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Feb 07, 2016

Illuminate Our Way

Illuminate Our Way

Speaker: Dennis Gallaher

Series: A Church That Prays

Category: Prayer, Sunday Morning

Does your life overwhelm you and make you afraid? Gideon faced a mighty army as one man. He was faced with a huge enemy, feeling alone and afraid, but God was with him just as He is for us today.

“Illuminate Our Way” by Pastor Dennis J. Gallaher- February 7, 2016

This past Sunday we continued our series on prayer and our look at Gideon. He was faced with an enemy, feeling alone and afraid, but God was with him just as He is for us today.
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Opening Scripture

Psalm 119:105  Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

When I’m in India, I need a light that shines forward that gives me an idea as to where I’m headed and lets me check for snakes.

Some of you are on a perilous path, a tough season. Take heart, God has not abandoned you, but is training you. Learning to operate in the dark is an important skill.

God’s Word, both written and spoken, is your greatest companion. Don’t underestimate the power of God’s Word.
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Hebrews 4:12  For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

If you are in a dark place, let God’s Word shine a light forward for you, be your hope, and illuminate a path for you today.
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Read Judges 6:11-16  But the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man.

Gideon was all wrapped up in his own stuff, just trying to survive, living in terror. The only person he saw was himself, but that’s not the way God saw it.

1 Corinthians 12:14  For the body is not one member, but many.

God’s view of Gideon is not unlike His view of you and I. He sees us the way He created us as individual members of the same body created for unity.

There are 5 questions that need to be answered:
1. Who is the enemy? The devil and his vast empire of evil
           Ephesians 6:12  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

2. What is the prize, the territory fought for? Souls, not wishing that any          should perish.
           2 Peter 3:9  The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

3. Why are we fighting? To please our Commander.
           2 Timothy 2:4  No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.

4. Where is the battle? In the world.
          John 17:18  As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent   them into the world.

5. When do we fight? The answer is now.
          Revelations 8:3-5
          We do the battle through prayer.
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Gideon, just like us, is full of questions:
- Why has this happened?
- Where are all the miracles I heard about?
- Why have You abandoned us?

There is nothing wrong with asking questions, just don’t expect an answer, expect a direction.
If you want God to deliver you, then you need to commit to follow God’s way.

Judges 6:16  But the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man.”

The first commitment is to God.
The second commitment is to one another.
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Genesis 11:6  The Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.

At the Tower of Babel they had the power of unity:
- they were one people
- they had one language
- nothing they purposed was impossible for them
So, God scattered the people.
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Read Acts 2

God unites the church by pouring out His Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:46-47  Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

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Read Psalm 133, a testimony of “speaking the same language”

We are here to walk the path that God has given us.