Sunday, September 6, 2020 - when situations seem impossible

Theme: Waking Up to God - Gideon: when situations seem impossible

Prayer

Judges 6:11-13                                                                    Common English Bible Translation

Then the Lord’s messenger came and sat under the oak at Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites. The Lord’s messenger appeared to him and said, “the Lord is with you, mighty warrior!” But Gideon replied to him, “With all due respect, my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his amazing works that our ancestors recounted to us, saying, ‘Didn’t the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and allowed Midian to overpower us.” (Question: Have you ever felt like God abandoned you? Why?)

Judges 6:14-18

Then the Lord turned to him and said, “You have strength, so go and rescue Israel from the power of Midian. Am I not personally sending you?” But again Gideon said to him, “With all due respect, my Lord, how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I’m the youngest in my household.” The Lord replied, “Because I’m with you, you’ll defeat the Midianites as if they were just one person.” Then Gideon said to him, “If I’ve gained your approval, please show me a sign that it’s really you speaking with me. Don’t leave here until I return, bring out my offering, and set it in front of you.” The Lord replied, “I’ll stay until you return.” (Question: How do you need God to show up in your life?)

Judges 6:19-21

So Gideon went and prepared a young goat and used an ephah of flour for unleavened bread. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot and brought them out to him under the oak and presented them. Then God’s messenger said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and set them on this rock, then pour out the broth.” And he did so. The Lord’s messenger reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire came up from the rock and devoured the meat and the unleavened bread; the Lord’s messenger vanished before his eyes. (Question: How have you experienced God?)

Judges 6:22-24

Then Gideon realized that it had been the Lord’s messenger. Gideon exclaimed, “Oh no, Lord God! I have seen the Lord’s messenger face-to-face!” But the Lord said to him, “Peace! Don’t be afraid! You won’t die.” So Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it “The Lord makes peace.” It still stands today in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. (Question: How do you respond to God?)

Judges 6:33-34, 36-40

Sometime later, all the Midianites, Amalekites, and other easterners joined together, came over, and set up camp in the Jezreel Valley. Then the Lord’s spirit came over Gideon, and he sounded the horn and summoned the Abiezrites to follow him. But then Gideon said to God, “To see if you really intend to rescue Israel through me as you have declared, I’m now putting a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece but all the ground is dry, then I’ll know that you are going to rescue Israel through me, as you have declared.” And that is what happened. When he got up early the next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung out enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. Then Gideon said to God, “Don’t be angry with me, but let me speak just one more time. Please let me make just one more test with the fleece: now let only the fleece be dry and let dew be on all the ground.” And God did so that night. Only the fleece was dry, but there was dew on all the ground. (Question: What makes you question whether or not God is at work in the world?)

Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, 

on earth as it is in heaven. 

Give us this day our daily bread,

And forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us;

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil

For thine is the kingdom and the power 

and the glory, forever.  Amen

Blessing

Song List (to listen to from wherever you get your music)

Take My Life

Will You Come and Follow Me

Here in This Place

This is Me Trying – Taylor Swift

Back into The Light – The Avett Brothers

Quotes by Peter Abelard (1079-1142) Theologian and Philosopher

-“The key to wisdom is this – constant and frequent questioning, for by doubting we are led to question and by questioning we arrive at the truth.”

-“It is by doubting that we come to investigate, and by investigating that we recognize the truth.”

Quote by Poet T. S. Eliot

“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”