11 local churches that make up the Community Baptist Church body gathered together on 2nd August at Glad Tidings PJ to celebrate their 41st Anniversary. The message for that day was split into two, in light of their theme for the anniversary celebration, “Embracing The Breakthrough Anointing.”
First Elder Ong See Lian delivered 8 points on The Prerequisites For Spiritual Breakthrough, and then by Senior Pastor, Reynold Lim followed up with his message entitled, The Qualities Of A Breakthrough People.
In Judges 6, the Israelites were going through the most devastating period of all time. Because of their disobedience, God had given them over to the Midianites. Whenever their crops were ready to be harvested, the Midianites and the Amalekites would come and destroy all their plants and their animals.
The children of Israel cried out to God, and so God sent an angel. “But did God send an angel to fight for them?” Ps. Reynold asked. “No! God sent an angel to a man. Not to a dynamic or courageous man, who would lead the people of Israel to fight the Midianites, but to Gideon!”
Gideon was the most insignificant man in his family, and his family was from the most insignificant tribe in the nation of Israel. Yet, God chose to use him. “That is why I want to share this with you today. I believe that Gideon’s story will lead us on a journey to become a breakthrough people,” Ps. Reynold said.
1. Gideon hungered and thirst for God to work in his life.
Gideon was weak, but he longed for God. He longed for God to work in his life and in his nation. In Judges 6:13, Gideon said to the angel, “Pardon me, my lord, but if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about?” Gideon knew of God’s mighty works and he thirst to see God work in Israel again.
2.Gideon was sent by God.
If you want to be used by God, you cannot simply go ahead without God. If we rely on our own minds and strength and go on our own, we could end up in a bad situation. But God sent Gideon. Gideon waited on God and let Him send him. “Dearly beloved, you must be commissioned by God,” Ps. Reynold said.
“The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” (Judges 6:14).
3. Gideon was real with God.
Gideon was not a superhero. He was just as weak as you and I, and he was insecure. When the angel of God appeared to him, he said to the angel, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you” (Judges 6:17-18).
And so the angel waited, and proved to Gideon that he was sent from God. But still, Gideon was insecure and told God, “I’m still not sure that You’ve called me.” He asked God for another confirmation by testing God with wet and dry fleece (Joshua 6:36-40), and God proved to him another two more times that He was calling him.
“This is a quality of a breakthrough people,” Ps. Reynold said. “Gideon was not afraid to be real with God.” God does not despise our weaknesses.
4. Gideon was a man of faith.
Gideon was timid and fearful, but through God’s call, he was transformed to become a man of faith. Finally, he even appears in Hebrews 11, the Hall of Faith! “You may want to ask, ‘How on earth did Gideon appear in Hebrews 11?!’” Ps Reynold said. Here is what Hebrews 11 says about Gideon:
“And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.”
(Romans 11:32-34)
We need to become men and women of faith so that in difficult times, we can look beyond our circumstances to the God who is able. If we do not have faith, we forever limit the word of God in our lives.
5. Gideon demonstrated obedience on a private level.
In Judges 6:25-32, God tells Gideon to pull down the altars in his home—the idols that his father and family worshipped. Gideon trembled. How dared he pull down the idols of Baal? However, in all his weakness and fear, Gideon obeyed God. Because he was afraid, he went to smash the altar in the night.
The next morning, when everyone came to know about the destroyed idols, they concluded that Gideon was the one who did it. But instead of getting angry with him, Gideon’s father stood by him, turned away from Baal, and turned to God.
Any man, woman, or young person who wants to be used by God must be willing to pull down the altars and idols in our hearts before God can use us. We must obey God on a private level. When we obey God in the privacy of our hearts and in our bedrooms, God will bless us and own us.
6. Gideon received a new revelation from God.
In the midst of being commissioned by God, God revealed to Gideon, “I’m your peace.” When we wait on God, we come into a new understanding of who God is—we come into a fresh understanding of the character of God. We come to know Him in a deeper way, and that new revelation of God will empower us.
7. Gideon was clothed in God’s power.
Gideon came to know that God is his peace and was then empowered by the Holy Spirit. After forty years under the oppression of the Midianites and Amalekites, Israel was able to overcome their enemies because God sent Gideon and empowered him with the Holy Spirit.
Ps. Reynold concluded by saying that, as Community Baptist Church steps into their 42nd year, they can learn from Gideon. They need to hunger and thirst for God, to wait on Him and be real with Him. Then, as they grow in their faith, they will receive a fresh understanding of God, and be empowered by His Holy Spirit!
|Share The Good News|
Esperanza Ng
Leave a Reply