“Never Alone: From Fear to Peace”

Series Title: Never Alone

Pastor Jim Lowe III

Sunday Morning, 9:30am Stream 04/17/26 (3rd Sunday Message)

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{All scriptures are NIV84 unless stated}

 

Message Title:

“Never Alone: From Fear to Peace”

Today we continue talking about how we are positioning ourselves for the comeback.

In spite of all that happening in the world… the Lord can protect you.

he can do things for you.

We’re going to look at our circumstances…

and see how it can negatively impact us.

and see a way the Lord can protect us while helping us make our comeback.

Last week we talked about Gideon.

he and the nation of Israel were in bondage to Midian.

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.

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.

We talked about how terrible the oppression of Midian was… how Israel couldn’t be outside during the day.

how when they planted food…

Midian and other nations would come and destroy their crops. their women and children were in danger.

their livestock and way of life was in danger… they were in fear….

and they lived like this for SEVEN years!

Judges 6:11

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.

We talked about how Gideon was having a major issue here.

He was threshing wheat in a winepress…which wasn’t supposed to happen.

Gideon needed to be outside to thresh wheat… but his fear kept him inside…

causing him to look for unnatural ways to do normal things.

The Lord meets him outside…

and says “The Lord is with you mighty warrior!”

Gideon says if the Lord is with us…why are all these things happening. we were told the Lord did great things for our people…

but he’s turned his back on all of us.

The Lord tell Gideon to go and save Israel from Midian.

Judges 6:15

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.”

Gideon not only doesn’t know who’s talking to him… he’s 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. He had allowed his circumstances to tell him who he was.

his identity suffered because of his circumstances.

But for every concern… every worry…

every problem Gideon had.

The Lord gave him the solution.

Judges 6:16

16 The LORD answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.”

 

The Answer To Everything: “I Will Be With You”

The Answer To Your Problems Is Knowing The Lord Is With You!

Well Gideon is skeptical of this.

he asks for the Lord to wait while he go and gets an offering…

He went and made an offering of a young goat as well as a VERY large amount of bread. He brought them to the Lord.

Judges 6:21

21 With the tip of the staff that was in his hand, the angel of the LORD touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the LORD disappeared.

With the staff he had…

fire comes up and lights up the meat and bread. and the Lord disappears.

Gideon now has a FULL understanding that this isn’t a normal man.

This is the Lord…

and now Gideon has just had a conversation with him.

Judges 6:22

22 When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he exclaimed, “Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!”

The Lord had told Moses that no one could see his face and live…

This was the old testament where Jesus had not been walking the streets and healing.

Gideon had known this.

and now the Lord has just shown himself.

So NOW add all this up in his mind.

Based on everything we had already discussed.

He is having a psychological breakdown.

Gideon had allowed his circumstances to reshape who he was.

They couldn’t have food…they had to build shelters in the mountains… Even other nations would come in and steal from them…

for SEVEN years!

he was now hiding from everyone because he felt that if he were found…he’d be killed. and on top of all of that…

he’s looked the Lord in the face…

and now he’s convinced he’s really about to die.

But the Lord puts an end to this for good.

Judges 6:23-24(a)

23 But the LORD said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”

24 So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace.

The way this is written…we tend to skip over what’s actually going on. Gideon was having a breakdown mentally and emotionally.

the Lord said “peace…you won’t die…” So Gideon built an altar to the Lord… Something happened between verse 23 and 24.

You don’t just go and build an actual altar just because someone says “peace.”

 

Gideon Didn’t Build That Altar Over A Casual Moment-He Built It Because Something In Him Changed!

We have to remember that the Lord’s words are powerful.

In Genesis 1:3 - God said “Let there be light…” and there was light. He spoke many things into existence…and those things obeyed.

In Mark 4:35 it talks about how Jesus and the disciples are in a boat. while crossing the water a huge storm came up.

the (AMP) describes it as hurricane proportions we know that many of the disciples were fishermen…

they were used to the water.

but they each thought they were going to die.

Yet Jesus was asleep…in a hurricane…on a boat.

THAT is some peace!

But they wake him up so he can scream with them.

Mark 4:39 (NKJV)

39 Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.

He spoke the word peace…and what was a hurricane turned into nothing… nothing left but calm.

This SAME power spoke to Gideon in his worst.

This goes into the next thing you have because you’re not alone. We covered the first two things last week.

But what all do you have when the Lord is with you?

 

What You Have When The Lord Is With You:

• You Gain Peace And Clarity!

Exodus 33:14

14 The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

The Lord was talking to Moses in this scripture…

but he was telling him that his presence would be with him. and HIS presence brings rest.

rest meaning being settled, at ease.

Now Gideon didn’t realize what was happening… that’s when the Lord spoke it over him.

This goes back to the understanding of WHO we’re talking about.

John 14:27

27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Jesus said peace he leaves…HIS peace.

He can’t leave it if he didn’t bring it with him!

There are other references.

Isaiah 9:6 tells us that unto us a child is born.

to us a son is given and the government would be on his shoulders.

he would be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father. “Prince of Peace!”

Let’s just think about that.

If HE is the prince of peace… who is his father??

• Thessalonians 3:16

16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.

may the LORD of PEACE HIMSELF.

 

The Lord Doesn’t Bring Peace - He Is Peace! When He’s There, So Is Peace!

give you peace…at all times in every way.

This is what the Lord is saying to Gideon… in the MIDDLE of his struggle…

Peace!

and to you as well also!

 

God’s Peace Doesn’t Wait For Things To Settle - He Brings It Right Into The MIDDLE Of The Storm!

This is the same God that speaks to you as well!

Like last week…

your situations may have you in a complete mess. the trauma you’ve dealt with in the past

the things said to you.

the things coming against you right now…

But the Lord may not magically remove all those things. he may not stop everything immediately…

but he CAN bring you peace through it.

John 16:33

33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

The trials happen…

the trouble comes. things happen.

But there is peace available!

This was the peace that changed Gideon from the inside out… he wasn’t FULLY changed yet…

but he now had an encounter.

the moment he heard the word peace… something came over him.

Israel was still in bondage.

he was still dealing with the same problems he had moments before… but now he had an encounter with the Lord.

Just like the woman at the well who met Jesus… it wasn’t just a meeting…

it was an encounter!

and THIS is why he built an altar!

Judges 6:24

24 So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

Gideon has seen the Lord now… he now has peace.

What does the Lord tell him?

Judges 6:25-26

25 That same night the LORD said to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. 26 Then build a proper kind of altar to the LORD your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering.”

The same night…during the same encounter…

The Lord tells him to tear down your father’s altar to Baal and tear down the Asherah pole next to it.

This was a statement to Gideon of what was needed to reverse all that had been happening… and brings the next piece of what you get from the Lord’s presence!

What You Have When The Lord Is With You:

• He Gives Direction That Corrects What’s Out Of Place

The Lord DID tell him that he would fight Midian. But that’s not the FIRST thing that needs to happen.

Remember Israel had done evil in the eyes of the Lord. They were marrying in other cultures.

they were serving other Gods… and EVEN in Gideon’s own home…

There was an altar to Baal. - another god

and a pole set up to Asherah. - another god The Lord wanted them both gone.

Earlier…in the convo between them.

When the Lord told Gideon he was with him…

Judges 6:13

13 “But sir,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.”

Gideon said if the Lord is with us…where are all the wonders our fathers told us about? Gideon says their fathers told them about the Lord…

but nothing he did for the fathers was he doing today.

But let’s go back and see what the Lord told THOSE fathers back then.

In Exodus 20 the Lord gives the Israelites the 10 Commandments. Let’s see what he started with.

Exodus 20:3

• “YOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME.

The Lord said that you can’t have any other god above him. you can’t serve anything more than you serve him. nothing can come before him.

he wants to be number 1.

We talked about how this happened at the beginning of Gideon’s story In Judges 6… but we see it plainly in Judges 3.

Judges 3:7

7 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.

They FORGOT the Lord their God….

and served the Baals and Asherahs.

This is the same thing they were doing in Judges 6 when the Lord handed them to Midian. But there were other things they were doing as well.

Exodus 20:4-5

• “YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FOR YOURSELF AN IDOL IN THE FORM OF ANYTHING

in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God…

You shall not make idols in the form of anything. You can’t bow down and worship them.

Making an idol to another god was bad… making two idols was very bad…

And before the Lord fights for Israel… They have to course correct.

God’s Presence Redirects Your Path

When you have an encounter with the Lord

He will show you the things that need adjustment.

In Isaiah 6 - he saw a vision of the Lord and his holiness..

he saw the holy angels in heaven with 6 wings that praised the Lord constantly their very voices shook the room Isaiah was in.

at that very moment…

Isaiah began to confess his own sins…

 

The Lord Will Deal With What’s Off In Your Life Before He Moves You Into What’s Next!

If you want him to work on your behalf…

you have to deal with what competes with him.

And when something new comes up… you have to deal with that also.

Proverbs 3:5-6

• Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

He will make sure things are straight… and he has to.

If the Lord would had fought for Gideon and saved Israel and he had a public altar at HIS HOUSE

to Baal…

Who would Israel think saved him?

 

The Lord Isn’t Going To Work In Your Favor While You’re Putting Someone Or Something Else Before Him!

 

Matthew 6:24 (a)

24 “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

This says you can’t serve two masters… You can’t serve God and money.

You can’t serve God and your job

your job…your significant other… the other things you have put before him.

He wants to come first.

 

Some Of Us Are Waiting On Him, When He’s Waiting On Us To Correct Something!

 

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 telling you that not only will he fight for you… he can give you peace during the trial

during the storm…when everyone else was screaming… he was sleeping.

he calmed that storm with his words.

The same for us…

That sickness… That condition… That situation…

That job

That financial crisis That need

I said it last week…

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 Never Alone—The Lord’s Peace Can Settle You On The Inside And Realign You On The Outside.

Deuteronomy 31:6(b)

• “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

He is with you…and he brings peace and direction to realignment…

So how do we have access to the Lord’s peace and make sure we’re realigned?

 

• Ask The Lord For More Of His Peace

• Ask Him To Show You Where You’ve Been Off

• Tear Down What Needs To Go And Put Him First

  • Pray…ask the Lord for more of his peace. remind him the trials are tough…

but he offers peace through it.

• • ask for the truth…

if the Lord is allowing you to go through things because you’re not putting him first… let him at least show you WHERE.

• • If you’re ready for these things to end…

it starts with tearing down what you’ve put up that’s not right… and making it all about him.