Greg Laurie: A New Beginning

If worry were an Olympic sport, some of us would qualify for the Gold Medal. But, in reality, life gives us so much to worry about, doesn’t it? The world is a mess, on so many levels. And we all have issues on a personal level, as well. But so many times, we’re so much more attached to our burdens than our burdens are attached to us. And today on A NEW BEGINNING, Pastor Greg Laurie begins a message designed to set us free from the worry trap. Good encouragement worth taking some notes. Listen on harvest.org --- Learn more and subscribe to Harvest updates at harvest.org A New Beginning is the daily half-hour program hosted by Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Southern California. For over 30 years, Pastor Greg and Harvest Ministries have endeavored to know God and make Him known through media and large-scale evangelism. This podcast is supported by the generosity of our Harvest Partners. Support the show: https://bit.ly/anbsupport See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Life is full of uncertainty. But when we don't know what the future holds, we should look at the one who holds the future. Pastor Jonathan Laurie points us to faith in this message. Notes: Focus verse - Daniel 7 WHEN YOU LOSE YOUR BEARINGS, YOU BEGIN TO DRIFT. READ DANIEL 7:1–10 (NLT) #1 DANIEL’S FEAR DANIEL 7:1–10 PHILIPPIANS 4:6 (NKJV) BE ANXIOUS FOR NOTHING, BUT IN EVERYTHING BY PRAYER AND SUPPLICATION, WITH THANKSGIVING, LET YOUR REQUESTS BE MADE KNOWN TO GOD; PHILIPPIANS 4:7 (NKJV) AND THE PEACE OF GOD, WHICH SURPASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING, WILL GUARD YOUR HEARTS AND MINDS THROUGH CHRIST JESUS. ISAIAH 46:9–10 (NKJV) I AM GOD, AND THERE IS NO OTHER; I AM GOD, AND THERE IS NONE LIKE ME, DECLARING THE END FROM THE BEGINNING, AND FROM ANCIENT TIMES THINGS THAT ARE NOT YET DONE. #2 DANIEL’S KING DANIEL 7:13–14 BEING WITH JESUS TRANSFORMS YOUR FEAR INTO FAITH AND YOUR CONCERN INTO CONFIDENCE. #3 DANIEL’S HOPE DANIEL 7:18, 26-28 WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS, LOOK TO THE ONE WHO HOLDS THE FUTURE. READ PHILIPPIANS 3:17–21 (NLT) DANIEL REMEMBERED HIS TRUE IDENTITY. DANIEL PURPOSED IN HIS HEART NOT TO DEFILE HIMSELF. DANIEL SOUGHT THE WELFARE AND SALVATION OF BABYLON. DANIEL DID NOT RETREAT, HE INFILTRATED. DANIEL LIVED HOLY IN A GODLESS CULTURE. Looking for hope or know someone who is? Join Greg Laurie at the Harvest Crusade: Hope for America on November 16! Get event information here. — Become a Harvest Partner today and join us in knowing God and making Him known through media and large-scale evangelism, our mission of over 30 years. Explore more resources from Pastor Greg Laurie, including daily devotionals and blogs, designed to answer your spiritual questions and equip you to walk closely with Christ. Support the show: https://bit.ly/anbsupport See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So many of us are procrastinators by nature. Others meant to be but they haven’t gotten around to it. Especially when thinking about the end of life and what lies beyond the grave, people tend to leave that discussion for another day. Well today on A NEW BEGINNING, Pastor Greg Laurie says time may be running out. We’ll take a close look at the Lord’s plans for the End Times. How will it affect Israel . . . how will it affect us? Reliable answers today straight from God’s Word. Looking for hope or know someone who is? Join Greg Laurie at the Harvest Crusade: Hope for America on November 16! Get event information here. — Become a Harvest Partner today and join us in knowing God and making Him known through media and large-scale evangelism, our mission of over 30 years. Explore more resources from Pastor Greg Laurie, including daily devotionals and blogs, designed to answer your spiritual questions and equip you to walk closely with Christ. Support the show: https://bit.ly/anbsupport See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The dependability of a promise is tied to the integrity and the resources of the one who makes the promise. Did he mean it, can he do it? Did God mean it, can He do it? The Bible says all the promises of God are “yea and amen.” And today on A NEW BEGINNING, Pastor Greg Laurie shows us how God’s promises extend to God’s people, including His chosen people. We’ll focus on his promises to the nation Israel, and how those promises can be trusted. Looking for hope or know someone who is? Join Greg Laurie at the Harvest Crusade: Hope for America on November 16! Get event information here. — Become a Harvest Partner today and join us in knowing God and making Him known through media and large-scale evangelism, our mission of over 30 years. Explore more resources from Pastor Greg Laurie, including daily devotionals and blogs, designed to answer your spiritual questions and equip you to walk closely with Christ. Support the show: https://bit.ly/anbsupport See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Most cars – those that take gasoline – have an engine and a starter motor. The starter motor (sfx) is what you hear when you first turn the key. The engine is what you hear (sfx) when the car roars to life. If a spiritual awakening is like an engine, revival is like the starter motor. And today on A NEW BEGINNING, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us all do our part to bring revival to our land. That’s where it starts: it starts with the people of God. Looking for hope or know someone who is? Join Greg Laurie at the Harvest Crusade: Hope for America on November 16! Get event information here. — Become a Harvest Partner today and join us in knowing God and making Him known through media and large-scale evangelism, our mission of over 30 years. Explore more resources from Pastor Greg Laurie, including daily devotionals and blogs, designed to answer your spiritual questions and equip you to walk closely with Christ. Support the show: https://bit.ly/anbsupport See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When it seems like the world is coming apart, sometimes it means that things are actually coming together. It’s not a time for fear, but a time for faith. Coming up today on A NEW BEGINNING, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us examine the great spiritual movements of the past. And we’ll draw some perspective from the book of Nehemiah. We’ll see how we may be at the precipice of an amazing move of God, and how He wants our help to light the spiritual fire. Let’s learn how to get involved. Looking for hope or know someone who is? Join Greg Laurie at the Harvest Crusade: Hope for America on November 16! Get event information here. — Become a Harvest Partner today and join us in knowing God and making Him known through media and large-scale evangelism, our mission of over 30 years. Explore more resources from Pastor Greg Laurie, including daily devotionals and blogs, designed to answer your spiritual questions and equip you to walk closely with Christ. Support the show: https://bit.ly/anbsupport See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To borrow from Mark Twain, “bad news can travel halfway around the world, while good news is still putting on its shoes.” When an influential believer falls into sin, it seems like we hear about it at the speed of light. But how do we reach out to someone who’s helped us, when they’re the ones who need help? Pastor Greg Laurie answers that question today on A NEW BEGINNING. We’re considering a story about Noah in the book of Genesis. This godly man sinned. But we can learn from this biblical account. Looking for hope or know someone who is? Join Greg Laurie at the Harvest Crusade: Hope for America on November 16! Get event information here. — Become a Harvest Partner today and join us in knowing God and making Him known through media and large-scale evangelism, our mission of over 30 years. Explore more resources from Pastor Greg Laurie, including daily devotionals and blogs, designed to answer your spiritual questions and equip you to walk closely with Christ. Support the show: https://bit.ly/anbsupport See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How can someone be sure they will go to Heaven when they die? Pastor Greg Laurie reveals that the answers to some of our most pressing questions are found right in the book of Isaiah. Notes: ACTS 8 AND ISAIAH 53 PEOPLE WILL DO JUST ABOUT ANYTHING TO AVOID PAIN. WE WANT THE GAIN WITHOUT THE PAIN. WE WANT THE CROWN WITHOUT THE CROSS. THE TEXT BEFORE US REMINDS US THAT JESUS CHOSE THE WAY OF PAIN- ON PURPOSE. WHAT WE ARE ABOUT TO READ ANSWERS THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS OF LIFE- - HOW CAN A PERSON COME INTO A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD? - HOW CAN ONE BE FREE FROM THE GUILT AND REMORSE OVER THEIR SINS? - HOW CAN ONE BE CERTAIN THAT THEIR SINS ARE INDEED FORGIVEN AND THEY WILL GO TO HEAVEN? ISAIAH 53 IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT CHAPTERS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. THERE IS POWER IN THE MESSAGE OF THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS. WHY IS THE DEATH OF JESUS SO IMPORTANT? BECAUSE WE ALL HAVE SINNED AGAINST GOD AND A PRICE MUST BE PAID, A SUBUSTUTE MUST BE OFFERED. JESUS IS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT CONCEALED, BUT HE IS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT REVEALED. THE BOOK OF ISAIAH OFFERS THE CLEAREST ACCOUNT OF THE DEATH OF JESUS. ISAIAH WROTE HIS BOOK 700 YEARS BEFORE CHRIST DIED. HOWEVER, HE WROTE IT AS THOUGH HE WAS AN EYEWITNESS. IN OUR JESUS AND YOU 2 SERIES, WE HAVE SEEN JESUS IN THE FIRE WITH SHADRACH, IN A WRESTLING MATCH WITH JACOB, AND NOW ISAIAH SHOWS US JESUS AS THE SUFFERER. “THIS CHAPTER IS THE VERY HEART OF THE GOSPEL. IT IS THE BIBLE IN MINATURE.” —CHARLES SPURGEON LET’S START WITH THE TWO DOWNHEARTED DISCIPLES ON THE EMMAUS ROAD AFTER JESUS ROSE. LUKE 24:27 (ESV) BEGINNING AT MOSES AND THE PROPHETS, HE INTERPRETED TO THEM IN ALL THE SCRIPTURES THE THINGS CONCERNING HIMSELF. THE BIBLE TELLS THE STORY OF A MAN WHO WENT TO JERUSALEM, SEARCHING FOR GOD. BUT AS A DIGNITARY, HE RECEIVED SOMETHING VALUABLE, THE SCROLL OF ISAIAH! PHILIP HEARD THIS FOREIGN DIGNITARY READLING ALOUD FROM ISAIAH 53. READ ACTS 8:31 30-35 IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, ISAIAH IS THE MOST QUOTED OF THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETS. JESUS AND THE NEW TESTAMENT WRITERS QUOTE ISAIAH AT LEAST 65 TIMES AND HE IS MENTIONED BY NAME 22 TIMES. THE WHOLE GOSPEL IS IN THE BOOK OF ISAIAH: - THE BRUTALITY OF THE WOUNDS INFLICTED ON JESUS. (ISAIAH 52:14) - HIS ABSOLUTE SILENCE BEFORE HIS ACCUSERS (ISAIAH 53:7) - HIS DEATH (ISAIAH 53:8–9) - THE PLACE OF HIS BURIAL (ISAIAH 53:9) - HIS RESURRECTION (ISAIAH 53:10) READ ISAIAH 53:1-3 JESUS WAS ORDINARY IN APPEARANCE. IF JESUS HAD AN INSTAGRAM, HE MIGHT NOT HAVE GONE VIRAL, BUT HE STILL WOULD HAVE GONE TO THE CROSS. IF JESUS WERE HERE TODAY, HE WOULDN’T BE TRENDING, HE’S BE TRANSFORMING. JESUS DID NOT COME FROM THE MARBLE PALACES OF ROME OR THE HALLS OF HEROD. WE OVERLOOK THE ORDINARY PEOPLE IN OUR CULTURE TODAY. WE LIVE IN A CULTURE THAT WORSHIPS THE OUTWARD. PEOPLE SCROLL PAST THE ORDINARY. MOST LIKELY, YOU COULD NOT PICK JESUS OUT OF A CROWD. AT HIS BIRTH, ONLY A HANDFUL OF PEOPLE RECOGNIZED WHO HE WAS, HUMBLE SHEPHERDS, WHO WERE THE LOWEST OF THE LOW AT THAT TIME. JESUS RETURNED TO HIS HOMETOWN OF NAZARETH WHERE HE HAD BEEN RAISED. THEY DECIDED TO KILL HIM AND TOOK HIM TO THE EDGE OF A CLIFF TO THROW HIM OFF. YET JESUS SHOWED HE WAS IN COMPLETE CONTROL. LUKE 4:29 30 (ESV) BUT PASSING THROUGH THEIR MIDST, HE WENT AWAY. PEOPLE WANTED A MILITANT MESSIAH AND THEY GOT A SUFFERING SAVIOR. JESUS WAS EXTRODINARY IN WHAT HE CAME TO DO. ISAIAH 53:3 WHAT DOES IT MEAN THAT “JESUS WAS A MAN OF SORROWS?” DOES IT MEAN JESUS NEVER SMILED, NEVER LAUGHED? JESUS SAID, “I TOLD YOU THIS TO MAKE YOU COMPLETELY HAPPY AS I AM.” JESUS WAS HAPPY, APPROACHABLE, AND EXUDED LOVE! 1 TIMOTHY 1:11( NLT) THE GLORIOUS GOOD NEWS ENTRUSTED TO ME BY OUR BLESSED GOD. THAT IS NOT THE VIEW MANY PEOPLE HAVE OF THE ALMIGHTY. THEY SEE HIM MORE AS THE ANGRY GOD OR THE DISINTERESTED GOD. WHEN GOD SEES YOU, HE SMILES. NUMBERS 6:24–26 (NLT) MAY...

In this interview from the archives, Pastor Greg Laurie sits down with Hugh Hewitt to open up about his upbringing, running into the gospel at 17 on a high school campus, and becoming a successful evangelist, despite being the last person many would have expected. Looking for hope or know someone who is? Join Greg Laurie at the Harvest Crusade: Hope for America on November 16! Get event information here. — Become a Harvest Partner today and join us in knowing God and making Him known through media and large-scale evangelism, our mission of over 30 years. Explore more resources from Pastor Greg Laurie, including daily devotionals and blogs, designed to answer your spiritual questions and equip you to walk closely with Christ. Support the show: https://bit.ly/anbsupport See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So many of us spend so little time thinking about the Lord during the day, and yet we want to live with Him forever. God’s Word has a bottomless supply of insights for life, but social media captures so much more of most people’s attention. Well today on A NEW BEGINNING, as Pastor Greg Laurie continues our Genesis series, we’ll see how Noah remembered the Lord – it was his priority – after reaching dry land following the Flood. We’ll learn a number of principles from following the life of this great patriarch! Looking for hope or know someone who is? Join Greg Laurie at the Harvest Crusade: Hope for America on November 16! Get event information here. — Become a Harvest Partner today and join us in knowing God and making Him known through media and large-scale evangelism, our mission of over 30 years. Explore more resources from Pastor Greg Laurie, including daily devotionals and blogs, designed to answer your spiritual questions and equip you to walk closely with Christ. Support the show: https://bit.ly/anbsupport See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When you have to walk a ways in the snow, sometimes it’s easiest to use the same footprints on your way back. They’re easy enough to see. What footprints do we leave in our lives, that allow our adversary the easiest access to our thoughts and actions? Today on A NEW BEGINNING, as Pastor Greg Laurie continues his series in Genesis, we’ll see the enemy is always on the prowl, looking for his next target. But we’ll learn practical principles for locking the Devil out . . . leaving him out in the cold. Looking for hope or know someone who is? Join Greg Laurie at the Harvest Crusade: Hope for America on November 16! Get event information here. — Become a Harvest Partner today and join us in knowing God and making Him known through media and large-scale evangelism, our mission of over 30 years. Explore more resources from Pastor Greg Laurie, including daily devotionals and blogs, designed to answer your spiritual questions and equip you to walk closely with Christ. Support the show: https://bit.ly/anbsupport See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mankind has had some great ideas: air travel, space flight, the wheel, the smartphone. But everyday, each of us has some very bad ideas. God calls them sin. But, good or bad, it starts with an idea. And today on A NEW BEGINNING, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us keep our ideas in check. We’re launching a new series from “the book of beginnings,” the book of Genesis. We’ll see dangerous ideas can be traced all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Looking for hope or know someone who is? Join Greg Laurie at the Harvest Crusade: Hope for America on November 16! Get event information here. — Become a Harvest Partner today and join us in knowing God and making Him known through media and large-scale evangelism, our mission of over 30 years. Explore more resources from Pastor Greg Laurie, including daily devotionals and blogs, designed to answer your spiritual questions and equip you to walk closely with Christ. Support the show: https://bit.ly/anbsupport See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How does the Devil cause so much mayhem among believers? He has help! He and his minions set their sights on believers trying to make them fall . . . and they’re quite good at what they do. But today on A NEW BEGINNING, Pastor Greg Laurie points out victory is assured for God’s children when we stand in the victory of Jesus. We’re in the Garden of Eden today watching Adam and Eve struggle against the temptation of our adversary, and we’ll see how that struggle affects us even today. Looking for hope or know someone who is? Join Greg Laurie at the Harvest Crusade: Hope for America on November 16! Get event information here. — Become a Harvest Partner today and join us in knowing God and making Him known through media and large-scale evangelism, our mission of over 30 years. Explore more resources from Pastor Greg Laurie, including daily devotionals and blogs, designed to answer your spiritual questions and equip you to walk closely with Christ. Support the show: https://bit.ly/anbsupport See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the Lord’s Prayer, we read “Lead us not into temptation.” Yeah, we certainly don’t want to go down that path. But haven’t you found that sometimes temptation comes up the path and finds us! Temptation is pervasive. It’s ubiquitous. Today on A NEW BEGINNING, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us dissect temptation. We’ll trace its roots all the way back to the Garden of Eden. And Pastor Greg offers some biblical insights on how to stop Satan’s attacks right in their tracks. Looking for hope or know someone who is? Join Greg Laurie at the Harvest Crusade: Hope for America on November 16! Get event information here. — Become a Harvest Partner today and join us in knowing God and making Him known through media and large-scale evangelism, our mission of over 30 years. Explore more resources from Pastor Greg Laurie, including daily devotionals and blogs, designed to answer your spiritual questions and equip you to walk closely with Christ. Support the show: https://bit.ly/anbsupport See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Many products have labels noting where they were made. Maybe Made in China, Japan, Mexico, or Made in the U.S.A. Metaphorically, if we were to look at our label – the label of man himself – it would say “Made in the Garden of Eden . . . by God.” You and I were handcrafted by our Heavenly Father. And today on A NEW BEGINNING, Pastor Greg Laurie points out, not only were man and woman handmade by God, the institution of marriage was, as well. Today we’ll get the full story. Looking for hope or know someone who is? Join Greg Laurie at the Harvest Crusade: Hope for America on November 16! Get event information here. — Become a Harvest Partner today and join us in knowing God and making Him known through media and large-scale evangelism, our mission of over 30 years. Explore more resources from Pastor Greg Laurie, including daily devotionals and blogs, designed to answer your spiritual questions and equip you to walk closely with Christ. Support the show: https://bit.ly/anbsupport See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you don’t know where you’re going, how do you know when you get there? It seems some people are in permanent wander mode. They’re drifting. But those who live for the Lord continually encounter the wonder of God. Wonder . . . or wander? The choice is up to us. And today on A NEW BEGINNING, Pastor Greg Laurie helps connect us with the plan and purpose of God. We’re in the opening message of a study series in the book of Genesis. We’re considering God’s plan from the very beginning. Looking for hope or know someone who is? Join Greg Laurie at the Harvest Crusade: Hope for America on November 16! Get event information here. — Become a Harvest Partner today and join us in knowing God and making Him known through media and large-scale evangelism, our mission of over 30 years. Explore more resources from Pastor Greg Laurie, including daily devotionals and blogs, designed to answer your spiritual questions and equip you to walk closely with Christ. Support the show: https://bit.ly/anbsupport See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

God’s plan for creation and His plan for mankind, included His plan for man’s redemption. Even before the heavens and the earth were created, He knew man’s freewill would lead him astray. . . and He had a solution before we even tasted of the forbidden fruit. Today on A NEW BEGINNING, Pastor Greg Laurie digs in to God’s plan as revealed in Genesis. To understand something best, we need to take it from the top—chapter 1, verse 1 of book #1 in God’s Word. Looking for hope or know someone who is? Join Greg Laurie at the Harvest Crusade: Hope for America on November 16! Get event information here. — Become a Harvest Partner today and join us in knowing God and making Him known through media and large-scale evangelism, our mission of over 30 years. Explore more resources from Pastor Greg Laurie, including daily devotionals and blogs, designed to answer your spiritual questions and equip you to walk closely with Christ. Support the show: https://bit.ly/anbsupport See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Most all of us have someone in our circle of influence who doesn’t know the Lord, and we’ve never talked to them about Jesus. And that weighs heavily on our conscience. If it doesn’t, maybe it should. Today on A NEW BEGINNING, Pastor Greg Laurie takes us to the account of Jonah . . . no, not so much about the great fish, but about his assignment of delivering the message God gave him. At first he refused, but then he got a second chance. Maybe we need a second chance. Looking for hope or know someone who is? Join Greg Laurie at the Harvest Crusade: Hope for America on November 16! Get event information here. — Become a Harvest Partner today and join us in knowing God and making Him known through media and large-scale evangelism, our mission of over 30 years. Explore more resources from Pastor Greg Laurie, including daily devotionals and blogs, designed to answer your spiritual questions and equip you to walk closely with Christ. Support the show: https://bit.ly/anbsupport See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some statements can carry tremendous meaning. Some can be life-changing. Statements like “not guilty” . . . “you’re cancer-free” . . . “it’s a boy!” Imagine NOT sharing one of those statements with those who needed to hear it. Well today on A NEW BEGINNING, Pastor Greg Laurie points out the privilege and responsibility of sharing a message that could affect where someone spends eternity. We’ll consider the Gospel, and how it offers us a second chance. Looking for hope or know someone who is? Join Greg Laurie at the Harvest Crusade: Hope for America on November 16! Get event information here. — Become a Harvest Partner today and join us in knowing God and making Him known through media and large-scale evangelism, our mission of over 30 years. Explore more resources from Pastor Greg Laurie, including daily devotionals and blogs, designed to answer your spiritual questions and equip you to walk closely with Christ. Support the show: https://bit.ly/anbsupport See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Even in the face of fear and uncertainty, God is by your side as you walk toward His calling. We see that through the life of Gideon, a man from the smallest clan and the least in his family, yet led by God to do great things on His behalf. Notes: Focus verse - Judges 6 It seems like our culture has been turned upside down. Isaiah 5:20–21 Destruction is certain for those who say that evil is good and good is evil; that dark is light and light is dark; that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter. When culture is upside down, hearts are anxious. 84% of Gen Z say they feel anxious or stressed regularly. 1 in 3 adults say they lose sleep over finances. Nearly 70% of Americans say the future makes them afraid. Top fears include failure, rejection, loneliness, global conflict, and health. We will look at a man named Gideon who was really afraid when Jesus came to him. He was hiding from his enemies, the Midianites. Jesus turns fearful into faithful, hiding into fighting, and panic into purpose. Things were really turned upside down in the days of the book of Judges. Judges 17:6 (NLT) In those days Israel had no king; so the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes. God raised up 13 judges to guide His people through this difficult time. The book of Joshua is the story of conquest. While Judges is a book of unbelief and disobedience. Joshua is a book about people uniting around one man to lead them, Joshua Judges is about “everyone doing what was right in their own eyes.” But whatever and wherever the time, Jesus will show up. Don’t just pray when you are in crisis. Remember also to thank God when things are going well. James 5:13 (NIV) Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. This was a time of crisis for Israel. It was the year 1256 b.c. Approximately 200 years had passed since Joshua had led the Israelites. They did not drive all the Canaanites out and they lived to regret it. The same can be true in our lives as Christians. 200 years later the Canaanites regained strength and began to dominate the Israelites. As Judges, chapter 6 opens, we see the Israelites living under the power of the Midianites. Israel was living in despair, and finally they called out to God to deliver them, and Jesus shows up. Jesus meets fearful people where they hide. As our story begins, we find Gideon hiding from his enemies. Hardly a picture of heroism and courage. Read Judges 6:11–14 Gideon wanted to know why this difficulty was happening. He had heard about the “good old days” but where was God now? Judges 6:13 “Sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? “ The Christian life is full of difficult questions. 1 Corinthians 13:12 “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely.” So often we are looking for an answer to the why question when it is about a Who. As in, “Who do I turn to?” The answer to that question is Jesus. This was not a mere angel (as powerful as they are) this was Jesus. Why is this a Christophany instead an angelic appearance? The speaker at first is called, “The angel of the Lord.” But then the narrative shifts and simply calls Him, “The LORD (YHWH).” The messenger says, “I am sending you.” Judges 6:14 He uses the first-person pronoun and assumes divine authority. Gideon realizes he has seen God. Judges 6:22 When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he cried out, “Oh Sovereign Lord, I’m doomed! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!” Judges 6:15 (NLT) "But Lord," Gideon replied, "how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!" Another...