Gods Recipe for Something Special

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Gods Recipe for Something Special

• 6 29 08

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Americas Fascination with Super

• Super Size - more
• Tastes/looks good, no nutritional value
• No substance
• Man in hospital
• Super Heroes - great
• Top Box Office hits
• Iron Man, Hulk, Spiderman, Superman, etc.
• Something in us
• Want more
• Want someone beyond ourselves to rescue us

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Fascination with Super

• Nothing New
• Philistines had super sized Goliath
• Israel wanted a king, to be like other nations
• God would not make it a good McDonalds CEO
• In business of Mini Size when He wants
  something special
• Moses Peter
• Gideon
• 32 K to 10 K to 300 men
• One of the most amazing story in Bible about
  Down Size

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Special Mini Size Process

• Begins with a Need (Crying out)
• Gods Calls (to the rescue)
• Gods Qualification
• Gods Work
• - Mini size

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The Gideon Example

• Judges 61,2,6
•    1 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of
  the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into
  the hands of the Midianites. 2 Because the power
  of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites
  prepared shelters for themselves in mountain
  clefts, caves and strongholds. . 6 Midian so
  impoverished the Israelites that they cried out
  to the LORD for help.  

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Step 2 Gods Call

• Judges 611-14
•    11 Then the angel of the Lord came and sat
  beneath the great tree at Ophrah, which belonged
  to Joash of the clan of Abiezer. Gideon son of
  Joash was threshing wheat at the bottom of a
  winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites.
  12 The angel of the Lord appeared to him and
  said, Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!
•  13 Sir, Gideon replied, if the Lord is with
  us, why has all this happened to us? And where
  are all the miracles our ancestors told us about?
  Didnt they say, The Lord brought us up out of
  Egypt? But now the Lord has abandoned us and
  handed us over to the Midianites.
•  14 Then the Lord turned to him and said, Go
  with the strength you have, and rescue Israel
  from the Midianites. I am sending you!

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Step 3 Gods Qualification

• Judges 615-16, 25-27
•    15 But Lord, Gideon replied, how can I
  rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the
  whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my
  entire family!
•  16 The Lord said to him, I will be with you.
  And you will destroy the Midianites as if you
  were fighting against one man...
•  25 ..Pull down your fathers altar to Baal, and
  cut down the Asherah pole standing beside it. 26
  Then build an altar to the Lord your God here on
  this hilltop sanctuary, laying the stones
  carefully  27 So Gideon took ten of his servants
  and did as the Lord had commanded. But he did it
  at night because he was afraid of the other
  members of his fathers household and the people
  of the town.

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Step 3 Gods Qualification

• Humility
• Gives grace to humble, resist the proud
• Me vs. Him
• Saul
• Heart
• 2Chron 169 For the eyes of the LORD range
  throughout the earth to strengthen those whose
  hearts are fully committed to him.
• David was man after Gods own heart
• If Heart is not humble, then God will begin down
  size process
• Peter, Moses
• Saw that in Gideon

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Step 4 Gods Work

• Judges 71-7 (NLT)
•     1 Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is,
  Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of
  Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in
  the valley near the hill of Moreh. 2 The LORD
  said to Gideon, "You have too many men for me to
  deliver Midian into their hands. In order that
  Israel may not boast against me that her own
  strength has saved her, 3 announce now to the
  people, 'Anyone who trembles with fear may turn
  back and leave Mount Gilead.' " So twenty-two
  thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.
• Why would they tremble so? (Judges 810)

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Step 4 Gods Work

• Judges 71-7
•     4 But the LORD said to Gideon, "There are
  still too many men. Take them down to the water,
  and I will sift them for you there. If I say,
  'This one shall go with you,' he shall go but if
  I say, 'This one shall not go with you,' he shall
  not go."
•  5 So Gideon took the men down to the water.
  There the LORD told him, "Separate those who lap
  the water with their tongues like a dog from
  those who kneel down to drink." 6 Three hundred
  men lapped with their hands to their mouths. All
  the rest got down on their knees to drink.
•  7 The LORD said to Gideon, "With the three
  hundred men that lapped I will save you and give
  the Midianites into your hands.
• - How do you think Gideon feel?

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Step 4 Gods Work

• Judges 79-12 (Afraid)
•     9 During that night the LORD said to Gideon,
  "Get up, go down against the camp, because I am
  going to give it into your hands. 10 If you are
  afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your
  servant Purah 11 and listen to what they are
  saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to
  attack the camp." So he and Purah his servant
  went down to the outposts of the camp. 12 The
  Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other
  eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick
  as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted
  than the sand on the seashore.

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Step 4 Gods Work

• Judges 713-15
•      13 Gideon arrived just as a man was telling
  a friend his dream. "I had a dream," he was
  saying. "A round loaf of barley bread came
  tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the
  tent with such force that the tent overturned and
  collapsed."
•  14 His friend responded, "This can be nothing
  other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the
  Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the
  whole camp into his hands."
•  15 When Gideon heard the dream and its
  interpretation, he worshiped God. He returned to
  the camp of Israel and called out, "Get up! The
  LORD has given the Midianite camp into your
  hands."

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My Journey

• 2.75 years ago, aunt news
• Knew God had called (on 610)
• Yet, felt so unqualified
• Speech, language (embarrassed), distance
• God said relatives thousands
• Recent monthsdownsizing processbut relatives
  are being saved.
• Today worship God Not about me In head, but
  not in heart till today Performing since a boy.
• Get up.. God has given us

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Prayer

• Pray for our worship team.
• Pray for the cell formation.. Each cell be
  established with cell leader assistants by 7/12
  (cell leader training on 7/19).
• Pray for the people that Gods wants you to reach
  to.
• Share an area that you would like prayer for.