“Never Alone: Weak But Winning!”
Series Title: Never Alone
Pastor Jim Lowe III
Sunday Morning, 9:30am Stream 04/12/26 (2nd Sunday Message)
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{All scriptures are NIV84 unless stated}
Message Title:
“Never Alone: Weak But Winning!”
Today we continue talking about how we are positioning ourselves for the comeback.
We’re going to look at our circumstances…
and see how it can negatively impact us.
and see a way we’re going to make the comeback.
Let’s look at someone who desperately needed a confidence boost.
Judges 6:1
Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites.
again israel did evil in the Lord’s eyes…and he gave them over. this was a repeated occurrence.
All through Judges…
people associated with the wrong people. They let their morals slip.
they began to serve other gods.
They forgot their own God…who had been keeping and protecting them.
So the Lord let them have what they wanted.
he allowed the other gods to protect them. and they were taken over.
The Lord Will Always Give You A Choice
They were given to Midian for 7 years.
Verse 2:
2 Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds.
Midian was so bad…Israel would hide in mountain clefts…caves and strongholds.
Israel did the sin.
they turned their backs on the Lord.
And Midian took over.
Verse 3-5:
3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 4 They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep
nor cattle nor donkeys. 5 They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it.
Even when Israel tried to eat…
Midianites…the AMALEKITES and other people would invade. they destroyed everything
they invaded…
Israel was afraid for their lives… for their women and children.
They were afraid for their food…
because their crops would be ruined. not stolen…ruined.
they wouldn’t even take them for food… just to be oppressive.
they would take or kill the livestock.
It was impossible to count them.
meaning Israel was afraid to fight back. if they did, they were killed.
For SEVEN years they had to endure this.
Verse 6:
6 Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the LORD for help.
This is where we see the Lord is faithful… when they asked.
is when he started to step in.
Judges 6:11-12
11 The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”
Let’s talk about this.
The angel of the Lord came and sat…
Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites.
This tells us how bad this was.
You didn’t thresh wheat in a winepress.
A winepress was used to make wine from grapes.
Threshing wheat was the process of separating the wheat into different parts what was edible vs inedible
you needed a threshing floor for that…which needed wind… which was OUTSIDE!
So he was there in hiding trying to MAKE IT WORK to keep his food safe. to hide…if he was found…he could be killed…
this shows the state he and his people live in.
But the Lord appears to him and says the “Lord is with you…Mighty Warrior!” In VERSE 13:
Gideon responds with if the Lord is with me…why is all this bad stuff happening? we’re in bondage to multiple nations…the Lord has turned his back on us… Gideon has a point.
In VERSE 14:
The Lord tells Gideon to go and do something about it. He’s sending Gideon.
Verse 15
15 “But Lord,” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
How can he save Israel?
His clan is the weakest in Manasseh and he is the weakest in his family.
There are several points we can pull from this about where Gideon was mentally.
Gideon Had Made “Defeat” His Own Identity
Gideon was having a clear self-esteem issue.
He said he was the lowest of the low.
He didn’t just feel weak…he believed “weak” was who he was.
When Gideon was introduced…he was threshing wheat in a winepress.
What we see from Gideon is a place some of us might be.
Because Gideon was dealing with something real.
Some Of Us Have Let What We’ve Been Through Tell Us Who Ae Are!
We redefine ourselves based on our circumstances. There are people here who may have recently:
lost their job
had a business fail
got into a confrontation with a loved one had some type of financial crisis
had some sickness/condition that keeps persisting And life shifts from being a great day…
to just trying to SURVIVE till the evening. To wake up to do it all over again….
and that mindset can go days, months years…
When Things Don’t Let Up, Our Focus Naturally Shifts To Survival
Then you may have others who have had life taken from them in terms of words. something someone “told” them.
Gideon said that he was the smallest.
He was the weakest in his family…. his family was the worst…
Gideon likely got this low from the words others said to him.
hearing either from his family or others that they were the weakest of all of them. then even in his family being disrespected.
he had been called a no body.
…a coward…a disappointment.
Some of us have been hearing words spoken over us from others… Some from people around us.
some from other adults other peers
maybe family
and MAYBE even for years “You’re not good enough.”
“You’ll never be anything.” “You won’t understand this.”
“this job isn’t for you”
“we like someone else better” Constantly being compared to someone else.
where we get into the social media comparison we fight for that “like” button…
to feel some type of worth.
If You Hear Something Long Enough, You Start To Believe It
This was where Gideon was.
and Gideon was doing something symbolic of where he was. he SHOULD had been working outside…
but he was inside…hidden.
He was where his defense mechanism told him he was ‘safe.’
But that’s not where the Lord looked for him. The Lord came and sat down outside.
where Gideon SHOULD had been… but he was hiding.
So Gideon finally tells the Lord all of this… and the Lord answers him.
The Lord tells him the key to everything…and defines this series.
The Answer To Everything: “I Will Be With You”
It’s the first answer the Lord gives to all the stresses that Gideon has. it’s the first response to all the trauma Gideon has shared.
“I will be with you.”
This is something more powerful than Gideon would realize at this point. Gideon was still in a place trying to even comprehend any of this.
I can’t save anyone.
But the Lord is consistent… ”I will be with you.”
and because he is with him…he will strike down ALL of them together.
Those were empty to Gideon at the time… and it wasn’t just him…
Israel had been getting demolished for years at this point. But the Lord stayed consistent in his message.
And actually this is the SECOND time the Lord said it to him. It was originally the first thing the Lord told him.
“The Lord is with you mighty warrior.” Then Gideon tells him all this stuff…
But the Lord says it again…
The Answer To Your Problems Is Knowing The Lord Is With You!
There isn’t a situation you can go through where the Lord’s presence won’t change it. Let’s look at it:
What You Have When The Lord Is With You:
Exodus 14:14
14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
This was from Moses…the Lord was with them leading them out of Egypt. When Pharaoh was closing in on them…Moses says this to Israel.
Deuteronomy 20:4
4 For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.”
It doesn’t say that you have to fight your own battles…
it says the LORD is the one who goes with you to fight FOR you… to give YOU victory!
all you have to do is get out of the way!
When The Lord Says He Is With You, He’s Not Providing Comfort, He’s Declaring The Outcome!
We tend to take it like the Lord is a comfort shield…
but we tend to forget that the Lord is bigger than that.
When he says ‘he’s here…’ He means…fight’s over. cause “he’s here!”
What You Have When The Lord Is With You:
Too many times we allow our circumstances to make us surrender the fight… but we forget that WE are on the winning side!
Joshua 23:10
10 One of you routs a thousand, because the LORD your God fights for you, just as he promised.
This is telling you that the fight isn’t fair. You don’t have to worry….
you just need to make sure you are out of the way!
Isaiah 54:16-17
16 “See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to work havoc; 17 no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.
This is saying that yes there are evil forces in the world… yes there are things that come against you…
but everything you’ve had to face… has a creator…
and that creator is your God.
there is NOTHING that doesn’t have to submit to him. even with Job…
Satan had to ASK for permission…
and the Lord told him he could only go so far.
But it’s more than that.
Job 38 tells more about how creation obeys him.
Job 38:11 (NCV)
10 when I put limits on the sea and put its doors and bars in place, 11 when I said to the sea, ‘You may come this far, but no farther; this is where your proud waves must stop’?
Who controls the sea? Your God does!
Psalm 89:9
9 You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them.
When storms come… what can stop them?
who controls the wind and rain?
If You Serve A God Who Controls Nature, What Happens When He Fights For You? He WINS!
That’s why Gideon’s problems weren’t a concern for the Lord.
He’s bigger than any problem!
But Gideon didn’t understand what it meant to have the Lord fighting for him.
Lord it’s just too much.
but the Lord says “I’m with you.”
What Gideon Saw As Overwhelming, The Lord Saw As Just ‘Over!'
It’s not overwhelming to the Lord….
it’s just over.
The Lord says that those issues might be too big for you… but that’s okay…
because you don’t have to fight.
some of you might be like Gideon…. you’ve found the safe place to be.
not because it’s actually safe…
but it’s where the noise is softer… where you feel sort of comfortable…
but the Lord is standing outside of your comfort zone and he’s calling you….
he’s calling to tell you that there’s a safer place. and that place is with him.
He’s telling you that you don’t have to fight your battles alone.
You can try it on your own strength… our you can try it with him.
That sickness… That condition… That situation… That job
That financial crisis That need
It ALL has to submit to his will.
We are continuing to seek the comeback for this year. and to get it…
we have to let the Lord fight for us.
You’re Not Winning Because You’re Strong, You’re Winning Because You’re Not Alone!
Matthew 28:20 (b)
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
So how do we stay out of the way of the Lord?
many times we act on our own strength… too quickly…we react.
and don’t include the Lord.
