, you let's say you own a house and all of a sudden somebody else shows up, a squatter shows up in your house and starts living in that house. I mean, I would come to you and say, 13:23 "Hey, that's your house. Your name's on the title. What are you doing letting this guy rule the house and making you do all the work in the house? You're the owner of that house. And it was just like that. The land of Canaan belonged to the people of Israel. 13:37 And they allowed the Midianites and the Amalekites and the sons of Ammon to rule over them. What is the the uh promised land now a picture of? Your body. Dear brother, dear sister, dear friend, you were given a body for you through 13:54 the Holy Spirit to rule over it. For you to rule over your eyes, what you look at. For you to rule over your ears, what you listen to. For you to rule over your tongue, what you say. Not the other way around. And we have 14:08 relinquished that authority and become slaves of our eyes, slaves of our ears, slaves of our tongues, slaves of our flesh, just slaves of the love of money, all of these things. It's a picture of This is what the condition of the people of Israel was in 14:23 here, Judges chapter 6. The Look at verse 2. The power of Midian prevailed against Israel. The power You can say the power of my tongue prevailed against Santosh, because it's no longer I who live, I'm born again, I'm a child of God. It's no longer I who 14:39 live, but Christ lives in me. But the power of my tongue ruled over me. The power of my eyes ruled over me. The power of my mind, what I thought about, the way my mind held me in bondage to things, to thoughts about others, to 14:56 bitterness, to jealousy, to unforgiveness, to lust, to anger, to uh ambition, selfish ambition, to love of pleasure. The power of my flesh prevailed against me. That's the condition of my life. That was the condition of my life. Like it 15:11 was for the people of Israel. Because of Midian, the enemy of Israel, the sons of Israel made for themselves the dens which were in the mountains. Interesting the word den shows up there. They hid in these dens and they schemed 15:27 and they plotted. Why did they gather in these dens and these caves? Because the Midianites were living in their houses. And so they hid underground and in these secret areas scheming, "How are we going to get our houses back?" 15:41 And God says, "All this gathering in dens and caves is not going to do it." For made for themselves dens which were in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. For it was when Israel had sown, so this is what would happen. 15:55 Israel would plant, they do the hard work of planting, and then the Midianites would show up with all their power and scare them away right around harvest time. And they would have to go hide, the Israelites would have to go hide in the 16:07 dens and the Midianites would reap the harvest that the Israelites had sown. I'll tell you my I'll I'll give you my testimony. That was the testimony of my life for many years. The things that I sowed, the devil would come and reap havoc in and destroy. 16:23 Things in my marriage, things in my home, things in the church, things in relationships, things for the kingdom of God. My job, my employment became a place where the devil had a stronghold. This is exactly what it was like for the 16:37 people of Israel. When Israel had sown that the Midianites would come up with the Amalekites and the sons of the east and go against them. So they would camp against them, verse four, and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza and leave no 16:53 sustenance in Israel as well as no sheep, ox, or donkey. The purpose of these Amalekites and the Midianites was not to get the food for themselves even, it was just to destroy it. This is a perfect picture of what the devil does. 17:07 He can't do anything with my body. He can't do anything with it. He just doesn't want God to get anything out of it. You see his purpose? The devil can't get anything out of my body. God has ordained it that way cuz I've been 17:20 purchased. I've been created to bring pleasure to God alone. The book of Revelation says that. My body, your body is designed to bring pleasure to God and God alone. And the devil is in the business of convincing us that somehow if I please 17:35 myself, I will get some pleasure. If I do that or get that or uh you know, do this other thing, I will get pleasure. Your body is designed to bring pleasure to God and God alone. So, they would come up, verse five, with 17:53 their livestock and their tents and they would come in like locusts for number. Both they and their camels were innumerable and they came into the land to devastate it. And this went on for years. So, Israel was brought very low because 18:10 of Midian and the sons of Israel cried to the Lord. If that's the testimony of your life, if it's so, Santosh, so put your name there. So, put your marriage there. So, put your home there or some other relationship, your job, your church 18:27 life, your walking with Jesus was brought very low because of Midian and the sons of Israel. Here's the good thing. The reason the story doesn't end there is because they cried to the Lord. I want to encourage you, my dear friend. 18:40 If you're there feeling beat up, brought very low by the enemy, cry to the Lord today. That's all it took. Now it came about when the sons of Israel cried to the Lord on account of 18:57 Midian that the Lord sent a prophet. The Lord sent prophets. The Lord built his church because the people of Israel cried to. Now, if you don't If you're satisfied with your life, if you're content with how things are, despite the fact that 19:14 the enemy is ravaging your life, ravaging your marriage, ravaging your thoughts, holding you in bondage, keeping your mouth tied up when you should be a uh uh uh uh speaking with prophecy, all of these things, if the devil has tied you up in 19:29 any way, cry to him today. Cry to him and believe that he will hear you. So, they were living in dens, enslaved in sin by the devil. I want to skip down. You know, God calls Gideon. Gideon was this man who God raised up to be his witness. 19:46 But, I want to The first thing God does, listen, the enemy around God can deal with. Even if it seems like they're there for a long time, there's God There's one thing that God wanted Gideon to do first. And that was this, make the devil your 20:01 enemy. If you face oppression, if you face If your boss is yelling at you, or somebody else makes life miserable for you, if your marriage is is uh on the rocks, do one thing first. Make the devil your enemy. Don't make your wife your enemy. 20:17 Don't make your husband your enemy. Don't make an enemy of anybody else on this earth. Choose to lay down your sword and refuse to fight. Make the devil your enemy. So, this is what happened. God told Gideon to destroy the altars of 20:33 Baal. Gideon had The people of Israel had made these altars to worship other gods, and God said, "The enemies, I can deal with them. What I can't deal with is the idol in your life." Why is it Have you thought that it's interesting 20:47 that God didn't destroy the altar of Baal? He destroyed the Midianites and the all the other ites that were around them. What God couldn't Now, by his own choosing, it's not that God is powerless, but he makes himself powerless to destroy the idols in 21:04 Israel. The enemies around Israel, God can do that. The idols in Israel, you must deal with. I must deal with. So, God told Gideon, listen, there's I I can deal with the problem outside. It's the problem inside that I can't 21:20 deal with. And you have to deal with it. I'm speaking to you prophetically. I'm saying, "Listen, there's an altar there. It might be your television, I don't know. It might be some ambition you have. It might be some some habit you 21:33 have or something that you hold on to that you say, 'I can't give that up, Lord.'" That has taken the place of fulfillment. See, none of us has a a stone idol, I'm pretty sure of that. I hope not. But, I'm pretty sure that none of us has a 21:46 stone idol that we're actually bowing down to. So, what are the Baals, the altars of Baal in our life today? One of the ways that the Lord has been speaking to me about it is it's that thing that brings me fulfillment in 22:00 my life. That's an idol. See, God and God alone is the thing that is is the person who's supposed to bring me fulfillment. But, if I can find my fulfillment in something else, in furthering my career, let's say, or in um 22:16 things we do I do with my wife or even my marriage in an earthly way. If my marriage becomes fulfilling in a way that is greater than the fulfillment that God wants me to have, it has become an idol. If my church life becomes brings me fulfillment in a way 22:34 that God alone is supposed to bring, it's become an idol in my life. So, I've started to see idols in my life as those things that I bow down to in my heart because I say that will bring me fulfillment. It could be sports, 22:49 playing sports or working out or or earning so much money or or having a house and all these things of a particular car, maybe. Things that I think will bring me fulfillment when at the expense of God bringing me fulfillment. Now, these 23:04 things are good. I'd love to play sports. I watch sports occasionally. Um I I have a job. I own things on this earth, but I'm constantly asking God to bring me to the place where those don't give me fulfillment. And you know how God answers that 23:20 prayer? He takes some of those things away. I'll be honest. There was a sense, I think over the last three or four months, that the Lord has shown me that my sense of fulfillment came from this church and what we had. And the Lord said, "Santosh, that's an 23:37 idol. I want to lay my finger on that altar. Now, I'm I'm I'm not going to take it away from you." Now, now he did in a sense, but I want you to give it up in your heart. I want you to make that sacrifice in your heart where you have destroyed it 23:53 inside. Because you say, "Lord, whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is nothing that I desire on earth not even a particular person or a relationship. Not a friend. Not even my wife or my children. I love them. They're They're the dearest people on 24:12 earth to me on this earth, but God was saying, "Santosh, there's an altar in your life that you might not think of as an altar because it looks religious. It looks spiritual. I mean, how would you imagine that a church experience or what we think is 24:30 a church experience becomes an altar of Baal? It's because it's become the place or the thing that allows me to find fulfillment. And the the proof of that was that when it was removed, all of a sudden, I found a lack of 24:46 fulfillment in a sense. My life all of a sudden, the temptation was there to find to lose a sense of meaning and fulfillment in my life. I thank God for showing showing it to me. And I find a deeper fulfillment in my life today than I've ever 25:02 experienced. I'll be honest with you. Now, my love and my passion for building the church is greater than it's ever been. My love for you, I'll be honest with you. I'm not saying this to tickle your your ears. My love for you, River 25:15 of Life Christian Fellowship, it's greater than it's ever been, but you are not an altar in my life. God alone has an altar in my life, and that's why when we live before his face, and we find fulfillment in him, we can 25:28 truly become meaningful to him. So, I invite you, the Holy Spirit invites you, dear brother, dear sister, to lay whatever relationship has been an altar, a place of fulfillment in your life that God alone is supposed to have. 25:44 Perhaps even your marriage, perhaps even your children, your grandchildren, brothers, sisters, parents, friends, activities, what your outward life looked like before and what it looks like now. Is there a lack of fulfillment in your life 26:01 today because something's changed on the outside? Let me say that again. Let me ask that question again. Is there a lack of fulfillment in your life because something has changed in the external? If so, that thing was an idol in your 26:15 life. It's an idol in my life. So, the first thing God has Gideon do is to deal with this idol. He says, "You must remove it." And so, they he tore it down. And it was standing against his own father and mother and his own relatives. 26:34 It says in verse 27, Judges 6:27. Then Gideon, look at the fulfillment, God heard, he sent a prophet, then he called Gideon and told Gideon, "Look, the first thing you got to do, Gideon, and you may ask, 'Well, Lord, what does this have to do 26:49 with the enemy around me?'" He says, "No, it has everything to do with it." I can't prove myself as God in your life when there's another thing that brings fulfillment in your life. And so, Gideon took 10 men of his servants, verse 27, and did as the Lord 27:05 had spoken to him. And because he was too afraid of his father's household and the men of the city to do it by day, he did it by night. Now, okay. But at least he did it, you know. If Now, okay, that's fine if he did it 27:21 by night, but he should have done it by day. Okay, but it was done. The idol was torn down. When the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was torn down. And the Asherah, which was beside it, 27:36 was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar which had been built. And they said to one another, "Who did this thing?" And they found out that it was Gideon, and they wanted to kill him. But his father said, 27:48 "You know, if you trust in Baal, ask Baal to deliver you." And then, it says in verse 32, that they called him, the people called him Jerubbaal. Very interesting. 28:07 Jerubbaal means the enemy of Baal. Baal is angry at him. Jerubbaal, that's what Jerubbaal means. The Baal is angry with him. That's a good name for us to take. Jerub devil. The devil is angry at him. Oh, you want that title? This is the man, this is the 28:26 woman God is looking for. A Jerub devil. Where the devil has wreaked havoc in your life, and you decide, "Satan, enough of this. I am going to make you my enemy." Make the devil your enemy. It's not The devil is not somebody to be 28:42 trifled with. He's not somebody to make fun of or to laugh at, but I want him to be my enemy. And I am determined and sometimes that means that we stand for the truth, we're uncompromising, and people will leave us, people will 28:58 speak evil of us, people will invent stories about us and accuse us of all kinds of false things. And those things don't matter because I know I have one enemy and I have been in the business of making the devil my enemy. My dear 29:09 friend, your life will change if you make this your goal. 2019 is going to be here in a month. Make this your goal. Now, you don't have to wait for a month to do that. Say today, December 2nd, 2018. Now, maybe 2018 has been a wash for you. 29:29 What do I mean by that? Yeah, it didn't go that well. Maybe you look at your life and think, "Well, Lord, I remember the um uh New Year's resolutions I made a year ago and I look at it and I think, "I wasted another year. I thought for sure 29:45 this was the year that I wasn't going to waste and sure enough here I am." Even if you're there, it's not too late to for God to redeem 2018. Cuz God doesn't need 365 days to redeem a year for you. You know that, right? 30:02 He's God. He'll destroy the enemy in a second, in a minute. Read on. We will in a second. He destroys the enemy in a matter of minutes. So, even if you had a few minutes left in 2018, you can see God redeem 2018. You believe that? 30:21 In your marriage, in your home life, in your personal life with Jesus first of all, that's what comes first, in your church experience, if it was a waste, God says, "Give me the dying seconds of this year and I'll redeem it." For what 30:36 purpose? Because you have a 2019 that's coming and so that you can live with that same sense of faith in God the redeemer. The the uh the redeemer. Make the devil your enemy first of all. And then quite literally to borrow a 30:53 word from the world, all hell will break loose. Oh, it will. Because the devil will break loose all hell at you. You've made him your enemy. Now, if you just want to tickle people's ears and be a diplomat be a politician. I've met plenty of 31:09 preachers like this. Some who I thought were godly men. And I realized deep down they just said told people what they wanted to hear to gather people to themselves. Tickled people's ears. And there are preachers like this all over 31:21 the world. Just hop on YouTube now. Don't spend too much time. I tend to get carried away sometimes by what all the preaching that exists and I It's like a rabbit's rabbit's trail. Um so be careful and that's something the Lord's 31:34 working on me on, you know. Um it's better to spend time in God's word and to listen to good teaching. But every now and then I I get carried away with with every wind of doctrine, not in a bad way, just to see what's out there. 31:46 And I'm amazed at the extent to which preachers will go and pastors will go to please people, to build a name and a ministry for themselves. And the religious language they'll use around it. So, anyway, um make the devil your enemy. 32:04 And if it means that that all hell breaks loose, so be it. Because the church that Jesus is building, the gates of hell will not prevail against that. Jesus promised us that. Make the devil your enemy. Then we see something very interesting. We skip 32:18 down to verse um uh chapter seven. Then Jerubbaal, Jerub-devil, that is Gideon and all the people who were with him rose early and camped beside the spring of Herod and the camp of Midian was on the north side of them by the 32:33 hill of Moreh in the valley. Now, we read in chapter eight that the number of the enemy was 135,000. And Gideon thinks, man, we don't even have that many people. How are we going to fight against the devil? Against the enemy? 32:49 So, let's get as many as we can. Go campaign and lobby and bring everybody you can and fill this place with as many people as we can because, I mean, let's just get everybody. All hands on deck, as it were. The Lord said to Gideon, as he looked 33:02 out at the 32,000, and I'm sure Gideon was like looking at the enemy and how big the enemy was and saying, "We're still smaller than them. We're like a fifth of the size of the enemy." God is looking in completely different 33:18 way. And he's looking for his church that will look at the circumstances of this earth from his perspective. So, God looks down from heaven and says, "Listen, the 32,000 that you have is too many." Hold on, God. No, we're talking 150 the 33:34 135,000, right, God? Have you seen how big the enemy is? And you're telling me that my 32,000 army is too big for the 135,000 army that we're facing. He says, "Yes." This is God's way. God is in the business of shrinking his 33:50 church. You notice that? Yeah, cuz he wants warriors. He wants those who are men and women of faith. This is the church. The people who are with you are too many for me to give you This is backwards thinking. The people who are with you 34:08 are too many for me to give Midian into your hands. Now, maybe it's not people. Maybe it's power. Santosh, your way of thinking about how to fix your marriage is too great. I can't do that. Santosh, your way of doing this 34:25 particular thing or how you're going to uh uh build up yourself. I I can't do I can't deal with that. It's too great. Your thoughts and your ideas about yourself are too great. I can't deal with the enemy with with that. So, 34:40 because otherwise, Israel would become boastful saying, "My own power has delivered me." And there are churches being built this way. Come, we'll do this for you and we'll give you that and we've got this and we've got that other thing. And God 34:58 says, "Build your congregations and build your clubs. Where is my church?" The church that God gathers. Now therefore, verse three, come proclaim in the hearing of the people saying, "Whoever is afraid and trembling, let him return and depart 35:14 from Mount Gilead." There were people who are didn't really want to pick a fight with the devil. God says, "This isn't a church for you. This is a church where if you really want to make if you want to be Gerb Devil, come." 35:26 And about 22,000 said, "Yeah, you know, you know what I mean? I might get cancer. I might somebody might die in my family or I might lose my job. Uh all of a sudden, somebody will take advantage of me. They'll speak evil of 35:39 me." Yeah, the devil will be your enemy. 22,000 left, verse three it says. So, 22,000 people returned, but 10,000 remained. Okay. Now we're about a 10th or a 13th the size of the enemy. This ought to be good, right? Well, God's not done. 35:59 After 70% left, it's still too many, he says in verse four. Then the Lord said to Gideon, "You your your army has shrunk 70% by 70% to about 30% of what it was. The people are still too many." 36:18 Lord, we're 30% of who we were. Not too many. I'm not asking any of you to leave, by the way. But decide to make the devil your enemy. And then you'll find a home in this church. Um There are still too many. Bring them down to the water and I will test them 36:36 for you there. Now, it's very interesting. Gideon gave them a message that scared away 22,000. And God says, "No, listen. Now, I'm going to do my filtering on top of that." This double filter, as it were. There's the filter that comes through 36:49 the preaching, and then there's the filter that God himself does. And God says, "I'm going to handpick and show you who are the ones." And so, you know the story, right? They go down and now, people have tried to read into 37:03 the ones who will cupped with their hands and the ones who uh you know, bent down. I'm not going to I'm not going to make that the point of this message. I think you're getting the point of this message was ultimately God 37:14 decide God decided those who are really, really his. And he had a way of discerning that. And then, I want to show you an interesting verse in back up in chapter 6. It said, well, before that, it's it says that uh it came down to 300. Verse 6 of 37:33 chapter 7, verse 6. Now, the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouth, was 300 men. But, all of the rest of the people kneeled to drink water. And the Lord said to Gideon, "I will deliver you with the 300 men." Your group is down to 37:47 about 10% of what it was. No, 1%. 1%. 99% left. Down to 1%. God says, "Now, you can I can take care of the enemy." So, the Lord said, "I will deliver you with the 300 men who lapped and will 38:06 give the Midianites into your hands. So, let all the other people go, each man to his home." So, the 300 men took the people's provisions and their trumpets into their hands. And Gideon sent all the other men of Israel, each to his tent, but 38:22 retained the 300 men and the camp of Midian was below him in the valley. I want you to see something. What is the 300? What is the 300? In chapter 6 verse 16, we read this phrase. The Lord said to Gideon, "Surely I will 38:38 be with you and you shall defeat Midian as one man." Now, it wasn't one man Gideon. It was a group of people that were one. As one man. God brought them together with such a unity of purpose and sadly, this is sad. 38:57 It's not because of any fault on God's part, but sadly God seems to be able to do that with fewer. And sometimes when he sees that there is not a desire to be one, to be united, to put aside differences, there isn't a let's come at the devil as 39:12 one man. Let's make him my enemy, not my brother, not my sister, not my wife, not my children. Let's come together as one. Now, husbands and wives, let's take this to heart for our marriages. If you get into an argument or a conflict in your home, 39:25 say, "Lord, the only way we can defeat the devil is if my wife and I come together as one." He shall make the two one. Wives, say this, "Lord, the only way I can do this is if you unite me with my husband." Now, maybe your husband's not 39:40 there, your wife's not there and you're unable to to work it out, but if your heart is a spirit of unity, a spirit of submission in that to the will of God, oh, he will destroy the enemy and the devil will never have a foothold in your life. 39:53 How much more in the church? How much more in the church where we set aside our differences? Lord, I know I've got this hangup about this and that and and how we do our meetings and how we could do it better. Yeah, all of those 40:05 things, but I want to I have one enemy and one enemy alone and I'm coming to that against that enemy as one man. I believe that River of Life Christian Fellowship, dear brothers, dear sisters, I speak to you as an elder in this 40:19 church. We'll move forward as one man. I believe that with all my heart. But it's up to each of us individually to decide whether we will be part of that one man or if we will just come and and be attached. See, you read in the rest of the story that the 40:36 others the other 32,000 minus 300 31,700 plus the women and children all got the benefits of the victory. And I ran out of time, so we'll have to continue looking at the story. They got the benefits of the of the of the 40:53 victory, but they weren't the warriors. And the one man that represented whom God could use were the 300. And in every church that I've been in at least and as I've studied church history, I see that there's a core of people 41:10 that are the warriors, the people who win the victory against the devil in their personal lives, in their marriages, and in the church where they're interceding and fighting battles not only on behalf of themselves, on behalf of others. 41:23 In most churches, sadly as I've observed, it's a very small number. It's a small percentage. 1% was in this case. I believe that River of Life Christian Fellowship will be pleasing to God if that percentage increases. What percentage of the people that call 41:39 this church their home or sit in these seats Sunday after Sunday and Wednesday after Wednesday and Saturday after Saturday are the 300 who've united themselves in purpose to serve God and to win the battle against the enemy. They're not afraid to 41:55 make the devil their enemy. This is the church that God is building. And I pray that that number will be 100%. We're not a short of that. Even in Jesus' church it wasn't. But I hope it will be. The choice is up to each one of us. 42:10 Amen. of us. Amen.
