Throw down the false gods in your life.

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TrustTrust and serveserve the True and Living God and Him aloneHim alone.

God has chosen GideonGideon to lead the Israelites in this time of oppression by the Midianites,

And to deliver them with a great great victoryvictory.

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Gideon was notnot a man wewe would have chosen.

He had nono confidence -- self or any other.

He was from an unimportant familyunimportant family,

And hehe was the least in that family.

He had no qualitiesno qualities for leadership that anyone would see himsee him as a deliverer.

That is whywhy God chose him.

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No manNo man would get any gloryglory for destroying the Midianites.

2 Timothy 4 18 … To God be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

25 And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him, Take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullocksecond bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it:

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God orders our stepssteps.

People often think that God givesGod gives general directionsgeneral directions, but we have to

figure outfigure out how to get there.

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That concept is notnot found in Scripture.

It comes from the pride of manpride of man.

To faithfully serve Godserve God, we must livelive and walkwalk in the PowerPower and WisdomWisdom of His Spirit.

Psalms 16 (NIV) 2 I said to the Lord, "You are my Lord; apart from You I have no good thing."

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We can't manifest God's charactercharacter unless His SpiritHis Spirit produces it in us.

Galatians 5 22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

These are not traitsnot traits of successful men or women in this world.

They are essentialessential in the Kingdom of God.

First God chose an unlikely manunlikely man to deliver Israel,

And then He gave an unlikely commandunlikely command to raise him to leadership and bring that victory.

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25b "Throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it:"

Gideon's daddy was an idolater, and all the people in that clan were idolaters.

Talk about making a bunch of people madpeople mad,

Just take away their idolsJust take away their idols.

Preach against those thingsthings which they have raisedraised above serving God.

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Anything we raise aboveraise above doing what God has calledcalled and giftedgifted us to do,

Is an idolidol unto us.

Not Thy Will, but minemine be done.

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26 And build an altarbuild an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullocksecond bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down.

Tear down Baal's altar.

Build an altar unto God.

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It's not enoughnot enough to tear down the evil;

We must also build the goodbuild the good.

We must notnot worship false gods;

We must worshipmust worship the True and Living God.

Don't set our eyes on the things of this worldthis world;

Set our eyesSet our eyes on the things of God.

27 Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the Lord had said unto him: and so it was, because he fearedhe feared his father's household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.

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28 And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built. 29 And they said one to another, Who hath done this thing? And when they enquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing.

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Gideon secretlysecretly tore down the false gods,But it could not remainnot remain a secret.

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If more than one knows a thing, it will get out.

Gideon hadhad to secretly tear down these altars,

Or he would have been stoppedstopped.

But GodBut God wanted everyone to know who did it.

God was raising up an unlikely manunlikely man with an unlikely commandunlikely command to lead these people.

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They would follow Gideon in spitein spite of their anger against him.

They thoughtthought of him as weak and ineffectual.

But God was proving himproving him to be a leader.

God doesn't choose those who can do thingsdo things on their ownon their own to do His Work.

They would take the glorytake the glory!

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Look what I didI did for the American people.

II created jobs.

God chooses those who will depend

on Him.

Nothing is so strong as gentleness. Nothing so gentle as real strength.

Saint Francis de SalesFrench saint & bishop of Geneva (1567 - 1622)

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Archie Burton: Bro. David, I am some better all the doctors have released me and I still have problems with my breathing, but they tell me there is no more that they can do for me, so the Lord willing I am planning to return to Moldova on the May 31, please continue to pray for me, I will keep in touch with you . thanks for your prayers