Archive for December 2010
New Years Day is not a magic day : Prophecy : A call to continual communication : Please respond
A key step in the pursuit of revival and reformation in the church is to steward the call for continual communication.
FIRST: Revival Church REALLY needs you. We are advancing, yet we are in a serious financial position. We must immediately raise an extra $2000 a month… to carry on with the mandate here in Detroit. DONATE before the day is done and you’ll receive a 2010 tax receipt. Thank you so much! www.detroitrevivalchurch.com/donate
New Years Day is not magical. Everything in life doesn’t just get better. It’s up to us to bring the change. We must work. It’s time. Check out a new video podcast (I do about one of these per day…and am seeking a company of people who will follow along and dialogue with me) at www.youtube.com/johnburtonministries.
Listen closely. The scattered, disjointed church is deeply vulnerable right now. I wish we could truly understand how serious this is. Families, individuals and entire regions are at risk due to the scattering and distraction that has impacted millions of Christians.
It has been accurately spoken over our ministry many times that there’s a unique anointing of communication—and that doesn’t mean that we just write books or preach or shoot out emails. There an anointing to advance the call for the church to break out of a private, unfocused way of living and into literal continual dialogue.
It’s a prophetic call to a prophetic life in a corporate environment.
We know from Amos 3 that God does nothing unless he reveals his secrets to his servants the prophets. However, those secrets, which are being revealed continually, have no real system to land in most churches and regions and to be watched over and responded to.
The technology is there. Except for the hours when I’m asleep or when I’m in certain meetings, there’s rarely a moment that I’m not available to receive urgent information that God has revealed through people. Via email, texts, Facebook, video podcasts, phone calls or whatever… it’s possible to receive instruction and information at any time… and we should be expecting it!
I’m ready to hear from people locally here in Detroit, or those who have insight in the mission in Detroit. I’m waiting to hear from you. To receive your emails. Your texts.
I have my phone with me. I’m ready to hear from my staff and other people who need to pass God infused revelation to me.
Are you alert? Are you available? Are you responding to what God’s doing every day?
Example: What if I, as a leader of Revival Church, received a mandate from God to call an all church prayer meeting tonight? Would people receive the message that I send? Would they respond in an instant? Would the church tonight be full or empty? How many would come on Sunday and admit that they didn’t check their email until it was too late? Who isn’t even on the email list? Who would check their email and decide the apostolic/prophetic call to action was too inconvenient? How many excuses would rise up? Would a Joel 1 call work today?
Joel 1:14 (ESV) 14 Consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.
Consider the call to gather in Acts 2. 120 responded, and isn’t it interesting that what resulted was tongues of fire?
Acts 2:3 (ESV) 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.
- Tongues= communication
- Fire= the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of prophecy
We can’t presume to have the presence of God in our midst if we don’t also have communication, prophecy. God is prophecy! He is the Word! He is a tongue! He is communication! If your life is void of prophetic communication then you have to ask how much of God’s presence you are encountering. Are you in the midst of God’s action and mission?
Consider the story of the Tower of Babel. It was communication that was the power in that story! Communication would make it possible to accomplish the ridiculously improbable goal. So, God confused their communication. The devil is doing the same thing today as God is calling the church to be in constant communication.
Genesis 11:5-7 (ESV) 5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
Here’s what’s necessary. Every day, sometimes several times a day, every person connected with the mission… people who are in the church, others who are connected online… must develop the discipline of being instant. We must all get used to shooting out emails in response to blog posts, podcasts, etc. We must be in a place of hearing God and being so deeply invested in the mission that we continually and strategically respond to prophetic insight.
I have people that email me several times a week regarding what God’s doing in Detroit. That tells me that they are alive and alert and on task! What a powerful blessing!
I wish I could share how critical this is! We can’t sit back and wait any longer! The calls to action are going to escalate RADICALLY and we must learn now how to be accountable and responsive on a low level—even if that low level seems extreme.
It’s time to gather night and day. It’s time to respond through active communication day after day. There is no guarantee of revival… the new year brings nothing in itself. Tomorrow is not a magic day where everything gets better. We must bring the change. It’s on us to respond. Today. Right now.
**Your next step? Respond to this message… share your heart… what’s God saying? What’s burning in you? Are you one of the pioneers that Revival Church is looking for? I can’t wait to hear from you! [email protected].
Seeking early adopters : Breaking away from the marginal Christian experience
The call at Revival Church : Three burning focuses will help rip the Christian church out of a marginal, stale state into a tremble that never ends.
I’m waiting.
I’m looking.
The strategy of God in this nation requires people who refuse to live according to a skewed Christian experience that has suffocated the church into a near flat line.
As a leader with a humanly impossible mission to call together people who will form their entire lives around the prayer room and the activity of the Holy Spirit, I find myself waiting and looking as I sound the alarm for the willing ones to move into position.
A radical response will result in a nuclear explosion of shock and awe that the nations of the Earth will witness—and then tremble.
My current city of Detroit must wake up. The church must destroy the habit of a casual response to a terrifyingly urgent call to repent, to respond immediately and to follow the feverish pace of the Holy Spirit toward revival.
During a prayer & whiteboard session on Monday, God refined the burning focus of the Detroit mission. We are intent on calling people together to participate in the mission at Revival Church… and the call is unapologetically and necessarily extreme:
REVIVAL CULTURE
The focus every day at Revival Church is to develop a culture of revival. The presence of God simply must press against us at every turn. It’s hard to believe that church services actually are allowed to continue without it! How can we teach and worship without the fire of God burning in our midst?
This culture is impartation and refreshing driven—meaning, God desires to impact, heal, deliver and pull destinies out of every one of us. Additionally, this focus results in communities of fiery love. People who are intentionally committed to one another… people who become family…who go deep in relationship and Holy Spirit fueled love.
Also, a key focus of this ministry is taking the fire of revival to the cities of the Earth. (If you are ready to book me, go to www.johnburton.net/booking) Teams of revivalists will be moving out with me as I minister in churches, at conferences and other events. We desire to train and coach others into a vibrant culture of wild revival.
REVOLUTION MANDATE
The second strategy of our ministry is all about reformation. Revolution.
Understand, the Sunday style of ministry must end. The 24/7 church must emerge. Now.
People who are used to living their lives throughout the week and attending church for a couple of hours on a Sunday morning must brace for an abrupt shock to their systems. A Kingdom perspective is being imparted into the forerunners who will be leading the church into it’s new reality.
Today, the church tends to be focused on feeding people… tomorrow the focus is for the people to feed God. To minister to him. To pray.
Today, the church gathers together, on average, 2-4 times a month. Tomorrow, people will be together several days a week.
Today, people tend to seek out teaching. Tomorrow, they will receive equipping and instruction with an expectation of response…ministry…action.
There are a lot of changes coming, and the call is now for the early adopters to respond and change their lives unlike few are willing to. At Revival Church, we are setting up shop to appeal to these early adopters.
REVELATION DRIVEN
The entire church and Christian experience must be driven by the voice, activity and revelation of God himself.
It must become normal for every Believer to be a person of extreme, zealous and fiery prayer as their primary activity in life. The church must embrace this primary mandate. Revival Church certainly does.
As prayer becomes the primary reason we gather together in the church, and the number one activity of our lives, we’ll hear God’s instructions clearly and continually.
Revival Church is called to be a prophetic revival center for the region. We must hear God. We must have people in our midst who are zealously on their face in night and day prayer. This is non-negotiable.
I’ll say it very clearly. If Detroit is to experience Kingdom normalcy… a revival culture… drastic and momentous change must come now.
Are you hungry enough for such a drastic interruption in your life? Are you willing? OK, let’s go. It’s time.
THE REVIVAL CHURCH CALL
So, what’s the minimum call for this new-form mission at Revival Church?
- Be early for prayer every Sunday at 5pm
- Make it extremely rare to miss a Sunday evening service.
- Nurture a life of radical prayer, study in the Word and pursuit of God’s presence.
- Participate in theLab, our weekly 8:30pm Monday radio show at www.detroitrevivalchurch.com/thelab.
- Participate in all, or as many as possible, of our weekly prayer meetings at IHOPE. We pray at noon every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. www.ihopedetroit.org
- Be extravagant tithers and givers
- Be an extreme communicator—participate in theLab, email us about what God’s revealing to you regarding the mission, be in contact with leadership and share your heart as often each week as you can.
- In order to understand the Revival Church vision, read John’s books, starting with 20 Elements of Revival (www.detroitrevivalchurch.com/resources)
The 24/7 church is emerging, and we’ll soon find ourselves in corporate ministry together at least 20 hours a week on the low end… and this transitional call of less than 8-10 hours a week will help ease our way into that new structure.
I’d love to hear from you! Are you ready to join the wild Revival Church family of revivalists? Contact me directly at [email protected].
Important video : New Revival Church prayer : wrecked by a mandate
I’m wrecked by the mandate of revival in Detroit and in the cities of the Earth.
First, the magnitude of the mission we’ve been called to steward is EXTREME. It requires a massive prayer effort…and that’s just to get us started on the journey.
Until further notice, starting Monday, December 27th, I’ll be at IHOPE-Detroit praying on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday from noon-1pm. Let’s see an army of intercessors and revivalists pray together several times a week as we prepare for the coming outpouring.
Speaking of the magnitude of the call, here’s what’s wrecking me and what’s burning within:
- 1000 Intercessors: In early 2010 God gave me a clear mandate to cast the vision for 1000 intercessors to intentionally and regularly gather, pray, stir the prophetic and release the plans of God into the region. I’m wrecked because of the weight of this call, and because the challenge to see even 10 or 100 people commit to this type of high level assignment is severe. CHUCK PIERCE and CINDY JACOBS sounded the alarm for 10,000 intercessors in each state this past summer. I don’t think it’s a coincidence. Detroit must see these intercessors who are revival minded step into place! So goes Detroit, so goes the world. Right now, the call is simple. We need 1000 intercessors to be on the weekly radio show theLab, every Monday at 8:30pm. That’s it. The place: www.detroitrevivalchurch.com/thelab.
- Reformation: A primary call of our mandate in Michigan is to call the church into a great reformation. The resistance to such a massive cultural change is absolutely insane. The enemy has done a phenomenal job of bewitching so many in the church, and the church and the body is deeply wounded because of it. You can watch a video that I just recorded about this bizarre resistance to commitment and mission in the church here. I’m wrecked because the call is so demanding but the response is so apathetic. I think of forerunner ministries like IHOPE-Detroit who are one of the few who are carrying the call of night and day intercession… and they are led by some of the most wholehearted and precious people I know. Yet, the call for financial support of their critical ministry is met mostly with silence. Reformation is needed. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… the churches must be full of laborers. We are to pray for the laborers to move into position… the harvest is greater than the manpower available to handle it… and that’s an issue!
Leave your comments and let me know what you think. Are you ready to press toward revival with us? Let’s go!
New teaching video and notes : Razor Sharp Faith
We debuted our new camera at Revival Church last night… check it out!
[Pastors-some of you have asked for a video of my teaching… in preparing for booking me to minister in your church. Here you go! Contact me… I’d love to travel to your location and encourage your church!]
While many in the church are holding back and waiting for a change in their circumstances, God is calling us to boldly go where no man has gone before!
It’s a season of bold and risky advance… or, in other words, it’s a season of faith.
Faith is an action word… it’s not simply a disposition or a way of believing.
The call is for all of us to intentionally move to that realm… and when we do we’ll suddenly find ourselves with story after story to tell of miracles, signs and wonders.
Head on over to www.detroitrevivalchurch.com/teaching and watch our very first sermon video at Revival Church! (Yeah, it’s slightly jerky at times, and audio is coming out of only one channel… but it’s pretty good for our first attempt!)
New teaching video and notes : Razor Sharp Faith
We debuted our new camera at Revival Church last night… check it out!
While many in the church are holding back and waiting for a change in their circumstances, God is calling us to boldly go where no man has gone before!
It’s a season of bold and risky advance… or, in other words, it’s a season of faith.
Faith is an action word… it’s not simply a disposition or a way of believing.
The call is for all of us to intentionally move to that realm… and when we do we’ll suddenly find ourselves with story after story to tell of miracles, signs and wonders.
Head on over to www.detroitrevivalchurch.com/teaching and watch our very first sermon video at Revival Church! (Yeah, it’s slightly jerky at times, and audio is coming out of only one channel… but it’s pretty good for our first attempt!)
A school of revival : Video is here : Participate in a massive drama
The prophecies have been clear, and now video is here!
Have you ever wondered how the Brownsville revival broke out? Or Azusa, or Toronto?
Of course, we have some great historians that have done a good job of breaking this down for us, but… what if…
…what if there was a video record of the teachings and calls to action that preceded an outpouring?
Imagine 50 years from now in a school of revival somewhere in the world… possibly in a village in Africa or a homeless shelter in a city in Europe… or in Bible colleges… countless hours of video was being studied and the teachings implemented in their own pursuit of revival. Wow!
So, this massive drama is before us. Thanks to Revolution House of Prayer in Manitou Springs, Colorado, we have the camera. The services and events at Revival Church will be recorded starting this Sunday, and our prayer is that many people around the world, both now and after the revival lands, will glean key strategies from them.
Three key people prophesied that news cameras would be in our building recording the revival. But, they also prophesied that we needed to have cameras in the building BEFORE the revival so a before and after documentary could be produced.
Now, we still do have needs to take this media missions ministry to the next level. Can you help?
- A second camera ($500)
- A video board (?)
- Monthly broadcasting on xpmedia.com ($250/month)
You can donate at www.detroitrevivalchurch.com/donate. Send an email to me at [email protected] to let me know that your donation is specifically for the media ministry.
You can watch a quick video that I took at www.detroitrevivalchurch.com/teaching.
Also, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube videos… these are taken ‘on the go’ and I talk about the messages that God’s burning in my heart in the moment. www.youtube.com/johnburtonministries.
The Absentee Church : Time of extreme risk : George Barna
Leaders are increasingly alarmed about the body’s casual approach to the mission of the church
Even the most spiritual and mission-minded Christians seem to be pulling back from the corporate gathering, from the church in America.
I recently talked with a pastor who said he was disturbed that a couple of his key leaders were absent from a special church event. He was beside himself. Apparently they didn’t replace this mission critical event with something of more spiritual significance, but simply to relax and enjoy a night out on the town.
In this biblically historic season, the potential is great but the church is at extreme risk of becoming nearly powerless in most of American culture. The call must be to gather continually and to pray fervently.
Kay Sharpe, a friend of mine, sent me this email:
We had revival (I mean, full-tilt, make Brownsville Toronto and Lakeland look tame) … we were about to ramp it up… and suddenly most of the people who make it all “work” had “other things to do” —
I wept.
George Barna discovered in a recent poll:
Although there were a few subgroups that were more likely than average to experience church-based accountability, there was not a single segment for which even one out of every five people said their church does anything to hold them accountable.
The people are pulling back, often only attending a church service a couple times a month (statistically, twice a month is considered regular church attendance). There is little accountability and an increasing resistance to a raised bar of commitment to the mission of the church. There’s also an alarming trend to adopt personal spiritual missions (usually good and God given) but outside of the context of their local church. The calls and mandates that God lays on our hearts must be carried out within the structure and context of the broader corporate mission—the church.
Barna:
In a society in which choice is king, there are no absolutes, every individual is a free agent, we are taught to be self-reliant and independent.
There are other issues that keep people away from a diligent commitment to the local church. I taught recently on “The Spirit of Insignificance” and would recommend strongly that you take some time to listen to it (www.detroitrevivalchurch.com/teaching). I’ve discovered that most people believe that it matters little if they pull back and miss church services, prayer events and other ‘all church’ corporate meetings. If we understood that our absence has an exponential impact on the rest of the body and on the mission of the church there’s no way we’d miss an event (with very few, rare exceptions), regardless of how many times a week the church doors are open!
Another key issue for the departure from the church is that people tend to treat the church like an number of other places they visit throughout the week. People to go the grocery store to get stuff. They go to a restaurant to get some food that satisfies. They go to a baseball game to be entertained.
The church, however, must be treated with a much different approach. The church isn’t like a grocery store, but it is very much like a military. While there are personal benefits to enrolling in the Army (free food, insurance, etc.), the call is to serve. There is surrender of a lot of personal freedoms for the sake of the health of the nation. Time freedom, how we spend our money, comforts, the way we live all changes as we embrace our assignment in the church. Of course, the blessings that are attached to this kind of commitment, the spiritual impact, is phenomenal. However, with that in mind, consider this additional finding from Barna:
Growing numbers of people are less interested in spiritual principles and more desirous of learning pragmatic solutions for life.
Again, people want to go to church to learn life skills, to gain some nuggets of inspiration that will help take them through the next week. They want the church to make their life better instead of their life making the church better. To use the church in this manner is tragic. I have found that people are invigorated and inspired when deep, challenging and Holy Spirit communicated spiritual principles are taught, but it’s rare to actually respond by living up to that level of challenge.
Barna:
When asked what matters most, teenagers prioritize education, career development, friendships, and travel. Faith is significant to them, but it takes a back seat to life accomplishments.
Americans consider survival in the present to be much more significant than eternal security and spiritual possibilities.
Most will participate in church to a degree when they receive help, discover friendships, feel connected, etc., but it is truly a special and rare thing to find true soldiers who connect and commit because they have a plan and a call to pour out and serve regardless of disappointment, frustration, other life focuses, offense or rejection.
Allow me to state this clearly: The call to the church as it prepares for revival will not be easy, convenient or fulfilling much of the time. It will often be exhausting, disappointing and slow to develop. However, the cost is worth it as we trust that God will, in time, impact people for eternity.
My next book is almost done : Pharaoh in the Church
The follow-up to Covens in the Church is almost ready to send to print
Covens in the Church is a book that has set a lot of people free, and my prayer is that Pharaoh in the Church will have the same effect.
The first book was targeted at the body as it presented the case for humility and submission to authority as it relates to mission advance.
Pharaoh in the Church is directed at pastors and leaders. It’s a call to relieve the body from making bricks and building the kingdoms of man and to take on the mantel of Moses. It’s time to lead the church into a time of reformation that very possibly may have greater impact than the reformation that launched under Martin Luther.
I’m also considering redesigning both book covers. I may, and I may not… what do you think? Take a look at both here: http://ow.ly/i/6eSI
Here’s a portion from the book:
CHAPTER ONE
A Shocking Shift in the Church
Its days are numbered. I don’t know what that number is, but it isn’t large. In fact, the beginnings of change are here. You can feel the temperature fluctuating as the days are suddenly growing shorter. We’re in a transitional season that will ultimately result in the rebirthing and reintroduction of a long forgotten biblical structure– the church.
This change, as I stated in the introduction and thoroughly investigated in the sister book Covens in the Church, is not, as many believe, an exodus from the relationship with Christian leaders, but it is most certainly an exodus. In fact, it’s an exodus that will either invigorate or irritate leaders across our nation.
You see, there is a God-ordained and God-initiated revolution taking form. It is quite simple to understand that resistance to God’s process is always a tragic mistake and that embracing God’s process always guarantees success (God never fails). Revolution, by definition, is drastic and momentous change. It’s shocking and it’s shaking. It will rock every one of us as the process unfolds before us, but those who will trust God’s wisdom will survive–and thrive as humble, faithful and tested men and women of almighty God.
Exciting opportunity : XPMedia.com : Patricia King : Impacting the world
Most of you have heard about the unusual prophecies about capturing Revival Church ministry on video.
First, here’s a couple powerful testimonies:
Last night your message was incredible! I was trembling the whole message and my spirit was coming alive! It was so strategic and powerful! There was such anointing and life on your words. It was like an arrow being shot in the spiritual realm and I could feel a shaking! I could see the heavens shifting and also an agitation and rumbling in the enemy's camp. I believe that we haven't even grasped (yet) all that took place and happened last night! Just thought I would share that with you! I am so stirred up! –Ruth
i listened to sundays message again. im so messed up, tears, groans, trembling (can barely type) such an anointing…o god, give us your heart and let us take heed to the call to prayer. i see us on the verge of a deep valley (the glory) (the radical call) god is saying just take the step down and let go. make the changes and you will see my glory manifest in detroit! –Michele
Listen to Sunday’s sermon that launched so many into freedom… “A Spirit of Insignificance”…don’t miss it! Head on over to www.detroitrevivalchurch.com/teaching!
BROADCASTING REVIVAL CHURCH SERVICES ON XPMEDIA.COM
Three prophecies from reputable people including Michele Perry and an associate of Georgian Banov felt it was imperative that we start capturing the ministry on video. Cameras will be videoing the outpouring after it begins, and it’s important that we record what leads up to it on this side of revival.
We have an amazing opportunity to broadcast on one of the world’s premiere outlets—xpmedia.com!
Patricia King’s XPMedia.com is a major broadcaster of ministries like Patricia King, Mark Chironna, Billy Graham & Franklin Graham, Marilyn and Sarah Hickey Ministries, James Goll, Bobby Conner, Sid Roth, Heidi Baker, Brian Lake, Georgian & Winnie Banov, Randy DeMain, Joshua Mills, Jason Westerfield, Lance Wallnau, Wesley & Stacey Campbell, Matt Sorger, Che Ahn, Ryan Wyatt, John & Carol Arnolt, Faytene and many others.
XPmedia.com is currently reaching 130 countries and generating approximately 30-50 million hits per month!
As a church, we’re at a place where we must find new partners to help some of these ministries come to being.
We need your help—we can’t proceed until finances have been secured:
- Cameras and equipment. We should be able to have what we need for around $1000.
- XPMedia.com broadcasting. This costs $250/month. That’s it. No setup or any additional costs. (You can setup recurring donations online)
You can donate at www.detroitrevivalchurch.com/donate. Feel free to send us an email letting us know that your donation is specifically for this video ministry at [email protected].
I’d love to broadcast the powerful things God is doing at Revival Church around the world!
Audio and notes : A must hear message : A spirit of insignificance
Last night’s service was simply indescribable—freedom reigned as spirits of insignificance were broken off!
Man, I have to tell you—if you make a habit of skipping out on the services at Revival Church, change your habits! You are missing a lot!
God was moving in dramatic fashion all night last night! The prophetic was ramped up and lives were rocked! Aaron Crider brought us into a place of encounter through worship and I delivered a message that people are already requesting so they can listen again and share it with ministry teams and friends.
The sermon is now ready for you to stream or download!
Head on over to www.detroitrevivalchurch.com/teaching and listen to A Spirit of Insignificance.
PLUS—I’ll be discussing this topic further LIVE online TONIGHT on theLab radio show at 8:30pm EST.
Go to www.detroitrevivalchurch.com/thelab tonight and listen in OR call in and listen at (323) 679-0954.
Here’s the notes from last night’s teaching, A Spirit of Insignificance:
A Spirit of Insignificance
I. The Gathering
a. A massive mission requires a massive response
i. Key moments in history require two things:
1. Gathering together
2. Prayer
ii. Acts 2
iii. Gathering and praying in the garden (vs. sleeping)
1. Joe Sazyc- The mosque was packed at 6am, and he went to his prayer meeting where there was one person.
2. The major issue I’m seeing right now is the lack of the prayer fueled corporate gatherings.
3. Exhortation- the churches must be full! A weak person’s simple prayer on a night like tonight can be what it takes to launch revival!
a. I’m calling the church of Detroit to be in position… we are declaring that we don’t participate based on what we get out of it… the church isn’t there to entertain us… we must work! We must understand the tactical needs… we need everybody in church all the time. The vision is huge, and we’re awaiting an army.
b. Pastor Loudermilk- we need you in church!
c. IHOP- every day
d. Brownsville- 5pm-1am every day! 2000 in line by 7am every morning!
iv. This call to gather, the call to the 24/7 church is being fought against by the enemy incredibly.
1. My thought was that due to the hunger of revival in Detroit, it would be easy to sound the alarm and gather a desperate army.
2. However, the hunger is overshadowed by a variety of issues.
v. People are kept from the corporate mission for many reasons
1. Distraction
2. Business
3. Apathy
4. An inability to look past personal struggles to focus on the city
a. The church is inundated with fixing people’s problems instead of the people coming together and fixing problems.
vi. Today I want to hit on the issue of insignificance
1. It’s common to feel that our participation, our attendance, our prayer, our response isn’t important.
2. We’ve discussed the definition of religion quite a bit.
3. A spirit of insignificance will cause us to believe that we have no hope of bringing anything to the mission, so we default on participating based on what the mission can bring to us.
II. Insignificance
a. Judges 6:1-2 (ESV) 1 The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD gave them into the hand of Midian seven years. 2 And the hand of Midian overpowered Israel, and because of Midian the people of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds.
i. We see the enemy scattering the church.
ii. The power of unity and corporate advance was diluted to the point of having no effect as they separated and hid in caves.
b. Judges 6:3-6 (ESV) 3 For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. 4 They would encamp against them and devour the produce of the land, as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey. 5 For they would come up with their livestock and their tents; they would come like locusts in number—both they and their camels could not be counted—so that they laid waste the land as they came in. 6 And Israel was brought very low because of Midian…
i. Step one: In the time of desperation, it’s time to cry out.
1. Verse 6: And the people of Israel cried out for help to the LORD.
c. Judges 6:7-8 (ESV) 7 When the people of Israel cried out to the LORD on account of the Midianites, 8 the LORD sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage.
i. Step two: God sends a prophet with instructions and encouragement.
d. Judges 6:9-10 (ESV) 9 And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10 And I said to you, ‘I am the LORD your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you have not obeyed my voice.”
i. Step three: Obedience
ii. Enter- Gideon!
e. Judges 6:11-13 (ESV) 11 Now the angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.” 13 And Gideon said to him, “Please, sir, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
i. Gideon was complaining that things were bad, that things weren’t changing, but he didn’t realize that he was the reason! It was his fault and the fault of the Israelites that things were bad… and it is him who must turn things around.
f. Judges 6:14 (ESV) 14 And the LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?”
i. God spoke to Gideon based on his true identity, not his perceived identity.
g. Judges 6:15-16 (ESV) 15 And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” 16 And the LORD said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”
i. Those who perceive themselves to be insignificant are but a moment away from initiating a move of God that will be felt throughout the city!
ii. Moses felt insignificant… he stammered. One of the greatest stories in history was in front of him.
iii. Gideon remembered that God delivered them from Egypt… what he didn’t realize was that someone with the same insecurities as himself was the deliverer.
h. As the story unfolds we see God continue to advance his plans through seemingly insignificant means.
i. An insignificant man, Gideon, is now called to lead an insignificant army against a city.
i. Judges 7:2-7 (ESV) 2 The LORD said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ 3 Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.’ ” Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained. 4 And the LORD said to Gideon, “The people are still too many. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ shall go with you, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ shall not go.” 5 So he brought the people down to the water. And the LORD said to Gideon, “Every one who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, every one who kneels down to drink.” 6 And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was 300 men, but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. 7 And the LORD said to Gideon, “With the 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go every man to his home.”
i. The least and the weakest is leading 1% of the army available to him.
ii. Now, an insignificant man with an insignificant army was to attack with an insignificant method.
iii. Remember David, an insignificant man with an insignificant army (none) used an insignificant method to defeat Goliath. Joshua used an insignificant method to take down Jericho. Let’s see what Gideon did.
j. Judges 7:15-18 (ESV) 15 As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the LORD has given the host of Midian into your hand.” 16 And he divided the 300 men into three companies and put trumpets into the hands of all of them and empty jars, with torches inside the jars. 17 And he said to them, “Look at me, and do likewise. When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do. 18 When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and shout, ‘For the LORD and for Gideon.’ ”
i. It makes no sense!
k. Judges 7:19-22 (ESV) 19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set the watch. And they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands. 20 Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow. And they cried out, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!” 21 Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled. 22 When they blew the 300 trumpets, the LORD set every man’s sword against his comrade and against all the army. And the army fled…
i. You are significant!
ii. A small army is significant!
iii. A strategy of prayer is significant!