Steven Furtick - Breaking the Bondage of Wrong Belief
It's time for the Word of God, put your hands together. Welcome eFam all around the world, let's go into the Word of God. This word God gave me today he began to speak to me on March 7, 2023. It has taken me that long to figure out how to share it with you. Today the Lord has released me to share it. I'm thankful, excited, and expectant about the implications to your life. In Judges 6:22-29, there is an encounter with God between the Angel of the Lord and a man named Gideon. The Bible says in verse 22, "When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, 'Alas, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!' But the Lord said to him, 'Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.'"
That's a good thing. Always good to know. I'll explain why he said that in a moment. Look at what the Lord said to him. "'Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.' So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. That same night the Lord said to him, 'Take the second bull from your father's herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father's altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. Then build a proper kind of altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering.' So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime".
Now, you call him a wimp; I call him wise. He did it how he had to do it. Sometimes you do. Sometimes you have to sneak in those victories at midnight. It's not always going to be some huge, triumphant, amazing thing. Sometimes the victory is going to be that you made it through the night and woke up the next day. You have to learn to praise God because of those too. Look at what happened. Verse 28: "In the morning when the people of the town got up, there was Baal's altar, demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar! They asked each other, 'Who did this?' When they carefully investigated, they were told, 'Gideon son of Joash did it.'"
Now I want to speak to you from this subject today. I want to talk to you about Breaking the Bondage of Wrong Belief. That's not one of those titles you can say to your neighbor, so let me give you a "Say to your neighbor" title. Look at your neighbor and say, "Neighbor, I know I look a little different. I know I've got a little extra pep in my step". Tell them, "I know I'm smiling more than the last time you saw me. It's because God and I got back together". Thank you, Lord, for this word. I know he meant well, but I completely disagreed with his method. The preacher stood before a room full of professing Christians and asked a question. "On a scale of 1 to 10, how close would you say you are to God right now"?
I gave him 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, benefit of the doubt even to the end of his message, because I just knew he wasn't going to give the people a scale to determine how close they were to God. Yet he did. I was waiting for the twist where he talked about the grace of God. You know, in the Bible, this one man prayed, and he said, "Lord, I thank you that I'm not like this sinner over here praying next to me," and the sinner was beating his breast, saying, "God, have mercy on me". Jesus said the one who beat his breast was the one who went home justified because he had faith to believe he needed God, and the one who thought he was so great wasn't so great because he was actually not close to the kingdom. But the preacher didn't do that.
He continued (I asked Holly if she remembered it, and she remembered it too, so I didn't just make this up) to tell the people everything they could do to move from a 4 to a 5. You know, there's this big line, this linear approach to knowing the Lord, and you can go from 4 to 5 if you read the Bible daily. You can go from 4 to 6 if you make it through the book of Leviticus. Bonus point for certain Bible books. He went through everything you can do to get closer to God.
Now, here's why I thought the exercise was ridiculous, respectfully to the person doing it, because I've done some ridiculous things. I'll probably say something ridiculous in here, and then I'll get up in 10 years and tell you it was ridiculous. I'll tell them myself. It's ridiculous because it's relative. How close are you to God right now? Compared to…what? Compared to Jesus, who always knew the will of his Father, who is supposed to be my standard? If we're going by that, I'm staying zero until I die. Compared to who? I don't even think the question is… You can rate a restaurant. Can you rate a relationship with the eternal God who spoke into nothing and there was something, with the invisible God who exists immortal, not seen to human eyes but known by the spirit, not by the flesh?
I can't rate something like that. That's another thing. Not only is it relative how close you are to God compared to what you think other people might be praying or doing, or whatever, because you don't really know what the other people around you are like. You judge yourself off of your delusions of them, so that's kind of dumb. Also, I didn't think it was a very good exercise because of something called recency bias. Do you know what recency bias is? It's when the last thing that happens carries the most weight with you, and you judge an entire thing off the most recent thing that happened. So, you begin to act like the way it is right now is the way it always is and the way it always was, but it's not true. I guess I'm using fancy language to say that if you answered that question at a 10 ("I'm close to God; I'm a 10"), it wouldn't take that much to put you at a 2.
There are days where at 10:00 a.m. you are a 10, but if I caught up with you at 2:00… At 2:00, you've had to deal with some people, and it can move you right back down the scale. Some of you are one text away from going from 10 to 2. Some of you are just a little bit of traffic from a 10 to a 2, riding down the road. "'Oh my God you've sure been…' Get out of my way"! You go from 10 to 2, just like that. Not 10 and 2…10 to 2. Just some traffic. No cross. No persecution. No martyrdom. Just 485. Ten to 2 like that. So, it's a dumb question because it's relative. Who am I comparing myself to? "Oh, I'm a 2 compared to Holly. Holly is amazing. Holly is perfect. Holly is wonderful".
Comparing myself to who? I mean, she's not Mother Teresa, but she's great. So, I didn't appreciate the guy saying, "You can move to a 4 from a 3 if you just take five minutes a day with the Lord". I thought that was so ridiculous, but the real reason I thought it was so ridiculous is it was a room full of people who are believers in Jesus. Why are we pulling out a scale to try to measure something in our own minds, in our own feelings, based on our own experiences, based on our own moods, how close we are to God. It depends. Have I had my coffee yet? It depends. Did I open a bill or did I open a check that was made out to me? Why are we measuring this on a scale that is subject to situations and self-righteousness?
I can always find somebody I think I'm doing better than. I belong to Jesus who already taught me that my relationship with him is not something that is achieved but received. It's a gift. I know y'all are looking at me funny because "I'm trying to get from a 7 to an 8. I'm trying to be a better man. I'm trying to be a better mom". Good. Try. I'm trying too. But understand there is nothing you will see on your reel and put into practice in your life, some advice you will scroll past and finally click with God, and God will say, "Oh, I've been waiting for them to get to 6. They've been stuck at 5.9".
This is not the Olympics, and God is not a scale. God is not a religion. God is a person. His name is Jesus, and I have him. So, I don't mind telling you… Ask me the question. "Pastor, how close are you to God? On 1 to 10". A 10 because of him, because of what he did. It's a 10, because my relationship is not based on what I did or what I didn't do. My relationship with him is a covenant. A covenant is not like the relationships we run around trying to build our lives on these days.
The covenant I have with God is not established based on the principles or the precepts I find myself willing or able to obey. No. I am in covenant with God on the basis of the death of his dear Son who loved me enough to shed his blood for me on a hill called Calvary, and it's a 10. You can put your scale away. It's a 10. He loves me. You can put your scale away. It's a 10. He wants to hear me pray. You can put your scale away. It's a 10. God wants to hear me sing. I'm singing because he likes to hear me, not because you like to hear me. It's a 10. When I sing, "Because…" God hands me a mic and says, "Keep singing. That's my kid. That's my girl. That's my boy. I want to hear them praise me. Only they can praise me for what only I could do for them".
It's a 10. I'm in covenant, not contract. If I break it, he already bought me. It's a 10 because of him. It's a 10 when I act like a 2. Nevertheless, the book of Judges demonstrates to us the unfortunate reality that we can be in covenant with God and still in captivity. That seems contradictory. How could you be in covenant with a God who knows no boundaries but be in captivity? Last year, I preached to you a series of messages about one of these rulers God raised up to deliver his people, the nation of Israel, from the hands of an oppressive enemy called the Midianites. I don't expect you to remember about the Midianites, but I do expect you to be honest today to admit that you have your own version of them.
I love messages, when I hear them personally, that, first of all, give me permission to admit my Midianites. If I can't admit I'm fighting the battle, how can I see clearly enough to take the shot? The idea that I could be in covenant with God and he could be completely committed to me and I could still be in captivity, while a seeming contradiction on the surface, is an experience we all know too well. It is when you know you are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). In fact, let me give you another Ephesians verse. Ephesians 2:13: "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ".
To be a 10 in my relationship with God because of him does not mean there will not be times in my relationship that I feel 2. The reason for this will never be because God's commitment to me has wavered. What I'm trying to say to you is you may try to break up with God, but God won't let you. The book of Judges proves it. You know what? Some of you don't need the book of Judges or a man named Gideon to prove it. You have spent your whole life stacking evidence for the fact that you can try to break up with God… You can flip your middle finger to your faith, and your faith will still stay inside of you, flicking you back, even if it's just a little flicker of a flame.
Some of you tried to be a really bad kid, and all that you trying to be a really bad kid did was make your mom pray more. Even your bad behavior was your mom's answered prayer, because she was praying for more faith. She was praying for more faith, so God gave her your bad behavior to give her more faith. This is how amazing God is. We don't believe God is sovereign anymore. We think there is something we could do to push him back and he would go, "Oh, never mind. I can't use you. I'm looking for a 10. I'm looking for a 10. Do I have a 9? Can I get a 9? Can I get an 8? Can I get a 7"? In 2024, God might take a 6. The world is really going downhill. The Lord will really lower his standards. No, look at the verse. It says in Ephesians 2:13, "But now…" Not when I get it together. "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away…"
I feel far from God, but I'm not far from God. "I was…" I was, but… The nation of Israel was slipping away from God, serving other gods, prostrating themselves to the gods of the Canaan culture, and completely disregarding the covenant they had with Yahweh. The Bible says these Midianites were the instruments God used to bring his people out of captivity, but they were also what God used to take them captive. That is an interesting dynamic too. The Lord allowed the Midianites to oppress his people to bring his people back to him. Now, we know God uses all things even though God doesn't do all things. God doesn't do evil, but we have a God who, when evil is done, can use the transformation process that happens through that evil that was done in order to bring about his purpose on the earth for which you were born.
Although Midian is oppressing the Israelites, God is using Midian as well. It's so cool how Gideon's name rhymes with Midian in English. This wouldn't work if we were reading it in the original Hebrew, but we don't know Hebrew, so it works really well for us. Gideon and Midian. It's a total mismatch. Midian has all of these troops. Midian has all this power. Every year they come in. They raid the Israelites. They take their crops. They take everything of value. They plunder the people. But what are we going to do? We are powerless to do anything about it. So, now we have people who are identified as God's special possession being plundered and feeling powerless.
There are some people listening to me today who are God's special possession because he bought you with his blood. You're in. It's a 10. You are his possession, but you are being plundered. The Enemy keeps taking your peace, your joy, your focus, your commitment to service and others, and even your very sanity. Somebody in this room feels like they've been going crazy today. You have the mind of Christ, but you feel like you're going crazy. You feel powerless to do anything about it. When we meet Gideon, he is threshing wheat in a winepress when God calls him a mighty warrior. This juxtaposition has been preached famously, not only many times from this little pulpit, but everybody who has picked up a microphone and a Bible has had something to say about a God who will call you a warrior while you're acting like a wimp.
This discrepancy, when God calls you something you don't feel like you are right now, when God calls you to do something you don't feel like you have the power to do right now, when God calls you to be something you've never even seen before with your eyes, is at the heart of the Gideon narrative. Gideon is so unconvinced about it he starts asking questions that start with, "Why"? When you're in a winepress, which is a dug-out place to hide, you will be so stuck in why it happened you will forget about who is able to deliver you from the situation. This is the situation for Gideon.
Now, the Lord doesn't tell him why all of the bad things have happened, but we know, because a prophet has come to the nation of Israel. The prophet said, "You have forgotten what I did for you. You have forgotten the God who brought you out of Egypt. You have served the gods of the people around you. You have adopted the practices of the pagan nations. You have even started adopting their gods as your gods, not just their practices as your practices". So, if we look at the life of Israel in this seven-year period that they were oppressed by Midian, there is nothing to tell them apart from the nations that surround them. They have come into a land whose customs have become their captivity. They have come into a land that God gave them, and the customs of that land have become their captivity.
The Lord says, "Gideon, I want to use you to lead a revolt and a revolution. I'm going to enable you, strengthen you, supply you, and give the enemy into your hand, and you will strike them all down". Gideon said, "Me? I'm the least in my family. My clan is the least in the nation. Why me"? God said, "Why you? Because me". God turns 2s into 10s instantly. Only God can do that. The beauty of this is God doesn't say, "Gideon, I'm going to put you through a preparation process. This is going to take three years to get it done". He has actually been preparing Gideon while Gideon has been hidden. Do you know God has been preparing you while you have been hidden too? Do you know God has been giving you tools, resources, lessons, words, and confirmations while you have been in the cave of what you perceive to be your abandonment and wasted season?
So, he tells Gideon to go. He gives Gideon a sign, and we pick up where I started today where the Angel of the Lord said to Gideon, "Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die". Sometimes when God shows up in your life the first thing you feel is fear. Feeling close to God is not always (I'm sorry, Eagles) a peaceful, easy feeling. I love the song, but in my experience, sometimes the first thing I feel when God is doing a work in my life is fear. I feel safe in the cave or the winepress. I feel scared when I step out to do the next thing God has called me to do. Isn't it amazing that the angel told him, "You are not going to die" and Gideon didn't even ask, "Am I going to die"?
Hmm. Something is happening here. He's preparing Gideon for something. Gideon is so encouraged. "Wow. God sees me. God has got me. God is with me. God came to me. God spoke to me. God gave me a sign. It's him". He is so enthralled by this experience in verse 24 that, impulsively, "He built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites". That's as far as I got when I preached last year. Maybe because that's what people want to hear of how it's going to go, that God is going to bring you closer to him and fulfill his purpose for your life. But this is an altar Gideon decided to build, not one that God commanded.
This altar, while not evil in its own way, was just his idea to commemorate the moment he had with the angel. He lies down that night, probably feeling nervous and excited. "The Lord told me I'm going to strike down the Midianites. It's going to be amazing. I have to start getting an army. I have to start learning jujitsu". You know, whatever he's doing to get himself excited about this big battle that is before him. Verse 25: "That same night the Lord said to him…"
Now, the Lord has already been speaking to Gideon for a while. It just took Gideon a while to realize it. "That same night the Lord said to him, 'Take the second bull from your father's herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father's altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. Then build a proper kind of altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering.'" So, let's contrast. Gideon says, "Oh, I'm not going to die. Let me build you an altar, God. I'm going to call it The Lord Is Peace (Jehovah Shalom). I'm going to name this altar The Lord Is Peace. Now I'm going to go to sleep. It has been a long day. This has been very traumatic".
The Lord wakes him up and says, "Your altar was nice, but there's another altar". There's another altar that is built, not to Yahweh. Look at the wording in verse 25: "Your father's altar to Baal". While Gideon is busy trying to build an altar to God… I see some people I preach to. You're trying to build your life back. You're trying to build your hope back. You're trying to build your business back. You're trying to build your family back. You're trying to build your sobriety back. You had 81 days, and now you're back on day two, but that's okay, because as you are trying to build it back, God wants to show you something that will make sure this time you build it, what you build will stand the test of the battle you face.
If all I do is build an altar while Pastor Steven is preaching, and if all I do is say, "Okay. I'm going to stack some new habits, and I'm going to do some new things. Okay. The Lord is peace…" I found out something. You cannot have God's peace and keep it without having God's priorities. God's peace without God's priorities is always temporary. The kind of peace you've been seeking in your life, craving in your life, crying out for in your life… That kind of peace, that permanent peace, that storm-speaking peace, that "lay your head on the pillow of a lion's mane" kind of peace, that "I'm in a fire, but I see the fourth man" kind of peace, the kind of peace that can know, "Greater is he who is in me than he who is in the world, and there's more with us than with them, and I don't have to be afraid about any of it…"
That kind of peace only comes from priorities. I don't know how to get you to shout about priorities. Breakthrough! Priorities! I couldn't figure out how to make it sexy. I couldn't figure out how to make it sing. I figured maybe if he played organ behind me…priorities!…that would trick you into thinking it was sexier than it was, but it isn't sexy. There's nothing sexy about putting stones on top of stones on top of stones, and definitely, there is absolutely nothing convenient or appealing about what God told Gideon to do next. You know, fighting a battle against an enemy… Well, I have testosterone for that. Taking an army and seeing God do the impossible, which Gideon eventually did, by the way… But before he did that, he had to do this.
"Take the second bull from your father's herd, the one seven years old". This must have been the hardest thing for Gideon to understand. "Tear down your father's altar to Baal…" Before Gideon can win the battle against Midian, he must break the altar to Baal. You have a Midian in your life, an external enemy that you so badly want to see God drive back. He can, and he will, and he has plans to do it and to use you in the process, not just for you but for everybody God has called you to impact. That's all true, but before you can defeat Midian, you must dethrone Baal. Would it be helpful if I explained to your neighbor what Baal is? I know you know all about Baal, but maybe your neighbor doesn't. He was the local god. It's not even his name; it's his title.
Baal was said to control the fertility and the weather. Without those two things, you can't eat or recreate. But we understand Baal isn't real. We have progressed as a society. We are so advanced. Thank God that we're alive at this time in history. We no longer trust in stuff that claims to be God but isn't. It's not like we have Baals in our culture. Right? It's not like we have stuff that controls us in our culture. Right? It's not like we're all a bunch of zombies in the zoo of 24/7 news cycles telling us what's going to happen in the world when our Savior already told us, "I have overcome the world". Before I can defeat this army called Midian and have real peace with God… That's what Gideon said. He said, "The Lord is peace. I'm going to build an altar".
That's great. The Lord is peace, and he does love you, and he will never leave you nor forsake you. In fact, he loves you too much to leave you like he found you. When God comes into your life, not only will he break through for you, but the next thing that happens when God does break through for you is God will call you to break up with something. See how much we love to shout about breakthrough? But what if there's a breakup before the breakthrough? Is that why you've been feeling restless? Is that why you've been feeling uncomfortable doing the things you used to do? Is that why there has been a conviction in your heart that "You know what? I'm not living like this anymore. You know what? I'm not talking like this anymore. You know what? I'm not walking like this anymore. You know what? I'm not accepting this negativity that comes from my inner critic anymore, because I need to hear what God says in this season of my life".
Maybe you're in a smashing season of your own. Maybe there are some things God is breaking off of your life in this season. Maybe there are some Baals you have been believing in that have let you down, and maybe you're going through a breakup with Baal. I was talking to a lady the other day who had a boyfriend. I said, "How's he doing"? She said, "I don't know. I quit answering his calls". I said, "So y'all broke up"? She said, "I guess". I said, "Does he know"? She said, "He will". It's called ghosting. She's just going to ghost the man. I thought it was bad when I was a kid. The most cowardly thing you could do was send somebody else to tell. Not that I was traumatized by Melissa in fifth grade, but why would you send someone else to tell me?
How many think it's disrespectful to break up by text? Raise your hand. Yeah, I think so too, if it has been over two weeks in the relationship. We'll get into this later. Here's what I want to say. Israel has ghosted God. When I said earlier you tried to break up with God, you were like, "Nope. Nope. Didn't do it. Didn't do it. I did not," like what I meant by that was you drew a pentagram on your wall and started listening to Slayer and worshiping the Devil. I think sometimes we just stop answering. Stay right there and act like I'm not talking to you. All you're doing is proving you're the one this message is for.
Stay right there and act like you're always a 10. The only reason you're a 10 is he kept coming to get you. The only reason you're in is because he kept coming, not because you did. Like you always prayed. Like you always did it right. Like you always deserved it. Like you were always so wonderful. Like you always rode around singing, "Way maker, miracle worker". Like you always were kind. Like you always gave. Like you always forgave. The reason I didn't break down is God wouldn't let me break up with him. All right. I'm going to tell you a story. I can tell you're ready for it. Did y'all know Holly tried to break up with me? She tried to break up with me for the summer. This has never been told from the pulpit. It has only been discussed behind closed doors. She looked at me seriously. She really thought this was going to be something I was going to accept as a term of negotiation.
She said, "Well, you're going to do this this summer, and I'm going to do this this summer. What if we just see if the Lord brings anybody else into our lives"? But she's on the front row because I, like God, wouldn't let her. I always wanted to be God in an illustration. I'm so far from God in my real life. Usually, she gets to be the good one. I'm so happy that I said, "No. I know what I've got, and I want it. I will not". God feels this way about you. He loves you so much he would let you be in bondage for a little while rather than let you worship Baal for the rest of your life. Baal is a false god. Baal is a god who keeps you in bondage. Baal is a god you cannot appease even with human sacrifices.
Baal can't make it rain. Ask Jezebel. She thought Baal could make it happen, but she was wrong. She had to apologize before she died because she found out that Baal is not God. Before Gideon could build an altar to God… Before you can build a new beginning in your life, before we can get past this temporary behavior modification that doesn't last 10 minutes after we leave church, there might be something you have to go home and break. If somebody sent you this YouTube link, they might be breaking up with you. But it might not be a relationship. Don't go quit your job talking about, "I'm smashing my Baal". I can just see a kid.
You know, because people like to take the message and twist it all up. I can see a kid going home and taking a baseball bat to their parents' car. "I'm smashing my father's altar to Baal". No, you're not. You're about to feel the wrath. Isn't it amazing? He said, "Before you can go forward and fight this battle, I need you to demolish your father's altar". For the purposes of the class we're having today, I do not want you to think about your father's altar as being about what your family taught you biologically. That would be too limited. It was not only Joash who had erected an altar. He was just a custodian of the cultural corruption.
What God was really telling Gideon in this passage and what he's really speaking to us, as a New Testament church today, has nothing to do with the family you were raised in. It has to do with the beliefs you cherish, the beliefs you behave out of, the beliefs that are ingrained in you. The beliefs. That's what Baal was. Baal was not just an idol. You picture the object. The object was just pointing to the belief behind it that we need something other than God to make it rain, that we need something other than God to give us life, that we need something other than God to defend us. How's that working for you? How is your Baal doing? You said if you succeeded this much you would be happy, and you got success. How did success serve you when you made it a god?
I guarantee you it left you emptier, because more success came with more pressure. You found out there is nothing that can make you feel full if you are empty without him. That's what I'm saying. Smashing Baal's altar. This isn't you going home and deleting Facebook for a week. It may include that, but that is not what I'm trying to achieve by preaching this message. When I say there may be a breakup with Baal that needs to happen, what I actually picture in my spirit is a kid going back to school this week, and there are things you believed last year, but God has been working on your heart, not only in this message but in this season.
When you go back to your school in a few days or, if you've already gone back to school, when you walk in tomorrow… You walk in, and after a while, people notice you are not as easily drawn to and seduced by the things you were drawn by, seduced by, duped by, and destroyed by in a previous season, and they begin to say things to you, like, "You've changed. You're different". Maybe they even make it a little bit meaner, and they start calling you names because you won't have sex. They start leaving you out because you won't go places. You have the audacity, Gideon, to look at them and say, "Yeah. I know I look a little different, and I know I act a little different. It's not that I'm better than you, but it's just that something happened to me over the summer.
I don't know if I told you about this, but I've been through a breakup. Me and Baal broke up. I decided he wasn't doing it for me. I decided that living to be popular was costing me too much peace. I decided that living for pleasure costs me too much pain on the other side. I decided that not having God's priorities meant I can't have God's peace. So, y'all be anxious if you've got to be anxious. Y'all be crazy if you've got to be crazy. Y'all be hateful if you've got to be hateful. Y'all call me what y'all have to call me, but the one who called me is more important than you".
So, I might not look the same next time you see me, because I'm going to be going through a breakup. It might be a painful breakup. I may have to relearn some things, I may have to be alone sometimes, and I might have to cry some nights, but I'm determined to see this through. Why? Because after the breakup, there will be a breakthrough. I'm going to cry for a little while. Weeping may endure for a night, but after the breakup… When the sun came up, there it was, the altar of Baal demolished to pieces, broken to pieces, smashed to pieces by the power of God! I'm on 10 right now. "I thought you were 2". I was, but me and God got back together. Oh! That's why I'm praising him. "I thought you were falling apart".
I was, but me and God… In fact, I'm not even telling Baal myself. I'm just going to send him a message. "Why are you breaking up with me"? Because you're not God. Stop thinking this is a marriage seminar. I'm not talking about a divorce from your spouse. I'm talking about a divorce from your belief system that is keeping you stuck. You might have a better spouse if you had a different belief system about marriage, and it might not even be a different one. So, before you take the bat to the marriage, take the bat to Baal. All of that I was going to preach to you, and then I realized it wasn't about that altar; it was about what was on it.
Read it with me. He said, "I want you to tear down your father's altar, the one to Baal, the cultural crap you keep doing". "I want you to clear your algorithm this week for what you think is a normal attitude. I want you to smash that so I can do something amazing through you". That's what this is about in your life. You think every season of breaking is contrary to the season of blessing, but after the breakup there's always breakthrough. No breakup, no breakthrough. You will keep going back to Baal, and you will blame it on Midian. You will keep thinking the problem is what is against you that you can see.
The problem isn't what I can see that's against me; it's what I keep abandoning that is within me, because greater is he… It is not the Midianites who keep defeating you. It is not the addiction itself. It is the altar to Baal that keeps you believing you need something other than God. The Lord challenged me to read this Scripture again and again. I said, "Okay, God". He got up, he built a new altar, and he tore down the altar to Baal. I began to study about the altar, because in verse 26 it says, "Build a proper kind of altar to the Lord your God".
What is the proper altar that you would build? Well, it was uncut stones so that no human hand could defile it. It was piled up and made ready for the sacrifice because the altar was a place to die. Then I realized there was one altar that was smashed the next morning, and there was one altar that was standing. But the thing that made the altar proper was not what it was made of as much as what was on it. The Lord told Gideon, "Get a bull from your father's herd". A bull was a common sacrifice. So far, we see no real revelation as to what needs to happen next, but there is significance in this detail. "The second bull, the one seven years old". "Smash the altar to Baal, build the altar to God, and after you have taken the Asherah pole (which was an idol) and put the second bull as a burnt offering…"
Wait a minute. The bull is not random in this passage. The bull represents Baal, not just because they sound alike. All of the false gods of the Canaanites had mascots. For Asherah, who was their sex god, the mascot was a pole, but for Baal, who was the weather and fertility god, the mascot was a bull. So, when the Lord told Gideon, "I want you to take the bull on the altar that you build to God and smash the altar your father built to Baal," what God was saying was, "I want you to believe me more than you believe Baal". It is very simple to say but very hard to apply, because the Enemy will lie to you and lie to you and lie to you and feed you with beliefs about the way things are, about what is important, about what really matters. He will feed you as much bull as you will listen to, but the Lord said today is the day for you to put the bull on the altar.
Every lie you've believed, every stronghold you've accepted, every false god you've worshiped… Put the bull on the altar. As long as we keep building altars to things we ought to let die, we will be in covenant with God but be in captivity in life. You have to put the bull on the altar. Every time the Devil lies to you, put that bull on the altar. Every time he tells you you're insignificant because you're not famous, put that bull on the altar. Every time he starts trying to tell you an addict is all you'll ever be, put that bull on the altar. Whom the Son sets free is free indeed. Put that bull on the altar!
I heard about a basketball game where Michael Jordan scored 69 points in the game. There was a rookie who was interviewed after the game. It was his first game in the NBA. This was in 1990. They asked, "What are your comments on your first game in the NBA"? and he said boldly, "I'll always remember this as the night Michael Jordan and I combined to score 70 points". He said that because when you're connected to the right one… I'm not talking about a bull now. I'm talking about the spotless, perfect Lamb of God slain from the foundation… The Lord said to Gideon, "You are not going to die," but there are some lies you have believed that must die so you can live. Put that bull on the altar. Stop thinking there's something that will fulfill you or complete you outside of God.
There is nothing. It's nobody else's job to complete you. It's nobody else's job to fulfill you. It's nobody else's job to make you happy. That's God's job. Let him do it. Build a proper altar. Let God fill those deep places in your life, and remember there is nothing you can do that would separate him from you. Every time the Devil tells you you're too far gone now, remember you serve a God who can make a 2 a 10 by his blood. Michael Jordan and I can score 70 points together on a single night. God can use you to deliver, God can use you to be a blessing, God can use you to give wisdom, God can use you to build it up, and God can use you to tear it down, but it's going to be because of him.
When they investigated in the daylight to see who had done it in the night, they said, "Gideon did it". "Gideon? Isn't he the one who was hiding in the winepress"? I like to imagine at that moment Gideon said, "Yeah. I was, but me and God got back together, and we have this ministry of reconciliation". I know what you've done alone. I know what you've done in your own strength, and so do you. I know Baal has failed you. He fails all of us. I know how your false beliefs have led you to a place of codependency with substance. Baal always does that. I know how thinking somebody needs to approve you before you can be worthy of love has left you running, drinking salt water in an ocean you were already drowning in.
That's what Baal always does. Break that altar. Delete every opinion that tells you what a young lady is supposed to be like. Ask your Father what a woman of God looks like, put your virtue on, and wear your values proudly. When they say, "You don't post no more," tell them, "Yeah. Me and Baal broke up, and me and God got back together. That altar is gone. I won't worship at it another day". I want you to grab the hand of the person next to you, because they're in a battle right now. They're in a breakup right now. Squeeze their hand right now because they're in a battle. I want you to squeeze their hand to let them know, "You didn't die".
That's how you know the covenant-keeping God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is with you too. Even though it was seven years of sin… Isn't it weird that the Bible said it was a seven-year-old bull? That was the exact length of time they had been in captivity. It was the bull that kept them in bondage. You can be free the moment you come into agreement with God on what he says about you. You can be free from the moment you decide there is no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. You don't have to stay in this another seven years. You can be free the moment you believe. Put that bull on the altar. I'm talking about a new bull. Believe. If you believe in him, you will be saved.
Right now, there's somebody in this room who needs this message as a matter of life and death. You're not going to die. The psalmist said, "I would have despaired unless I believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living". You're going to see it, but there are some altars you've been running to in the land you've been occupying that have been keeping you from being the person God sees. You're a warrior in this winepress. You always have been. He knows there's a better you. He loved me like I was, but he didn't leave me like I was.
Lord, I thank you that you loved me like I was. You didn't see me as a 2. You turned me to a 10. I get grateful when I think about your grace. I don't have to think about my car (I appreciate it) or my house (I love it). I don't have to think about any of these things just to say, "Thank you for your grace, Lord". I thank you that all I have to do to be closer to you is believe that you're already here. Like that angel was staring at Gideon and Gideon finally realized it, maybe today is the day we finally realize the lies belong on the altar. Before your presence, God, I ask you to set your people free today.
There's somebody in this place who needs to give their life to Jesus Christ today. When you do, you don't go from a 1 to a 2 and spend the rest of your life going 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. You don't start performing and God will see if you can really do a triple double somersault split spiritually. The God we serve said, "I will not only give you the grace, but I will give you the faith to believe".
So, right now, if you know that today is your day and God is calling you to bring your life to his altar, I want to lead you in a prayer. This prayer is an expression of faith, believing in what Jesus has already done for you. If you're ready today to repent of your sin and make Jesus the Lord of your life, I want you to repeat after me. We're all praying this out loud for the benefit of those who are coming to God or back to God. Repeat after me.
Heavenly Father, today is my day of salvation. I am a sinner in need of a Savior. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of the world, and today I make Jesus the Lord of my life. I believe he died that I would be forgiven and rose again to give me life. I receive this new life. This is my new beginning.