Last Night in The Loft

We dove into our second lesson in our Ancient Alive series.  The goal of the series is for students to learn from some of the Old Testament "greats" and apply what they learn in their own lives.  Gideon was up to bat last night.  We walked through Judges 6,7.  In talking with many of the students they had never heard of Gideon.  We talked about how Israel would go through a cycle of turning their backs on God and then God would allow an invading force to oppress them, they would then cry out for help from God and He would send a judge to deliver them.  A cycle that we as believers often go through today.  We turn our backs on God and then when we hit rock bottom we cry out for help from God.

The main point:  We often view ourselves different than God views us.

Gideon

• Hiding - he wasn't threshing the wheat out in the open on the threshing floor he was threshing in hiding in the wine press.
• Angel calls Gideon "Mighty Warrior" - yet he is hiding.  How mighty is that?
• Gideon questions God, "If you are with us . . . . . ?"
• Gideon's view of self - "I am the weakest and lowest person in the lowest and weakest clan"  Basically - I'm the last person you should be turning to as a leader
• God's assurance - "I'll be with you"
• Gideon does what God asks of him but he does it at night so no one will see who did it
• The test of the fleece . . . 2 times
• The tiny army against the huge army.
• The crazy battle plan (that worked really well)

You

1. Are you in hiding?  What do you fear?  What tears down your confidence or keeps you from what doing what you know God wants you to do?
   
   Psalm 139:23,24
2. God sees you as He created you and wants to use you.  He knows your potential.
   Psalm 139:14
3. How do you view yourself?
   
   • Your value isn't found in what others think about you
   • Your value is found in who God has made you to be
   • God has gifted you and has plans for you to serve Him
   
   Students gathered in their PODz and discussed how God views them and looked at the Psalm scriptures above and discussed those verses together.
   
   Following our Bible study we had Hang Time.  The ping pong table and foosball table were a hot item.   We ate 6 bags of chips, fritos and pretzels, one jar of dip, two packages of Chips Ahoy, 4 sleeves of Oreos, 2 bags of popcorn, 2 gallons of punch.