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!