Pastor Joe Sugrue - Grace and Truth Podcast

Title: Judges 8. Gideon, part 44: Rejection of grace brings woe to man.

When we left last time we noted how Gideon had returned home with the two Midianite kings, interrogated them for war crimes, which they confessed to, and then publically executed them. The people revered Gideon for freeing them from seven long years of tyranny, and then they made the fatal mistake of assuming that it was their lack of having a hero/king like him from the beginning.

"We should have had a hero/king like Gideon all along." When rejecting the plan and commands of God, man has no choice but to seek within and amongst himself for reasons attributing success or failure.

Was it Gideon's valiance as a warrior that won the brief war against Midian? God used Gideon in a completely unique way so as to ensure that no one...

for full notes: http://www.cgtruth.org/index.php?proc=msg&sf=vw&tid=1554

Title: Judges 8. Gideon, part 43: We don't help God. He helps us.

Jdg 8:14 And he captured a youth from Succoth and questioned him. Then the youth wrote down for him the princes of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men.

Jdg 8:15 And he came to the men of Succoth and said, "Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, concerning whom you taunted me, saying, 'Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are weary?'"

Jdg 8:16 And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and he disciplined the men of Succoth with them.

Jdg 8:17 And he tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.

Gideon's war is over. Midian is defeated and will not return. Gideon...

for full notes: http://www.cgtruth.org/index.php?proc=msg&sf=vw&tid=1553

Title: Judges 8. Gideon, part 42: God's gifts are filled with righteousness. They are not to be soiled by corruption.

Jdg 8:10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their armies with them, about 15,000 men, all who were left of the entire army of the sons of the east; for the fallen were 120,000 swordsmen.

Karkor is close to the Midianite homeland, and this shows just how far their pursuit went in spite of the lack of provisions from the two towns.

Jdg 8:11 And Gideon went up by the way of those who lived in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and attacked the camp, when the camp was unsuspecting.

Jdg 8:12 When Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and routed the whole army.

Gideon went by the...

for full notes: http://www.cgtruth.org/index.php?proc=msg&sf=vw&tid=1552

Title: Judges 8. Gideon, part 41: Ephraim seeks her own glory. Gad distrusts God and chooses self-preservation in slavery.

Ephraim seeks her own glory.

If we seek glory from others then we fail to see the glory of God.

Joh 5:44

"How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another, and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?"

Isa 64:4

For from of old they have not heard nor perceived by ear,

Neither has the eye seen a God besides Thee,

Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him.

In every other religion, the creature...

for full notes: http://www.cgtruth.org/index.php?proc=msg&sf=vw&tid=1551

Title: Judges 7. Gideon, part 40: Self-centeredness causes division.

Jdg 7:24 And Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, "Come down against Midian and take the waters before them, as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan." So all the men of Ephraim were summoned, and they took the waters as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.

Jdg 7:25 And they captured the two leaders of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, and they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and they killed Zeeb at the wine press of Zeeb, while they pursued Midian; and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon from across the Jordan.

Ephraim defeated Midian in two battles, at...

for full notes: http://www.cgtruth.org/index.php?proc=msg&sf=vw&tid=1550

Title: Judges 7. Gideon, part 39: Spiritual weapons of warfare.

Jdg 7:19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch [10 pm], when they had just posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and smashed the pitchers that were in their hands.

Jdg 7:20 When the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing, and cried, "A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!"

Jdg 7:21 And each stood in his place around the camp; and all the army ran, crying out as they fled.

The torches were somehow hidden by the pitchers or else they would have...

for full notes: http://www.cgtruth.org/index.php?proc=msg&sf=vw&tid=1549

Title: Resurrection Sunday: Unlimited power and hope.

An article was written for Easter in 1966 on the meaning of resurrection in a periodical called The Outlook, the periodical of the Presbyterian church. The article was written by the Principle of Knox College in New Zealand in which he states that he attempted:

"to sketch the difficulties of relating the Resurrection narratives of the New Testament to the kind of world in which we live, and to show that, in spite of these, the Resurrection faith of the church can still have meaning for men who have left behind the world view of the first century .... we may freely say that the bones of Jesus lie somewhere in Palestine ... Christian faith is not destroyed by this admission."

This was not a new idea by any means, but new to the Presbyterian church. One...

for full notes: http://www.cgtruth.org/index.php?proc=msg&sf=vw&tid=1548

Title: Judges 7. Gideon, part 38: Spiritual weapons of warfare.

"It is in vain, O men, that you seek within yourselves the cure of all your miseries. All your insight only leads you to the knowledge that it is not in yourselves that you will discover the true and the good. The philosophers promised them to you, and have not been able to keep their promise...Your principal maladies are pride, which cuts you off from God; sensuality, which binds you to the earth; and they have done nothing but foster at least one of these maladies.

If they have given you God for your object, it has only been to pander to your pride; they made you think that you were like Him and resembled Him by your nature. And those who have grasped the vanity of such a pretension have cast you down into the other abyss by...

for full notes: http://www.cgtruth.org/index.php?proc=msg&sf=vw&tid=1547

Title: Judges 7. Gideon, part 37: Worshipping God.

Jdg 7:15 And it came about when Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, that he bowed in worship. He returned to the camp of Israel and said, "Arise, for the Lord has given the camp of Midian into your hands."

This is the first time that the word "worship" is used for Gideon. It is this miracle which finally pushes him to the place of knowing the true magnificence and benevolence of God in his heart.

"worship" - hjc [shachah] = "to worship, prostrate oneself, bow down." This is not a general word for a ritual. This is humility and prostration before the might of God....

for full notes: http://www.cgtruth.org/index.php?proc=msg&sf=vw&tid=1546

Title: Judges 7. Gideon, part 36: God's grace in removing our fear.

God gives Gideon the option of further assistance.

Jdg 7:9 Now the same night it came about that the Lord said to him, "Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hands.

Jdg 7:10 But if you are afraid to go down, go with Purah your servant down to the camp,

Jdg 7:11 and you will hear what they say; and afterward your hands will be strengthened that you may go down against the camp. "So he went with Purah his servant down to the outposts of the army that was in the camp.

God reaffirms to Gideon that He has given him the victory, so God says that it's time to go. Yet, of course, God knows his...

for full notes: http://www.cgtruth.org/index.php?proc=msg&sf=vw&tid=1545