Pastor Martin Carl Jarvis mcjarvis@lwcenter.org

LIBERTY WORSHIP CENTER www.lwcenter.org "Fear Not The Gods Of The Amorites In Whose Land You Dwell." Judges 6:10

Now, It is very important to understand what God is saying here, "Fear not  the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell."  Well, initially one might think that "fear not" must mean since God is the God of Israel, they don't have to be afraid of other gods because Jehovah is greater.  Or, more familiar to us today...don't be afraid because "Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world."

But, when we read in Psalms and we read in Proverbs, that the "fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom", we are given to understand that fear doesn't mean terror at all, but "fearing" is an attitude of reverence, and attitude of respect, an attitude of honoring, an attitude of worshipping and the serving of a particular god.

There is a process.  The process is what I call 'Evolving Truth."  It's where you have an accepted truth... and that truth is called a "thesis".  But whenever there is an accepted truth (thesis), there is always a challenge to that truth.  And that challenge is called an Antithesis, usually by the minority (or a smaller thought).  And so, there is then an unseen battle in the mind of each individual between the accepted truth, and the challenge to that truth.  And as a result of the conflict now exists a modification of the original truth, and this modified truth is now the Thesis.  But, immediately an Antithesis is born to challenge it, and the process starts all over again.

This process goes on constantly from as large as law and morality between nations, all the way down to the mind of an infant.  It's called growth.  And most of the time it's good.  Except when it modifies the absolute truths of God.  And therein lies the problem with the Children of Israel, and we modern day Christians.

These conflicts within our minds... within our psyche are more often then not so slight and so seemingly insignificant that we are not aware of the constant modifications to our belief system.  And before we know it... we've traveled from Point A to Point B.  Romans 1:25, speaks of those who changed the truth of God into a lie, worshipping and serving the creation more than the Creator.

The Children of Israel (formerly Jacob, who was son of Isaac,who was son of Abraham):

Judges 6:2, "And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made themselves dens which are in the mountains and caves, and strongholds."

God used the Midianites.  Interesting.  Do you know who the Midianites were?  They were descendants of Midian, one of several sons born of Abraham (Isaac's father), sent away to the east so that Isaac (whose son became Israel) would be Abraham's uncontested heir.  And, it was the Midianites who had sold Joseph into slavery to Egypt.

Exodus 20:2, "I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."  Sort've the preamble to the Ten Commandments given to the newly emancipated Children of Israel.

So, the children of Israel had been delivered from generations of bondage...now they were back in bondage.

Baal was an idol.  Baal was not Satan, but merely a heathen object of worship.  But, by adopting this heathen god, they had replaced Jehovah God with a god of this world.

The world today is fixed on success.  The world defines success as "The Ultimate Satisfaction".  To the world that ultimate satisfaction comes from Financial, Material, and Relational gain.

But Jesus is quoted defining success in John 15:8-11, "Herein is my father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.  As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.  If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.  These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."

A.H. Maslow, a noted psychologist, defines man as a "perpetually wanting animal," driven to put forth effort by his desire to satisfy certain of his needs.  And, that after satisfying a particular need... that need is no longer a motivator for behavior.

1.) The first need (Maslow says) that motivates man is the most basic of needs.  When we don't have a job, our first concerns are food, water, clothing, and shelter.  But, after we attain these, they are no longer needs that motivate us to work.
2.) So next we need safety.  The need to make sure that we are able to maintain the standard of living that we've attained.
3.) Next, social.  Who do we relate to?  Who are our friends?  What group can I identify with?  And, after we've attained that social acceptance,
4.) Self Esteem.  We want to feel good about ourselves, self respect, self confidence.  After that,
5.) Status.  We want to climb the proverbial ladder, we want recognition, prestige, approval from those around us.  And, after all that,
6.) Self-fulfillment.  The realization of our potential, our creativity.

The worlds view of success.  The gods of the inhabitants in whose land we dwell.  But, this is their land, not ours.  And these are their gods, not ours.

We are the Children of the one true God...
We've been bought with a price...
Our lives are no longer our own...
We've laid down our lives...
We've picked up the cross...
We're supposed to be following Jesus.

We're living in a society today that is fixed on self gratification, "I WANT IT, I WANT IT NOW...AND I'M GONNA DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO GET IT!"

And that's not the attitude of the child of God.  Matthew 16:26,"For what is a man profited if he should gain the whole world, and lose his soul?"  One might think that this verse applies to merely to one who is not saved.  But, to "lose your soul", one must have had it to lose it.  Matthew 16:26 is a caveat to we who are born again.

If the world truly knew what we know, they would adopt our God.  But in this society, too often rather than to offer our God to the world, we option to adopt their gods.

II Corinthians 5:8, "absent from the body, present with the Lord".  Our lives here are so temporary.  We are eternal beings, with such a short, short time on this earth.  Given this reality, God must have a difficult time managing His resources if His desire for our focus is simply for us to make "fluffy" our short time here, while the world around us goes to hell.  could it be?   No!  John 3:16

We have lost Gods vision.  The Bible says "where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint."  Proverbs 29:18

Decisions must be made.  And they must be made quickly...because the choices that you are making today are affecting your future.  And not only your future.  Sometimes we think, "Well, it's just my life."

Listen, when Cain killed Abel (Genesis 4:10), And God said, "the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground." "Brothers blood" in Hebrew is plural, meaning "seeds"...Abel's offspring.  All those who would have been born, but now will not because of an act of one man.

What you do today affects not only you, but your children, and their children, and their children after them (even if they haven't yet been born).

Today you are living a life that was greatly influenced by the actions of your parents, because they were influenced by their parents, because they were influenced by their parents.  Some good influences, some bad.

When Gideon was finally convinced of his potential (in God), the first thing he did was tear down the heathen altar in his father house.  An altar that (no doubt) was an influence his life.  And then he cut down the groves (which were sacred heathen trees used in Canannite worship--groves that Moses had warned the children of Israel against using).  And then he built an altar to God, and offered sacrifice.

What's interesting is that the men of the city wanted to kill Gideon for destroying the groves, until they recognized how far they had departed from Point A (fearing God), to Point B (fearing the gods of the Amorties in whose land they dwelled).  And then God used just a handful of men to destroy their oppressors in such a miraculous way that no one could ever deny the awesome power of God.

      "Like Gideon, there is unrealized potential in your life.  God has a special destiny for you.  But you can not reach your ultimate destiny (in God), while worshipping the gods of those in whose land you dwell.Tear down the heathen alters.  Tear down the groves.  Build an alter to the Lord, and sacrifice your desires for His."
"
     "Seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all the things you need exceedingly and abundantly more than you could have ever thought or imagined will be added to you.  And then your abundance will be a testimony, a witness to the inhabitants in whose land you dwell, that God is the only true God, and there is no other.  And YOU WILL attain your ultimate destiny, and God will get the glory!"   Amen.

                                            Pastor Martin