DEFEAT WHAT’S DEFEATING YOU

Part 1 – Overcoming Essentials

Questions: When was the last time you felt defeated?

What is it that causes you to be overwhelmed or overcome?

Reference: Judges 6-8

Judges 6:11-16 – 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
Medianites. 12The 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.” 14Then the LORD turned to
him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the
Medianites, 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.” 16The LORD said to him, “I will be with you. And you will
destroy/defeat the Medianites as if you were fighting against one man.”

1 Corinthians 10:11 – These things happened to them (people in the in the Old
Testament) as examples for us.

Overcoming Essential No. 1

We need a new view of OURSELF!

Revelations 2:17 - And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will
be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it.

2 Corinthians 5:17 – Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.
The old life is gone, a new life has begun!

Max Lucado:
Someone called you as a loss cause, someone branded you as a failure, someone
dismissed you as insignificant, don’t listen to them-they don’t know what they’re
talking about. A divine spark indwells you; when you say yes to GOD he blows on
the holy ember that begins to flame; are you perfect? No, but you are being
made perfect. He bought you and he owned you and has a wild inexplicable love
for you. His love for you doesn’t depend on you. You’re GOD’s idea, GOD’s child,
created in GOD’s image and He has a new name and a new identity for you.

Overcoming Essential No. 2

We need a new view of GOD!

A.W. Tozer:

“Whatever comes to our minds when we think about God is the most important
thing about us.”

Three characteristics God has reveal himself in the story:

1. God is a relentless finder!

Judges 6:11 (TLB) - The Angel of the Lord came and sat beneath the oak tree at
Ophrah … Gideon, had been threshing wheat by hand in the bottom of a pit were
grapes were pressed to make wine—for he was hiding from the Midianites.

Luke 19:10 (MSG) – (MSG) – For the Son of Man came to find and restore the lost.

2. God is incredibly patient!

Judges 6:17-19 (CEV) – 17 Gideon said, “It’s hard to believe that I’m actually talking
to the LORD. Please do something so I’ll know that you really are the LORD. 18
wait here until I bring you an offering.” “All right, I’ll wait,” the Lord answered. 19
Gideon went home and killed a young goat, then started boiling the meat. Next,
he opened a big sack of flour and made it into thin bread. When the meat was
done, he put it in a basket and poured the broth into a clay cooking pot. He took
the meat, the broth, and the bread and placed them under the big tree.
2 Peter 3:9 (MSG) – God gives … everyone space and time to change.

3. God is the peace-giver!

Judges 6:20-24 (NLT) - The (NLT) – 20The angel of GOD said to him, “Place the
meat and the unleavened bread on this rock, and pour the broth over it.” And
Gideon did as he was told. 21Then angel of the LORD touched the meat and bread
with the tip of the staff in his hand, and fire flamed up from the rock and
consumed all he had brought. And the angel of the LORD disappeared. 22When
Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he cried out, “Oh, Sovereign
LORD, I’m doomed! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!” 23”It is all
right,” the LORD replied. “Do not be afraid. You will not die,” 24And Gideon built
an altar to the LORD there and named it Yahweh-Shalom (which means “the LORD
my peace”).

Romans 12:1-2 (MSG) – So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take
your everyday, ordinary life-your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and your
walking-around life-and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God
does for you is the best thing you can do for him. 2 Don’t become so well-adjusted
to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix our attention
on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants
from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always
dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you,
develops well-formed maturity in you.

So how do we overcome those things that defeats us?

Gideon’s story reveals two things for us:

First we need is a new view of you. God wants you to have a new view of who you
are, not from someone else’s eyes but from God’s eyes because how you see
yourself will shape your life and determine your destiny. If you see yourself in the
wrong way, if you define yourself by your problem, am I a problem? No, you are
not your problem because God has defined your life. You were named and
renamed by God. God’s word for some of us today is to see yourself in a new
way. To seek and unlock the God potential of your life.

The second thing we have to do is we need a new view of GOD. The Angel of the
LORD told Gideon who or what he really is: A mighty hero. Then the Angel
showed who God is. This is who I am: a relentless finder, there is nowhere you
can hide that God will not find you. God is incredibly patient. We get so
impatient with ourselves and others but God knows how long it takes and he’s got
a process for your life just hang in there. What God started, He will finish, trust
Him. Thirdly, God is peace, He’ll give us a sense of divine order in every area of
our life but you’ll only discover it at an altar of sacrifice and worship. And that’s
how Gideon was able turn ever corner and become a mighty hero.