1. Less So much more…

2. 1) Limitless 2) Fearless

3. Powerless

4. Powerless is desirable

5. Powerless is truth

6. "Mighty warrior.."

7. Perspective: what God sees Spiritual Truth: what God does

8. You're gonna defeat the Midianites… The sign of the Holy Burnt Toast Cut down the altar to the false gods… Jerub-baal

10. Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised…

11. Mighty warrior Burnt Toast Jerub-Baal

12. Faithlessness in the present Is almost always a sign of Forgetfulness of the past

13. …look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said”

14. Faith?

15. And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew- a bowlful of water.

16. Satisfied?

17. Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece…"

18. Is this really about fleece and proof?

19. God's people have a history of Covering their unwillingness to serve With spiritual-sounding excuses

20. Why is God willing to prove himself?

21. Should we "put out a fleece"?

22. Should we "put out a fleece"? Testing what God has already clearly said

23. As I grow Is it possible I will walk more by faith and less by sight?

24. Time to fight!

25. UFC Pastor Brian vs. a 10-year old

26. UFC Pastor Brian vs. Anderson Silva ("The Spider")

27. 4 to 1 32,000 against 135,000

28. Umm…OK, but I'm shaking!

29. What are you doing? You're slowing down, you're slowing down!

30. What are you doing? You're slowing down, you're slowing down! I'm bringing him in closer, Merlin.

31. What are you doing? You're slowing down, you're slowing down! I'm bringing him in closer, Merlin. You're gonna do what?!?

32. The LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands

33. You're too powerful

34. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her, announce now to the people, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead’” God takes bragging personally

35. God chooses powerless people so that his power might be on display in them

36. So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained

37. 13 to 1 10,000 against 135,000

38. Uh…can we please go back to the fleece?

39. But the LORD said to Gideon, “There are still too many men.

40. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”

41. Why is it important to let God do the sifting?

42. So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the LORD told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel down to drink”

43. Three hundred men lapped with their hands to their mouths. All the rest got down on their knees to drink

44. 450 to 1 300 against 135,000

45. Powerless

46. Powerless Mighty Warrior

47. Because he is Powerless He's in a position to be a Mighty Warrior

48. “Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands

49. If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp”

50. Spiritual Truth When God refuses to give us what we want… It's because he knows what we need

51. So he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp. The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.

52. "I had a dream…"

53. "I had a dream…" {Powerful}?

54. "I had a dream…" How about {Fearful}?

55. When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, ‘For the LORD and for Gideon.’”

56. The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars.

57. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!”

58. While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled.

59. When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the LORD caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords - Judges 6-7

60. Who wins?

61. Whose Power?

62. “You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands…" If Gideon had been more powerful, he would have been absolutely powerless

63. Powerless is desirable

64. Powerless is true

65. Powerless is to be embraced

66. Brainwrap Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.

67. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

68. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things- and the things that are not- to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him - 1 Cor. 1:26-29

69. Brainwrap “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

70. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong - 2 Cor. 12

71. What I don't have is my starting point for knowing God's Power in me

72. What I don't have is my starting point for facing life with peace and confidence

73. What I don't have is the ability to save myself What I have is the cross

74. Apple Cart…