Exploit through God! ~ Pastor Tayo Fagbenro Pt. 1

But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat. Daniel 1:8 &15

God does not live in days, months or years; He lives in moments. The word exploit means a heroic achievement. An extraordinary thing that is done by ordinary people.  Each church has its unique features. No two churches are alike and it is very dangerous thing for churches to compare themselves with another. You must know the unique features that makes you who and what you are. It is not about how much connection you have. It has to do with the purpose that God has for your life. You must keep in mind and write down the plans, purpose, vision and all round reasons why you are you.

The number 10 happens 10 times in the bible. It is used to describe completion. There are certain features that God has designed for you this year. The second part is the number 6 which signifies testimony. There are physical and testimonial dimension to the year. For parents who are here and you have a child. When the child gets to the age of 10 research shows that the life is already formed.
In Genesis 1, the phrase ‘God said” occurs 10 times. God gave 10 commandments and this means 10 is a number for covenant.

To do exploit it is doing exploit through God, in God and for God. The exploit we are talking about is the heroic achievement of service for God. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you belong to, you must do exploit for God. When the time is over, God will ask us what we did with what He has given us, the purpose He has created us to complete.

In life we have those who are lamenting in the church, outside the church and everywhere around you. Check numbers 13, God is always angry with the people who lament, complain and murmur. But we must not be like them. We have to live a life that is focused on God. The knowledge that we talk about in Daniel 11:32 is no ordinary one. It is a Revelation knowledge that gives us a true understanding of God.

Doing exploits for God. Exploit talks about doing notable achievement. In the book of Acts after the disciples received power from God they witnessed and they did exploits for God and reached 3,000 people. A witness speaks of hat he or she knows and has experienced of God. Your life must be a testament of goodness, marvelous things and great things that God has done in your life.

You want to do exploits for God, want God to do exploits through you? You must ask God where He has called you, what He has called you for and I assure you, you will stand out. The “I” in exploits is declaring your identity. It means you are marked by Christ Jesus.

Exploit to do the extraordinary

And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.  1 Chronicles 28: 9 KJV

Text: 1 Chronicles 28: 9 - 11

Those who know their God, who are familiar with their God, those who understand their God shall do great things and they shall be strong. The reason why David was able to kill Goliath was because he knew the God he served. Goliath was big and a giant but David knew that he was an uncircumcised Philistine and David saw a small and important weakness which he leveraged on. There is no problem in life that has no agreement with God.

You need to know who you are and what you are in Christ Jesus. This certainty will move you forward in life and move you to success. Anybody coming against the covenant of God will be faced with problem.

You need to understand that anybody that did an exploit was an ordinary man. A man of flesh and blood. The bible speaking about Elijah said he was a man of like passion. Saying he was a man like you and I, a simple man but yet the man prayed that rain must not fall and it didn't rain and when he prayed that it should rain, it did. Ordinary men who know their God shall do extraordinary things.

I was listening to Myles Munroe this morning and he said ‘it takes discipline to excel in life’. He said people that have done great things is because they have been disciplined in one area in their life. They focus on one thing and become great in it.

There are things that we need if we as ordinary men must do the extraordinary

1. Vision, a clear vision
2. Focus on your vision Jesus said to Martha one thing you lack and that thing Mary your sister has done
3. Place a value on yourself. You have to become valuable at what we want to become in life. We must live based on the value that God has placed on our life. If you have value people will run after you. 

Everybody keeps saying the country is hard, no the country is not hard; we are the ones who are not thinking. In the midst of the hardness some people are making so much money because they are focused. Myles Munroe said he decided to focus on his ability to talk and this created a value that made a way for him.

Initially people may not see your value, remain focused because bit by bit you will be noticed. When you become noticed your focus will be rewarded. We must see value quickly.

How do you do exploits?

1. Know your God and serve Him 1 Chronicles 28:9
2. You must be courageous Joshua 1:6
3. Have power and moral understanding
4. Trust God with all your heart. Proverbs 3:5 (you have to believe that if you fall God will catch you, if you jump God will catch you. 
5. Keep yourself in total consecration and obedience Joshua 3:5 Deuteronomy 28:1
6. Have faith in God and take steps of faith. If you have faith you will say onto this mountain move and it will. Take a step of faith and let’s see what God will do in your life. When you move God will move. 

You cannot lie on the bed of Delilah and expect to rise up with power the next day just like Samson. Read the word for yourself and apply it to your life. Do not depend solely on the words that come out of the pulpit. We need to take Christ and Christianity much more seriously. We need to take our life and eternity more seriously.

Exploits for success

And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits. Daniel 11: 32 (KJV)

Reading: Daniel 11: 24 - 33; Psalm 121: 1-8

Exploits is taken from the book of Daniel 11: 32. the book of Daniel is a very strong detailed classic book. There are 7 books that talks about the end and era of Israel and their freedom. Everybody knows about the story of Israel which started from the founding father Abraham. Today Christianity and Islam came out of the man called Abraham. The bible tells us the children of Isaac were the chosen ones who God called the Israelites.

It came to pass at a certain time that the book of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Nehemiah Ezra, Daniel, Jeremiah talks about the captivity of Israel by neighboring nations as a result of their disobedience and Idolatry. Daniel talking about the captivity of Israel and their eventual release said in Daniel 11:32 that anyone who does evil against the people of God shall be corrupted but the people who know their God shall be strong and do exploits.

The greatest challenge of Christianity today is that a lot of us that go by the name of Christ do not really Know God. One of the challenges that Moses had in Exodus 3 was who he would tell the children of Israel that sent him to them. David knew God and so was able to overcome the giant Goliath. Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. 1 Sam 17: 45 (KJV). David confronted the giant because in knew that there is a God in Israel.

1 Chronicles 28:9 David said to his son Solomon “and thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever” (KJV) . His words to his son was a call to know God so that his son shall be strong and do exploits. Solomon knew God and he was counted as the wisest man in his time.

The word strong means bold, confident, determined, courageous, valiant, resolute and capable of doing. It is the Hebrew word Chazak. The word exploits means things hitherto thought unimaginable. Therefore through out the biblical history a few people did exploits

1. Adam gave name to all the animals a thing never being done before because he knew God. The bible tells us that whatever name Adam called them it became their name from that day on. Adam conjured things into existence by the word of his mouth. Genesis 2
2. Noah built an ark because he knew his God. Hebrew 11: 7. 
3. Abraham’s life changes because he knew God
4. Isaac made money in the time of famine because he knew his God Genesis 26:1. He wanted to leave to another land but God told him not to because He would make him to prosper in that land. Isaac obeyed and he was fruitful in a land of famine
5. Jacob became very wealthy against the run of play
6. Joseph became wealthy in a foreign land. 
7. Gideon and all the prophets

Some people are not doing well because of a word or words spoken into their life. That is why we must be mindful of the words we speak into our life and the lives of the people in our life.

The story was told some time ago of a certain young boy who was very proficient in music and at a certain time in life lost his sight. The young boy went into slight depression and was thinking of giving it up. His name was Ray Charles. His mother looked at him one day and told him “Ray they may have taken your sight but they have not taken your eyes”. He got up and made history as a great musician in spite of his blindness. The circumstances of your life is not who you are.

I want to ask us this question, “what are you going to leave behind at the end of life?”

Do you want to be strong? Do you want to do exploits in your life? Then it is time for you to know God. In the knowing is where you can have the strength to do exploits.

Exploits in time of distress

Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.) Acts 12: 1-3 (KJV)

Herod was not interested in certain people. Herod in the Acts represented the pits of hell and the enemy that fights against the saints. The pits of darkness cannot fight against itself; it fights against the light and the people in the light of God. There are certain people that Herod came down to fight. Some of us might look at our brothers and sisters going through rough times and judge them. We say it is because they have sinned or some judge because they are jealous or envious. The irony of life is that this acts are not new. The bible said that Herod stretched out his hand and took James and killed him; the people were happy.

When there is persecution against all it is against all of us. We were talking about exploits, we must know that there are negative exploits. Paul at the beginning of his ministry did negative exploits; persecuting the church and all it stood for. Same with Herod, doing exploits against the church.

During the festival of the unleavened bread Herod apprehended Peter. The enemy represented by people around us exploits others. Anytime the enemy exploits people we must come to their aid as we do not know who will be next. We must consistently pray for one another, especially those in leadership position and are shepherds over us. When we know those who have been held captive for one reason or the other, whatever it may be and wherever they may be held captive, do not withhold your hand of help.

Characteristic of people who do negative exploits

1. They rejoice when evil befalls brethren
2. They are quick to judge people
3. They act from a position of envy and pride

If you have the capacity in anyway to help those being exploited take up your role to do that which you can do to get them out of the plight they are in. Let us be faithful with the little one we have.

James was taken by Herod and he killed him; Peter Herod also took. What must have been going on in the mind of Peter at that time. The scripture says that while imprisoned “he was sleeping”.

Could it had been that Peter remembered Psalm 46: 10? He must have been firm in recognizing who God is. In all of the distress we need to learn to trust in God and to focus on His assignment. Everyday we have an assignment and an opportunity to do exploits.

God expects you to be the angel that person needs to get out of the prison. God expects you to do that little thing; say a kind word, take the person to the hospital, give food to the hungry, help to pay school fees, give a listening ear, say a word of encouragement, or even say good morning.

It is important that we are always sensitive to the spirit of God. Sometimes to lift someone up is just that little thing that we may take for granted. The exploit over our life, many of the times it comes suddenly. Many times God doesn’t give us warnings when he wants to use us to do exploits. Be ready someone’s prayers will lead us to do exploits in the life of people. Someone’s prayer will cause your sudden visitation.

Exploits are made possible when:

1. We make ourselves available for God to use
2. Angelic visitation
3. By the Holy Spirit

Many of the times we forget the place of the Holy Spirit and His position the carrying out exploits. The truth about it is that no exploits can come without the Holy Spirit. The things we are going to do by exploits is by the Holy Spirit. The bible says as the Angel asked Peter to arise, he didn’t ask how but stood up in obedience and arose, as he did the chains broke off. We need to obey God and stop negotiating with Him. The Angel said to Peter arise and he obeyed, the Angel pulled him up.

Let us remember that obedience to God comes first if we want to do exploits. Some of us are not prepared for exploits. No matter how much we shout and expect exploits; our dressing does not connote someone who is expecting to do exploits. We are completely unprepared. There is a dressing that is expected for exploits. There is a new dimension God expects us to go to. Many of us are not dressed for the work ahead. The Angel asked Peter to get dressed. Ephesians 6:14

For some of us the enemy is no longer interested in us because we have compromised so much we have become one of them. The bible said today I present to you good and evil but I urge you to choose good.  Fulfilling the conditions of dressing to be positioned to do exploits is important to each of us. The angel said to him get dressed, put on your sandals. On your feat wear the good news of faith so that you may find it easy to run the race of life. You cannot exploit the glory and the benefits of the exploits of heaven when we have not positioned ourselves to do the will of God.

If you know you do not have the helmet of salvation that Christ gives to all, this is an opportunity to have it. Paul was speaking to Timothy and he said to him, “study to show yourself approved, a workman that need not be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth”. One of the deficiencies we have in the church today is that we don’t study. We don’t study and we don’t pray.

By the time different levels of exploits begin to happen in our lives we will be like those that dream. Peter followed the Angel and some of us refuse and do not follow anybody. When instructions are given we feel we are above them. If we become to big to be led then we are too small to lead. At the door of the house, the bible says Peter came to Himself; this means that while the exploit was happening he was not in himself.

The iron gate opened to them by itself. After this gate the Angel suddenly left. When the Lord re-positions us and we get to the place where he wants us to be, we find out that all resistance begins to fall always from our path. For as many as chosen to believe and trust God for what He says, we will see the works of God made easy through the power and guide of the Holy Spirit.

Exploiting from the little things

And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth. 

1 Samuel 17: 49 -52 (KJV)

It is not easy to do exploits. There are many achievers to encourage us to do exploits. These achievers include; Micheal Faraday, the Wright brothers, Graham Bell. There are other inventors and others that did exploits of their own. Some have done exploits in their youths while others had done it at a much older age.

Some have had to go through downfalls but then they had risen above it. The great men who did exploits in their own little and great ways have all done it by running after and focusing on their passion.

There are many records of exploits in the bible. The exploits done at the red sea Exodus 15: 1&2. So many people have done exploits, from the little to the great. Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Noah, Jesus Christ, Apostle Paul, Peter, Daniel, Esther, Ruth, Deborah, Gideon, just to mention a few. The men and women were ordinary people who did extraordinary things because they knew their God.

Our text is about a young man who did great exploit in the land of Israel. David knew his God and won over Goliath. When David wanted to confront Goliath a lot of people have a lot of things to say. This are the things that happen when we are about to do exploits. When we are about to do exploits people say a lot of things to discourage us, they tell us every reason why it cant be done.

David went after his goal and focused only on that one thing. He placed his faith in God and in this confidence he went after that thing that stood in the way of his people. He was successful because he did not listen to the negative distractions that people posed but only on the words of God.

Are you ready to do exploits for God? If you are ready, you must be willing to step out of your comfort zones. David stepped out not because he is confronting Goliath but because in his own way many times he had stepped out when there was no one there to see him. Starting to do exploit is what we do when people are not seeing you.
The power of God is what we should desire and covet, without the power of God it impossible to do exploits. There is nothing we can do outside of this.

You cannot do exploits without expanding your mind without thinking big. In Daniel  11: 32 it says that “ they that know their God will do exploits”. It is very difficult to know someone without been intimate with them, without being friend with the person. Therefore if you want to do exploit you need to be friend with God.

To do exploit we need to understand that it is for God to bring glory to his name and not for man.
The Lord wants us to step out our comfort zone. Let us start our exploit with doing the little things that will be of great benefit to the people around us.

Do you know God?

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. Hosea 4:6

We need to take God seriously. This is where Christians fail; not taken God seriously enough. We seem to take him a bit for granted. Daniel 11:32 says that those that know their God shall be strong and do exploits.

The problem is that a lot of us want to be strong, we want to be able to do exploits but we fail to know God. There is a precursor to being able to do exploits which is “knowing God”. Do you know God?

Deuteronomy 28:1-2 says “and it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.

This means to receive the blessings of God there is a pre-condition; to observe and to do according to what is written in the Word (bible).

My question to us today is this - what does it mean to know God? What does it mean to be intimate with God?
In the first chapter of Proverbs, we read that the fear God is the beginning of wisdom. To know God is to fear Him, to revere Him, to always obey Him and we will have the wisdom and knowledge to to exploits as His word will strengthen us.

How many of us make an effort to read their bible at least once a month?  We must spend time in reading the bible. When we do this we have that special connection. We must a conscious effort to know Him really well so that we can do exploits.

Who is God?

And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits. Daniel 11: 32 KJV

The background to this passage was the story of a young man called Daniel who was taken away in captivity into Babylon along with other children of Israel. Daniel lived through 4 kings (Nebuchadnezer, Belshazzar, Darius and Cyrus) and he was preferred above all the wise men by these same kings. Towards the end of his life Daniel saw the vision of the restoration of Israel to their land. He also saw the war between the king of the south and the king of the north. Daniel was encouraging the people not be anxious concerning that problems they see around the world but that a people that know their God shall be strong and do exploits. The word "to know" is “Yada” in Hebrew. It means to have deep intimacy with the subject matter. To to perceive and see, find out and discern, ro know by experience, to understand, to acquire knowledge intimately of God. 

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. Hosea 4:6  KJV

Daniel was saying a people that know their God intimately can actually be strong and do exploit. The challenge of life is that most people don’t take enough time to know the subject and object they are pursuing after. A while back a young man came to me and said he wanted to pursue a musical career. I asked him a couple of questions

1.How will you succeed

2.Who are you modelling your career after?

He seem not to have an intimate knowledge of the career to know exactly what he was pursuing after and the environment. This also happens a lot in marriages and between married couples. Husband and wife fail to know themselves intimately, they do not have an indepth knowledge of each other. These causes friction and misunderstanding. 

Some couples spend years in marriage and fail to be able to discern the character of their partner because they fail to take enough time of the other person. I tell you people that in courtship people behave well in courtship but in marriage they settle down. If you know your spouse or life partner very well then you can be strong together and do exploits. A lot of Christians fail to take time to know God. They rely solely on what the pastor says; hence they treat their pastor like God and will act only on what the pastor says.  People fail to know God for themselves. 

Things about knowing God. Who or what is God?  

1. God created all things; there is nothing that was created that was not created by him. Man does not create anything; what man does is to add value or reshape what God has already created. God created Gold and man reshapes gold to make things from it. Chemistry and technology are revelational knowledge of God given to man proven over time e.g 2 parts of Hydrogen and 1 part of oxygen will give you water. This is a revelation of how God made water. Science is the revelation of knowledge from God to man. 
2. God is the owner of the universe. Nothing that we have belongs to God. Not even the clothes, shoes, house or cars we have belong to us. We are just hiring it for the period of time it is with us. When we die or lose them it will go into someone else’s keeping. Life goes round the circles. Everything that you own is not your own. 
3. God is who He was, who He is and who He will be forever more. The only thing you can do this wonderful day is to give your life to God. The “I am that I am”. 

Who do you say you are? Pt 3

And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me. Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again. Judges 6: 17-18 KJV

Text: Judges 6: 11- 18

You are what God says you are. Until you have an encounter with God you can never know who you really are. So God said to Gideon, “you are a mighty man of valour”.

I want to tell you as you read this that you are fearfully and wonderfully made. My prayer is that you discover who you really are. We have governors who are governing sheep; Moses was governing sheep for his father-in-law instead of governing the children of Israel. For a long time Joseph was governing in Portiphar’s household when he was destined to be govern over nations. So there are many people under-performing. As a matter of fact almost 90% of the world’s population is actually under performing. Then again, a lot of people have died and will die never knowing who they really are and what they could have become. If Joseph had died a day before Pharaoh had the dream he would have died a prisoner. Then they would have written the epitaph of Joseph to read “Joseph stolen from his father’s house, became a houseboy, found himself in prison and died there”. You know in this life you are remembered only for the things that you did and not the things you could have done.

So you must aspire to do all that you need to do before you expire here on earth.

1. Gideon had no relationship with God, he had not yet experienced God so he thought that God had forsaken His people. What was God doing? God was working extra hard to turn their situation around. God never leaves you, He never forsakes you; He is always looking for ways to solve your problem. He is looking for ways and means to make opportunities happen for you. He is looking for ways and means to transform the mess you have put yourself in. Here you are thinking that God has abandoned you and yet God is working extra hard to make life better for you. I want you to have this at the back of your min, “ALL THINGS are working together for my good”. 
2. The enemy was attacking. The Midianite had come against them and therefore he was hiding. There was an attack over his life; whether we believe it or not the enemy is attacking a lot of us, they are coming against us.  So we are fearful and in hiding like Gideon. Whether you know them or not, whether you have offended them or not; there are some people who just do not want you to succeed in life. Nobody can say what the Israelite did to the Midianites but they came against them. It is very naive to think you can go through this world and this world would be fair. It is naive to go through this world thinking everybody would give you a chance. Naive to think that because you have not offended anybody you are going to go free. There are some people you don’t offend but merely looking at you they are angry with you. Anywhere you go in life there will be someone who doesn’t like you for any given reason; you dress too nicely, you don’t dress nice, you talk too much, you have too many friends, you know the right people, your speak good English, you have a good job, the list is endless. Just focus on what you have to do because it is impossible to please everybody. If you go around wanting to please everybody, you will end up displeasing God and hurting yourself.
3. His father was an idol worshipper. If you come from a family of idol worship it puts you on a bad foot right from day 1. it puts you in an area of fear and neglect. 

The important thing is this, out of all the things that was restricting Gideon 7 was inside of him and 1, only one was against him. The enemies attacking, the remaining 7 were inside of him. This means that most of the failures that we experience is inside us and only one is from outside.

A lot of us focus more on the outside and don’t do anything on what is going on on the inside of us. You are the one making yourself fail because you have written failure into your being. If you can get rid of the 7 the one outside will fall. The minute Gideon got rid of the seven the one outside fell.

Who do you say you are? Pt. 2

And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me. Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again. Judges 6: 17-18 KJV

Text: Judges 6: 11- 18

There are many reasons why Gideon was not the success he had the potential to be. One is very obvious and I have already mentioned it but there are a few other reasons.
Gideon was not the success he had the potential to be because

1. He was afraid. What does this mean? If you entertain fear you cannot express faith. There are many people today who are going about the world, they look bold, they look confident and in control but deep down they are fearful and they lack confidence. I used to be like that; I used to dress well, I used to be brash but really deep down I was a little bit nervous, anxious and empty inside. There are many like that. If you are deeply fearful you cannot express faith and you cannot succeed.
2. Gideon didn’t know who he was. What did he say? He said “I am the least in my father’s house”. A man can be one of 4 people; 

• Who the world has constrained you to be. A lot of the time we are constrained by the world. The bible says that some men are eunuchs because they have been made so by the world. Some men made themselves eunuchs while some are so because they perceived they were born that way. A lot of us have been put in a certain compartment, in a certain place by the world. The problem with most of us is that we chose to remain there. There are of us who people have told us that this is who we are and we have accepted this
• A man is who he thinks he is. This time around it is Gideon saying to himself that he is the least in his father’s house and his father’s family is the least in the tribe of Manasseh. That is what he told himself; it is he that put himself in that situation. A lot of us think in our mind who we think we are. There are some people that can’t look you in the eye, some people that are always bending down, because they have looked at themselves and said of themselves “I can never ever be a success”. It is all really in your mind, whether you will be a success or not is a choice that we make. I have never read anywhere in the bible where a person is referred to as ugly. God does not create an ugly person, what He does is to create a person suited to the purpose each will carry out in life. So you are what you say to yourself that you are. 
• A man is who people say he is. That is why Jesus spoke to His disciples and asked ‘what do men say that I am?” A lot of people have become what people say they are. When somebody says to you that this is what you are, you go back thinking in your mind that the person must be right and you are possibly wrong. 
• A man is who God says he is, whom God has created him to be. In Judges 6: 12 the Lord said to Gideon that he is a mighty man of valour, this is who God has created him to be. 

It means therefore ladies and gentlemen that if you don’t know God you cannot be who you are. No matter how rich or successful you think you are, if you do not know God you cannot truly know who you are. You just go through life thinking that this is who you are but you don’t really know WHO you are. There are many rich people around the world, rich or wealthy by privilege or opportunity, by  virtue of their birth, or God working in their direction but at the end of the day every worldly thing they have accounts to nothing because they don’t really know who they are.

Who do you say you are?

And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me. Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again. Judges 6: 17-18 KJV

Text: Judges 6: 11- 18

The above passage is a true story of a man Gideon who judged the people of Israel after they got to the promised land. It happened after Joshua had died and at that time they appointed all sorts of Judges to look after the affairs of Israel, There were no Kings because what they had was a Theocracy; God ruling His people Himself through the mouth and  the voice of the Judges and the Prophets. But from time to time the children of Israel would forget their God and do all sorts of evil; whoring, adultery, fornication, idolatry, lasciviousness, enjoying life and God will be angry with them and He will make them weak.

As a result of their sinful act and disobedience God would allow the enemies that surrounded them, the enemies that the children if Israel didn’t refuse to destroy when they entered the promised land, to give them a hard time. This was one of the situations where a group of people called the Midianite, came and they attacked Israel and they laid siege on the them that things were so bad that there was a lot of shortage of food and people could not freely express themselves.

There was a man who’s name was Joash an Isrealite who had a son called Gideon; and Gideon I perceived must have been the youngest , the least favoured child of that family. He was there hiding by the wine press.

The wine press was a hidden part of the house where people could not easily access but they also had a place called the threshing floor which was typically to the left side of the house where people would bring their wheat harvest to thresh and bring out the grain.

This time around they had a little bit of a harvest and instead of threshing it on the threshing floor or where people could see him, Gideon went to thresh it at the back of the wine press to hide it from the Midianites because he didn’t want them to know that they had any form of nutrition. Or he was afraid that if the Midianites attack them, they would take again the food that the family had to survive on.
There are some questions I want you to ask yourself. Questions which are important to understanding the topic. My question to you is this;

• Why was Gideon hiding in the threshing floor?
• Why was he not the success that he had the potential to be?
• What was the reason why Gideon was hiding?