Judges 6:12-15(NKJV)
12 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!”
13 Gideon said to Him, “O [c]my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”
14 Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?”
15 So he said to Him, “O [d]my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”
What did God say?
-Mighty man of Valor
What did Gideon say?
-He spoke the problems.
-I am from the weakest clan.
-I am the least in my fathers house.
Why did Gideon say these things?
He was repeating what he had heard.
What have we heard about ourselves?
Satan- the father of lies- is always lying about God’s people.
The lie- nobody loves you
What does God say?
John 3:16(NKJV)
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Romans 8:38-39(NKJV)
38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The lie- you are just a sinner.
What does God say?
1 John 2:12(NKJV)
12
I write to you, little children,
Because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.
2 Cor 5:21(NKJV)
21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
The lie- I don’t belong - I have nobody.
What does God say?
Ephesians 1:3-6(NKJV)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He [a]made us accepted in the Beloved.
The lie- you are broken.
What does God say?
Colossians 2:10(NKJV)
10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all [g]principality and power.
2 Cor 5:17(NKJV)
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
The Lie- you have no purpose, you have no hope.
What does God say?
Jeremiah 29:11(NKJV)
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Ephesians 2:10(NKJV)
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
We identify with Christ-
We are His people and we are who He says we are.
In baptism we identify with Christ as a public display of our faith in an act of obedience.
Romans 6:1-4(NLT)
Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace?
2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?
3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death?
4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
Galatians 2:20(NLT)
20 My old self has been crucified with Christ.[e] It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
In dedicating the children to God- these parents trusting God with the most treasured gift that God entrusted to them - their babies. So we trust God and commit those children to Him knowing He is faithful to keep those committed to Him.