1. What stage of faith are you and at what point did you realize you’d entered that stage?
2. How is life easier and more difficult for you as a believer?
3. When was the last time you had people in your house? What did you do to prepare for the company?
4. How have you found success sharing the gospel in our culture?
5. What was your biggest takeaway?

Stages of Faith
Unbelievers - people who do not yet believe in having a relationship with their Creator God, through the power of Jesus Christ

Believers - first step…just barely believe.  Jesus was a genius at moving people into this step.

Disciples - people who have chosen to not only believe, but to give their life to Jesus. To actively follow in his footsteps.  Some of the obedience pieces are coming into line…a lot of learning and growing, some life-change. Adjusting your life to fit the model that Jesus laid out for us.

Servant-Leaders - people testing their skills a little bit. Using their gifts and talents to lead others, serve others, giving around the church, serving in serve teams, following along behind jesus AND helping with the work of the ministry.

Reproducers - DISCIPLEMAKERS. People who have gone through the other stages, and have matured to the point, that they can then reproduce their faith in others and encourage people to move through the steps for themselves.

Luke 5:1-11

1. Find Jesus (unbelievers & believers)
He allowed them to observe
He met a need
He came into their lives
He challenged them to more
2. Move forward (disciples)
3. Do Something (servant-leaders, reproducers)

Isaiah 40:3
Malachi 4:4-6
Luke 1:57-80
Luke 3:1-20

John was:

1. Willing to be different
2. Willing to proclaim unpopular truth
3. Willing to take attention, and point it to Jesus

John 1:36
John 1:1-13
1 Timothy 2:5-6 

Luke 1:13-20

Luke 1:26-35

1. Mary’s surrender, way beyond obedience. Be available. Surrender to God.

2. Mary’s partner, way beyond friend. Be vulnerable. Surrender to community.

3. Mary’s worship, way beyond gratitude. Be amazed & appreciative. Surrender to wonder.

Luke 1:46-56

Five facts about Daniel and his life that you maybe didn’t know:

1. Daniel was born into royalty or nobility
Daniel 1:3 says, “Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, his chief of staff, to bring to the palace some of the young men of Judah’s royal family and other noble families, who had been brought to Babylon as captives.”

Daniel endured extreme amounts of hardship in his life, but from when he was born until about ten years old, Daniel was no ordinary man. He was either born into royalty or esteemed nobility.

2. Daniel was a good-looking man
Verse 4 continues by saying, “Select only strong, healthy, and good-looking young men,” he said. “Make sure they are well versed in every branch of learning, are gifted with knowledge and good judgment, and are suited to serve in the royal palace. Train these young men in the language and literature of Babylon.

The NIV translation says that Daniel and his friends were “young men without any physical defect, handsome,” and the KJV says “children in whom was no blemish.”

He was handsome! Judean nobility. King Nebuchadnezzar had high standards for who was allowed to survive in the land that he conquered. He had even higher standards for who was allowed to serve in his high court of influence. Daniel fit that bill.

3. Daniel was likely never married
There is no mention of any spouse or family in the entire book of Daniel or the rest of the Bible.

In 2 Kings 20:18, it was prophesied, “Some of your very own sons will be taken away into exile. They will become eunuchs who will serve in the palace of Babylon’s king."

We have already established that Daniel was an attractive male, so to eliminate any problems, the kings of this time routinely had men from the land they conquered emasculated and turned into eunuchs.”

It’s very probable that Daniel never married in his life.

4. Daniel was around 80 years old in the Lions' Den
I think I always pictured him as a young man in the lion’s den!! But no! When we outline the various kings' reigns throughout Daniel's book and compare that to what we know in our history books, we can pinpoint Daniel as around 80 years old when he was thrown into the lion’s den.

The total length of Babylonian captivity lasted 70 years, and Daniel was around ten or older when captured would put him close to 80 years old when King Darius took over, as stated in Daniel chapter 6.

5. The Bible has no negative insight on Daniel
Daniel 6:4 says, “Then the other administrators and high officers began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling government affairs, but they couldn’t find anything to criticize or condemn. He was faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy.”

Daniel’s enemies in the king’s administration looked for any fault they could find in him, and they came up empty.

We know Daniel wasn’t perfect, and like us, fell short, yet the Bible doesn't highlight or mention any of those moments.

Daniel 6:1-28

Daniel had a REGULAR & FAITH FILLED prayer life.  It wasn’t just in crisis. 
Daniel was a man of deep obedience. He knew who His source was. 

Esther 4:7-16

PASSION FOR HIS PURPOSES
Not her own purposes. She started off with excuses, sure..and hey, We’re all going through something rough--the excuses we try to throw out there...they just don’t matter. They cannot be allowed to get in the way of your PURPOSE. Doesn’t mean you have to know what that purpose is all of the time...but if you go through life believing that God has something big for you...when a big thing comes, you’ll know it. “For such a time as this.” Mordecai knew Esther was there for a reason.  He didn’t see power as something to aspire to for personal gain, but for the gain of his people, of his God, and of The Kingdom.

SACRIFICIAL SELFLESSNESS
God is looking for people who are willing to say, use me!  This prayer seems really like...mature and seductive...Let me just clarify….this is a really BOLD prayer. Maybe the most courageous prayer you can pray...when you actually mean it.  Almost the second you pray it--it’s tested.

FOUNDATION OF FAITH
When faced with something difficult, that she knew she had to do, she asked for help. 
She’s well aware now that she ALONE must do this, but even though she must physically be alone to get the job done, she knows she doesn’t have to be spiritually alone.

RESOLUTE RESOLVE
If you know that God has called you to something, don’t look back. Don’t second guess. Don’t self-doubt. If He called you to it--no matter how dangerous or scary--He will see you through it. Be patient.  Don’t make a move without Him, listen to the Holy Spirit closer than you ever have.  And move WITH Him, not against Him or ahead of Him.

Samson's problem: His eyes

1 Corinthians 6:18-20
Judges 16:4-22

God can use us in our weaknesses.

We only believe the enemy's lies as long as we WANT to.

Judges 16:21-31

Our takeaways:

• Our culture is also ruled by our eyes. (pornography, food, materialism, etc)
• We're also spiritually weak, and it's making us physically weak.
• We're handing the enemy victory after victory.
• But God redeems!

Pornography is the enemy’s camp.
Sex outside of marriage between one man and one woman is the enemy’s camp.
Gossip is the enemy’s camp.
Addiction - drugs, alcohol, sex, food, workaholism, all the enemy’s camp.
Witchcraft! - new age practices.  Believing more in a crystal than the bible! 

Disobedience of any kind. Sin separates you from God. It puts you in the danger zone for the enemy to know your strengths, and how to break them.

The good news of Samson’s story is the same message many of us sing to our children: we are weak, but God is strong.

Though Samson spent his life in the enemy’s camp….pursuing other gods, in the end he at LEAST acknowledged the source of his strength: “God . . . please strengthen me,” and he became strong again (Judg. 16:28). 

He called on the name of the Lord.

Samson is named in Hebrews as an example of those who “through faith . . . were made strong out of weakness” (Heb. 11:33–34). In the same way, all those who acknowledge their weakness and put their hope in Jesus will be saved, and will find their strength restored.

Through Samson's story, I am forced to remember that: 

1. God can do what HE wants, because He is sovereign and not bound by MY ideas of who He should be. 
2. Sometimes God uses flawed people not for their own sake, but for the sake of the people they are serving.  (That can be a hard pill to swallow, but it’s true.  He uses us in our weakness for the sake of others.)
3. I am also flawed!!

 
If there's anything good to be learned from Samson's example, let's remember:
1. Samson fought.
2. He cried to the lord in his most desperate moments.

Candace's fast:
First 40 days: 

• Fast one full day a week (36 hours really), no food, just water, and one cup of coffee. 
• The other 6 days: no bread or candy, and limit ALL portions of food to half of what you would normally eat

After that:

• Alternate Day Fasting. One day, "fast", next day, "feast", repeat!
• Fast day: 
  • one cup of coffee with cream in the morning, 
  • 1 piece of fruit around lunchtime (something that you eat with the skin on, i.e. 1 apple, a handful of blueberries, strawberries, etc.  Not citris, banana, etc)
  • 1 piece of protein for dinner or before bed (the idea here being that you don't have to go to bed hungry.  1 piece of grilled chicken, a protein bar, a couple eggs, etc)
• Feast day:
  • Eat whatever you want, just avoid full sugar soda, alcohol, and over doing it!  You'll find that your cravings, taste buds, and everything sort of changes the longer you do this!

*Women: take it easier on fasting a couple days before your cycle, for about 5-6 days.  

John 5:1-16

Jesus is in the business of making people well!

Mark 5:34
Mark 3:5
Matthew 15:31
Acts 4:10

Jesus wants to make you well and work through  you to make other people well

Matthew 10:7-8

You have to answer the question from Jesus for yourself “Do you want to get well?”

John 5:5-6

There are traps set by the devil that can keep you from getting well.

Traps of the devil to keep you lost, broken and enslaved:

• Lack of desire
• Too many excuses / lack of faith
• Old mindsets/subtle lies
• Legalism/Trying to achieve wholeness in our own strength

Do you want to get well and do you want to stay well?

Isaiah 53:4-5

Mark 2:5
 
John 8:11

Romans 8:13

1 Sam 17:23-37

Fear wasn’t his first go-to (because he had integrity).
Proverbs says, “The wicked flee though no one pursues them, but the GODLY are BOLD AS LIONS.”

Being anointed, does not make your success guaranteed.

1 Samuel 17:38-40

1 Samuel 17:41-51

Judges 6:17-39

That fire in my belly is there to let me know I HAVE to do whatever God is asking me to do…but it doesn’t always take the fear away.

Your attitude here, when you’re asking God for proof, shows your heart.  Do you have a heart that is selfish with God, a heart that NEEDS TO KNOW THAT YOU KNOW THAT YOU KNOW….a heart that NEEDS to be convinced, but also can never be fully convinced no matter how much evidence is provided.

Because the thing is, if you’re waiting for a sign–will you even see it when it comes? If you’re waiting for a sign to be obedient–will you ever be obedient?

If you REALLY had faith, you would just believe and obey without a sign. Faithful people actually look for the signs, after obeying.

Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see. 

It is believing in something even when we can’t make “sense” of it. Believing enough to do something about it.

Judges 7:1-22

God used something that Gideon inherently understood–FEAR–to find victory over their oppressors. Fear…the very thing that Gideon probably thought disqualified him.  God used EVEN THAT.

God used Gideon’s anger to call him.  And his fear to fulfill that calling.

Do it afraid!

The end of Gideon’s story isn’t preached much. He resisted leadership and the people revering him for like a millisecond, but eventually, even he fell to it.  Judges 8:27, says, “27 Gideon made a sacred ephod from the gold [that they won in battle] and put it in Ophrah, his hometown. But soon all the Israelites prostituted themselves by worshiping it, and it became a trap for Gideon and his family.”

Judges 6:11-16
11 Then the angel of the Lord came and sat beneath the great tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash of the clan of Abiezer. Gideon son of Joash was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. 12 The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!”

13 “Sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The Lord brought us up out of Egypt’? But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.”

14 Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!”

15 “But Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!”

16 The Lord said to him, “I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.”



Threshing wheat was usually done in a large open area, ideally, on top of a tall hill or something like that, so that wind would help the process.  They would have animals trod on the wheat over and over again, to break it down and process it, and the chaff would blow away in the wind, until what was left, was only the useable parts for making food.

Gideon was living in a time where the Israelites were hopelessly oppressed by the Midianites.  The Midianties would come and raid and steal their food, if they saw anyone using the threshing floor, they would have taken it.

Gideon says, my tribe is the weakest, and I am the least in my entire family...but the angel addresses him as MIGHTY HERO!

we can encourage and call qualities out of people that are in there…maybe just buried right now. THAT’s how Jesus used that power. Not to call governments into place, or change leaders, or get rich quick. Or even to build Himself up. He called PEOPLE into greater things. He spoke LIFE.

It’s almost as if God was just waiting for SOMEONE to ask those questions.  THIS is why I say all the time that God isn’t afraid of your anger.  I think sometimes God is just waiting for SOMEONE to get angry!  SOMEONE to care! ANDDD someone to direct their anger to the RIGHT source.  

1. Is our enemy against flesh and blood?  People get the wrath of our anger all the time…but do PEOPLE deserve it? Or are they just deceived and entrapped and enslaved by the same sin and selfishness that we are?
   1. Well, if it’s not people…then the next logical question you might ask is…
2. Is our enemy God? Does God deserve Gideon’s anger? 
   1. No...God didn’t oppress them. God didn’t cause them to be disobedient and unruly, and unfaithful. 
   2. So why does expressing this anger to God help?  (It changes our perspective)

Sometimes, God just needs someone with the bare minimum amount of faith. The faith of a mustard seed.  Just a LITTLE. Just give me what you have…because God is a multiplying God. He doesn’t add, he MULTIPLIES. He takes whatever is in our hand, whatever we’re willing to give, and he multiplies it! 

I am sending YOU. YOU don’t have to be qualified, I AM qualified.

Sometimes it isn’t US that God changes.  God didn’t say that Gideon would become strong enough to handle a whole army.  He also didn’t say that he would only be fighting one man.  But He did say that it would be AS IF he were fighting one man. God didn’t say he would change Gideon.  He didn’t say He would change the enemy.  

The ONLY difference God promises here is perspective.

If HE is with you–who can be against you?
If HE is with you–do you need to be “qualified”?

In my view:
God saw Gideon not as strong, or powerful, or qualified.

God saw Gideon as hard-working, determined, servant-hearted, and just angry enough to fix a problem.

God saw a person He could use. Not a person who had earned a title.
A person he could teach.  Not a person who knew it all.
A person who had the right heart position.  Not someone angry at all the wrong things.

And He called Him to fix it. 

In my view, God calls us to BE someone…way more often than he calls us to DO something.

What is your character like when no one is watching?  
If God came down into your circumstances, would he find you being useful? Serving the people around you, even though it’s hard?  Or would He find you serving only yourself?  Would He find you asking HIM questions, or blaming the world?  
Would He find you preparing yourself for a calling? Or just entertaining yourself to pass the time?

Gideon started, not by defeating the Midiantites.  
He STARTED by tearing down the altars to the idols.

That’s where we start too.

You will never be free from sin, while you still have an altar set up to it.