2024-09-29_Sunday 2nd Service: The Gideon Action. By Rev. Dr. Simon Mwangi, PBC Associate Pastor

We are reading from the book of Judges, chapter 6, from verse 11 to 16, and then verse 23 to verse 28.

Judges 6 · chapter mention

And the title of the message today is the Gideon Action Gideon Action, the Gideon Action Judges, chapter 6, verse 11 to 16, and also verse 23 to verse 28.

Judges 6:11–16

This is what the Bible says in the NIV version of the Bible, verse 28.

This is what the Bible says in the NIV version of the Bible.

The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son, gideon, was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites.

When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said the Lord is with you, mighty warrior.

Pardon me, my lord Gideon replied, but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?

Where are all the wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said Did not the Lord bring us out of Egypt?

But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of the Midian and sometimes, when we are going through a challenging time, we feel that way.

We feel that God has abandoned us.

Then, in verse 14.

The Lord turned to him and said Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand.

Am I not sending you?

Then in verse 15, pardon me, my Lord Gideon replied but how can I save Israel?

My clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I am the least in my family.

Then, verse 16, the Lord answered I'll be with you.

That's what makes all the difference.

And you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.

Now let's move on to verse 23.

But the Lord said to him peace, which means shalom, 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 ofra of their busierites.

Verse 25 that same night the Lord said to him take the second bull from your father's herd, the one seven years old, tear down, tear down.

Tear down your father's altar to bow 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 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 Verse 27.

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.

Finally, in verse 28,.

In the morning, when the people of the town got up, there was Baal's altar demolished, with their share of poor beside it, cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar.

Almighty God, I thank you for this word I have read.

I pray, holy Spirit, that you bring us to the place when we would hear what God is saying to each one of us and where we would obey your word and therefore bless us all as we partake in this word.

In Jesus name, amen, we may have our seats.

The Gideon Action Last Sunday.

Of course I was not here.

In Jesus' name, amen, we may have our seats.

The Gideon Action Last Sunday.

Of course I was not here.

Thank you, pastor Victor, for sharing the word and providing leadership in terms of the ministry.

Last Sunday I was in Southeast Kituwe University and I was ministering to the students there.

You know it's a big campus.

I was really pleasantly surprised meeting all the students there.

You know it's a big campus.

I was really pleasantly surprised meeting all the students there and sharing the word with the students, they passed their greetings I also had taken your greetings to them.

So they are praying for us and I know some of the students during their break will also be visiting us here, and so thank you very much for praying for me while I was away.

So three areas that we would like to consider under that title the Gideon Action, and so in my outline I have directed by God, gideon Action.

Directed by God, executed by Gideon, resulting in great victory.

Let me just repeat the three areas we shall look at Directed by God, executed by Gideon, resulting in great victory.

For those who are joining us for the first time, this month has been the month of open door, advancement, uplifted kingdom, warfare, and therefore we have been focusing on one thing the door God has opened and the fact that God wants us to go through that door and make progress.

But then we realize that the door is open, but then sometimes we face warfare as we go through the doors God has opened, whether it is doors to nations or to our neighborhoods or in the career path.

The door is open, but there is contestation, there is contestation, and so this month we've been focusing on that and that's why today, as we close the month of September, preparing to enter the month of October on Tuesday, the 1st of October, then, I've picked the Lord has put in my heart that I share with us.

The Gideon action, first of all, directed by God, and God gives instructions that are very clear.

God never speaks vaguely.

God speaks with clarity when he engages his people.

He gives instructions that are very, very, very clear.

I know that when we go through difficult times, we go to the wrong places to get instructions on how to break through or on how to make progress, and many people have ended up worse in life because they did not go back to God, especially in the heat of a challenge, when things are really, really difficult and things are very, very tight.

I thank God because he's a God who comes to his people even in those difficult times, and he's able to give a prescription, he's able to give instructions that are able to release people from a trap, you know, or a prison, or a place where they have been cornered for a long time Now, for the nation of Israel, for seven years, a whole seven years.

They were under the oppression of the Midianites and the Amalekites, and these peoples were really dangerous, they were warriors some, and they would not let the Israelites have any space.

For that reason, the Israelites were not able to bring anything from seed to harvest, because the seed to harvest journey would be interrupted.

And the interruptions came in waves, what you call cycles, for seven years.

You know, every year, every year, they plant something just when they're about to get the harvest or when the harvest is ready, the Midianites come, they beat them up, they mess up, they take the harvest and they just walk away with it.

And so the Israelites lived under such oppression.

And I want you to know that God knows and God is aware and he can actually see, and God desires to come through for every individual, for every family and every city, every nation and even the continent of Africa.

Right now God can actually see and the oppression that has been there for quite some time by the Midianite spirit and by the Amalekite spirit Amalekite spirit, which is very wasteful, is a very, very wasteful spirit.

God is able to see and God is able to bring his intervention and therefore the Gideon action includes directions from above.

These are called divine instructions and I want to thank God that he has instructions for every scenario and every situation and therefore we don't have to go here or go there, this place or that place.

In fact, the Bible says whoever trusts in man is cast.

In Psalm 20, verse 7, it says some trust in chariots, others trust in horses, but we we, we trust in the name of the Lord.

Psalms 20:7

And so God speaks and God is speaking, and he has been speaking both day and night from this Bible, from from the scriptures.

God speaks through the Holy Spirit and he quickens something within ourselves and he says it is time to do something and he begins to show us exactly how we are going to do that thing.

God does speak through circumstantial providence, which means the opening and shutting of doors.

You are trying to go one way.

That door shuts, another one opens on the other side Circumstantial providence.

God does speak through godly counsel and people who really truly know the Lord, and in unique ways.

He can also speak through godly counsel and people who really truly know the Lord, and in unique ways.

He can also speak through a dream.

He can speak through a vision, but in this Gideon action, it is clear to me that God's instruction is ready for you and for me in those circumstances that you are in, so that he grants you the prescription of how you would actually get out of that kind of situation.

Now, in Judges, chapter 6, verse 25 and 26,.

Judges 6:25

The same night the Lord said to him take the second bull from your father's herd, one seven years old.

It's so specific.

These instructions are tear down your father's altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.

Then build a proper kind of altar in verse 26.

A proper kind of altar to the Lord, your God, on top of this height, using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down on.

Offer the second bull as a burnt offering.

Now give me on the screen Jeremiah, chapter 1 and verse 10.

Jeremiah 1 · chapter mention

God has got instructions, and that is why we say his word never returns void without accomplishing what you are saying Now.

In Jeremiah 1, verse 10, it says Today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.

Jeremiah 1:10

Now these are very clear instructions, also given to Jeremiah.

That is Jeremiah in the Old Testament.

Now we are having a Gideon who is also being given very clear instructions, and when you look at both of them and the instructions coming to them, there is something to be removed and there is something to be planted.

There are some things that are designated for demolition and there are some things designated for uprooting.

There are some things designated for overthrowing, there are some things designated for dismantling.

There are certain structures that really, really need to experience those words dismantle, uproot, overthrow, whatever.

There are some things that are standing in the path of your life that need to experience the impact and import of those words I've just said.

And it's going to take a Gideon, it's going to take you in your family, it's going to take somebody somewhere to actually first identify these things and be able to also do the things that the Bible actually is saying.

Now, you know, there are so many things that are in our paths and that are in Gideon's path.

Gideon is actually in a cave and he's threshing wheat on a wine press.

That's not where he's supposed to be.

That's not his destiny.

He cannot come in the open and just do the normal things in the open because of the oppression of the Midianites and the Amalekites.

And so something's got to be done.

It's been seven years.

When you study the text, you'll find a whole seven years.

When you study the text, you'll find a whole seven years of this oppression.

And there's somebody following me online and also here or maybe in the pavilion, and you have gone through a season of oppression in waves and you can never reach harvest.

For some reason, you never have experienced your harvest and it's all work, work, work but no harvest.

It's seed and seeding but never really getting there and getting cycles of oppression, and this has happened because of some altars.

Now you know what?

There are some covenants that our fathers made even at independence, and there are some covenants that our fathers made before independence.

There are others our leaders have made with international organizations and, you know, entered policy infrastructures that really become an impediment and a handicap in terms of moving forward.

And I want to thank God for the Gideon generation who are able to listen to divine instructions and cooperate with God in terms of removing those barriers in the pathways that are there in people's lives, and so for the Israel nation.

I thank God for Gideon, but also for us here in Africa.

Gideon, but also for us here in Africa.

I thank God for Gideon.

Hallelujah.

And today I'm raising an army.

I am raising Gideon's army.

That's what I'm doing today.

I am raising Gideon's army and I want you to be part of this army because every one of us here counts.

Every one of us here can make a big, big difference.

There's no telling what God can do with one individual who gets spiritual discernment, because in spiritual warfare you cannot wage war if you haven't discerned Also in the spirit and in the spiritual.

Even those of us who are missionaries, when you go to new areas, you have to do spiritual mapping so that you understand that, as I engage this community, what are the issues that I have to deal with?

And you know, there are those covenants, there are those agreements, there are those traditions, there are those words that have been spoken and this pathway Along which we must advance.

There are all those roadblocks and I pray that somebody today, like a Gideon, through divine instruction, is able to be led to the specifics of what needs to be done.

And as we arise from this service and go out, we are going into a world.

We are going into our own world, we are also going to a larger world around us.

God is sending us, as Gideons, divine instructions that unlock Crisis, you know, can lead people to God, but a crisis can also lead people to the other kind of people who pretend to have solutions.

I remember in South Africa, when I went to Johannesburg, then to Pretoria, there was that place there like a shrine those of you who have been to Pretoria and that shrine will know what I'm saying and there's a big wall committed to the dead, a very long wall with the names of the dead.

Both sides people have died and their names are there.

And then there's a small center place there with mist that comes out.

It's like a shrine and when you go there you go to ask the dead.

Ancestral worship, sangoma, you know, to ask the dead to help you.

And some of these things happen even here in Kenya, where when there's a problem and it's persistent, it's coming again and again.

You go to one of those rooms.

Those people, I think in Ngarra or somewhere.

I'm not saying they're in Ngarra, I'm just using that as an illustration.

Ama kaloleni Pazarigan kule shauri hizo sehemu Alafu unaing.

That beating drums is telling you go to your uncle's grave, because he's the one troubling you people.

And you make a whole journey to that place and begin to talk to your uncle and to say, uncle, forgive us.

Forgive us, you know.

I want to say that that is misguided Hallelujah, the instructions from a grave can actually not unlock, cannot unlock or clear your path of destiny.

And Gideon starts it right, does it right, albeit with a discussion with God, because God is coming, he's instructing him.

He feels he's so small, his clan is small, his tribe is small, and God is there.

He's calling him mighty warrior.

Can you imagine how heaven looks at you?

He's saying mighty warrior, I'm going to be with you.

You're going to make this happen, and especially here in Africa.

God is calling someone to be with you.

You're going to make this happen, and especially here in Africa.

God is calling someone to arise.

Hallelujah In Isaiah 60, verse 1, you know that verse, we have it in this church.

Isaiah 60:1

Arise and shine, for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

God has identified you.

Young people of Africa, listen to this preacher, listen to this pastor.

God's hand is upon you and it's going to take a Gideon to remove all that infrastructure put upon the pathways of people, causing them not to go forward, and some of these altars, or call them covenants or agreements.

They keep speaking discouragement and they keep speaking the negative message to the extent that Israel stays under oppression for seven years.

But with God's instruction, there is an unlocking and there is need, therefore, to really hear God and not the other voices.

In fact, david, in 1 Samuel, chapter 30, verse 7 and 8, before he could proceed, he sought God's word.

1 Samuel 30:7

1 Samuel 30, verse 7.

1 Samuel 30:7

Then David said to Abiathar, the priest, the son of Ahimelech this was at Ziklag Bring me the effort.

Abiathar brought to him the effort and David inquired of the effort.

A beother brought to him the effort and David inquired of the Lord.

He wanted to hear from God.

And this is what he asked Shall I pursue this raiding party?

Will I overtake them, pursue them?

He answered you will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue.

So, david with his 600 men, they followed and the Bible says they recovered everything.

And so in this kind of warfare, spiritual warfare, we need to hear from the Lord.

And so, if you are here, you have been consulting mediums, consulting diviners, consulting stargazers, consulting all these people in those spaces to give you a word for the next step as a preacher.

Today, I am calling you out of that path and I am recalling you back to divine instructions.

If you agree with me, let's give a hand to the Lord.

Yes, in God's word there is enough direction.

Psalm 119, verse 105.

Psalms 119:105

Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

In God's word there is enough light and direction.

And let me, as I close the first point, say all the false prophets we need to bring them to test.

1 John 4.1 says test every spirit, test every spirit.

1 John, chapter 4, verse 1.

1 John 4:1

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

They are all over, in every corner, and there are people who are believing every word.

Those people you know.

They tell you, pastor Victor, somebody came and told me that for a while, quite a while, they have been doing rituals in the bathroom when they enter the bathroom, and those rituals include lighting candles, moving in certain ways, a whole grown-up not doing all those kind of things.

And it took time.

I have discipled him out of that, but you know he had been taken in the wrong direction.

Those things are not going to help you.

In fact they will open the door and the gates for things to get worse in your situation.

And so, if you have been in that path, I'm calling you out forth from that path, because we have one, and his name is Jehovah.

His name is Jesus, who is able to set us free yes, and break us free from those spaces.

But, secondly, executed by Gideon.

God works through human agency and you know, you go to places and you find so many things undone, so many things not done.

God works through human agency and God has chosen to work through you and me.

A Gideon has to say here I am.

Isaiah 6 and verse 8, you know what it says.

The Lord said whom shall I send?

And Isaiah said what?

Here I am.

Let me just read it.

Go back, just go back a little bit.

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying whom shall I send and who will go for us?

And I said here I am.

Send me.

Ezekiel 22, verse 30.

Ezekiel 22:30

God said I was looking for a man who would stand in the gap.

You know, I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap.

On behalf of the, I want to thank God that in this text God has found Gideon, and God will take enough time with the Gideon until Gideon can get to the place of obedience.

What God is looking for is obedience.

And somebody will say I never went to school, yeah, and they'll begin to pull out their history, their family history or any other history as an excuse.

But God does not quit, he doesn't stop, he continues talking to you until the moment you say here I am, lord, send me.

The most beautiful human response is when you say yes, lord, and I pray today that somebody will arise and be able to say here I am.

And so in Judges, chapter 6, I'll just read verse 27 to 32.

Judges 6 · chapter mention

This is what the Bible says.

So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him.

He obeyed, but because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.

In the morning, when people of the town got up, there was Baal's altar demolished.

I really like that.

It was totally demolished, with their share of all beside it, cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar.

Now, gideon obeyed and for that reason his father's or father's generation, the altar they set up was actually dismantled and destroyed.

I want to say that God is waiting for your action and your engagement and involvement to be able to solve the problems that we see on a daily basis, and God is looking for someone who will obey his instruction and actually connect.

One of the most clear instructions in the Bible is a great commission Matthew 28, verse 19 and 20.

Matthew 28:19

If the people in your neighborhood are to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, you and I got to do something, and you know what the Bible says.

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and let's keep going and teaching them to do what, to obey everything you know.

I have commanded you, and surely I'm with you always, to the very end of the age.

The reason why many people don't know Jesus yet is because we have not obeyed.

Pastor Victor, I just better put it plainly like that yes, we have not obeyed.

That is why I've just better put it plainly like that yes, we have not obeyed.

That is why so many people don't know Jesus yet.

After the first service, there's a lady who came to see me here and said Pastor, the last time you preached, I think it was somewhere in February and you challenged us to share the gospel.

I took it very seriously and she told me I have now, since then, led 10 people to Christ.

Why don't we appreciate that lady for that?

I have led 10 people to Christ.

This sanctuary seats about 3,500, maybe 4,000 people and on an average Sunday, pastor Victor, we have about 8,000 people coming for our services.

But can you imagine if every one of us became a Gideon and we say the altars of sin, the altars of rebellion out there, they must come down.

We shall uproot them and we shall dismantle them and we shall raise the altar of the living God In all these places and places?

You know, I look around.

I see the town is full of wines and spirits.

Are they called wines and spirits, those spirits?

And there are so many of those joints.

You understand what I mean.

There are so many of those.

They are everywhere, in fact, off Thika Road, exit 7, near Mountain Mall, I want you to try to run that street and you count how many of those spirit outlets are there.

And me I drive.

I say, lord, let this turn into churches.

That's how you uproot and also plant.

Lord, let this one turn into churches.

There is one big one that has been closed, that used to appear in the newspapers.

So my prayers are being answered and if the owners are here, please forgive me and I'm praying God leads you to open a very nice, beautiful business that is going to be very, very fruitful.

Gideons are like that, yes, and you see an altar raised, an altar raised and it's causing I mean destroying the progress of a whole generation.

You stop there as a Gideon, even if you are driving, pull your car on the side and you say this place should not exist, because you can see the tens and twenties and thirties of number of people who are coming and buying those things and some of them park their cars around that place.

There's another place to Aslimuru, the tea plantations, ukodju and if you go there, even today, if you go, there are cars parked all over and inside those cars the operations going on is also little, little things.

I've never drank, so I don't know, but I am saying this You're not helpless.

You can stand there and go in that neighborhood and dismantle those altars in the name of Jesus Christ.

In the spiritual realms they will have no effect.

They are actually dismantled and you release people from those spaces and commission them into progress, because we would like to see more people graduating in chaplaincy so they go and heal the nations.

And you know, know, ministries like this are happening, and so Africa.

I'm sure, if we start writing all the issues that have beset us for many, many years, I'm sure there are things we are able to highlight and begin to say this must not happen, that one must not continue and the other one must not continue.

Now, in the first service, I say when you get home, as a Gideon, take a plain paper and Think about your life, pray for discernment, look at your family, look at everything and pray for discernment and just begin to note some of the things that the Lord would highlight.

That would say you know your journey, your journey has been affected by these things, and because God is able, just write them under God's jurisdiction, and just simply say this one, this one and the other one under God's jurisdiction, and just simply say this one, this one and the other one.

Now the second action I say it in the first service is that after you have written those things, stand up and you say, in the name of Jesus, remember what Gideon did he tore.

He tore down tearing, that's what the word used.

He tore down his father's altar that was made to bow in Asherah.

Now tear that paper into small pieces in the name of Jesus Christ.

And you say I uproot as I tear, I demolish, I overthrow, I dismantle this operation by these things.

They are no longer living in my path, they'll no longer be alive.

And you tear, and the next action, if you can go to a fire and throw them there and let them burn, never to return, is Agidion.

Listening to me Now, these things are done by faith, hallelujah.

And so when we get home it may look like a foolish thing and somebody seeing you doing that they'll wonder.

But let me tell you, tell them it is a Gideon action and I know what I am doing and you can take your position as a Gideon and you completely push those things out of your way.

And so collectively in Africa and also in Kenya and also our neighborhoods, it is possible for us.

God is looking for human agency and is looking for somebody who would obey.

The gospel is very powerful.

The gospel sets people free.

Just simply go to your neighbor who doesn't know Jesus and share the gospel.

Tell them about Jesus.

There is an altar you will bring down and there is an altar you will raise.

And the altar you will raise in that homestead is the altar of eternal life, because 1 John 5, verse 11 and 12 says and this is a testimony God has given us eternal life and this life is in his son.

1 John 5:11

Whoever has the son of God has life, and whoever does not have the son of God has life, and whoever does not have the son of God does not have life.

It doesn't matter how they look, and therefore we must be aggressive, like Gideon, here and every altar and sometimes you get angry when you see these altars and you begin to see how they are really affecting people's lives and every altar that does not honor God must come down.

When I went to climb Mount Kilimanjaro I love climbing mountains and I entered through the Arusha side, marangu, the Marangu Gate, and I was going up with a number of men Akina Joshua and others from this church and as we were going up and also praying and taking Africa for Jesus, and we were going up the mountain, we saw mounts of stones and so we asked why are these stones arranged like this?

And then we were told there are people who come and they take their position and they begin to lock the continent for themselves, to direct things in a certain way, and especially certain seasons of elections, with the politicians and all that.

So there's a lot of activities and cycles like that.

But when God opens our eyes, we are able to say, to go to a place spiritually and begin to say, alex Barton, this thing must not happen.

You know the places that demand blood, you know those specific places and the other day I had to drive to Naivasha because there was a serious, quite another serious accident and it was very unfortunate for me to find a father and a mother and a son, you know who had passed on, and later I conducted their burial, the burial of the three, and you can imagine you are presiding over a funeral and the father, mother and son and the graves are dug like that.

It is not a nice place and that is why you know, as children of God and servants of God, you get to some of these things and you actually get angry and you say this must never happen again.

Whoever came here to raise this altar, I cancel it, I dismantle it and it doesn't matter even if it is your father who raised that altar, and so there is a generation that has put roadblocks for another generation, but God raises a Gideon in the other generation who comes up with discernment, under God's instruction, and also with courage in obedience and with obedience, and begins to dismantle.

I must finish and say when you pick up this Gideon action, you are assured of victory.

Great victory, great victory let's give a hand to the Lord.

Great victory In chapter 7.

From verse 5,.

Chapter 7, verse 5, it says so.

Gideon took the men down to the water.

There the Lord told him, separate those who lap the water with their tongues, as a dog laps, from those who kneel down to drink.

300 of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs.

All the rest got down on their knees to drink.

The Lord said to Gideon with the 300 men that lapped, I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands.

Let all the others go home Now.

Then Gideon later gives the instructions on what they need to do, verse 19.

Gideon and the hundred men reached.

They were divided into three groups.

Let me start from verse 17.

Watch me, he told them.

Follow my lead when I get to the edge of the camp.

Do exactly as I do when I and all those who are with me.

Blow our trumpets then, from all around the camp, blow yours and shout for the Lord and for Gideon.

Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch.

Just after they had exchanged the guard, they blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands.

The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars.

Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted a sword for the Lord and for Gideon.

While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled.

Let me say no weapon fashioned against you shall prosper, and when the enemy comes in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord shall raise and stand against him.

Deuteronomy 28, verse 7, says the enemy will come in one direction, but will be scattered in seven directions.

Deuteronomy 28:7

By this sermon and by Gideon's action in the name of Jesus, I grant you victory that the enemy cannot reverse.

May God come through for you, may somebody receive this, and therefore, god wants you to rise.

God made you for greater impact.

God made you for greater impact.

He made you for greater impact God made you of the stature of bringing nations to a place of victory.

Israel, gideon and Israel, a whole nation experiences victory Because one young man listens to God's instruction, obeys and operates with courage and finally the benefit comes to our whole population.

I want to speak to each one of us and say, just as you are, you are a Gideon.

You may feel like you come from a small background, a small clan, like nothing can happen through you, you know.

But God is saying just as you are, you know we love church planting and I know, pastor Victor, even Southgate.

Yes, we are about to start Southgate.

We have Eastgate, we have Northgate.

We are planting another church in Karen.

Is it Langata, karen area?

And it is between Galleria and Karen Hospital, somewhere in between.

There the Lord has given us a place and very soon we shall be commissioning the seed company.

Hallelujah, the seed company.

The seed company, hallelujah, the seed company.

This seed company of courageous Gideons With those trumpets of the gospel.

They are going to march through Langata Road All the way, take that road between Galeria and Karadaria.

They are going to mount an altar Of the king of kings and the lord of of Lords.

And it is going to happen, and that place is called South Gate.

You know, god gave us a vision that in every gate of the city we mount an altar.

We have the East Gate Church, we have the North Gate Church, now we have the South Gate Church and I believe, pastor Victor, we are going to set up altars for the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Now, young people who are here, and all of us who are here, listen to this trumpet call.

I am calling out Gideons and I'm saying we shall dismantle altars that don't belong to the King of Kings and we shall raise altars to the living God.

I see churches planted all over, and I see churches when you go south churches this Mombasa road, all the way to Mombasa, as you drive down, I'm seeing churches planted.

This other way, as you go to Kisumu and Eldoré, I see churches planted.

As you take Thika Road and you go towards Ethiopia, that direction, I'm seeing churches planted as you go the other way to the south, yes, I see churches planted when are the Gideons?

And God is saying that we are going to make a difference in this country by pulling down the altars of Baal and Asherah and raising the altar of the living God.

And so, as I pray today, I am trusting God that somebody will pick this call to be part of this army, and this army never lost a battle.

God is leading us from here as we enter October, the 10th month of the year, beginning Tuesday.

God is going to lead us from here and he will lead us to do exploits.

We shall be able to do exploits.

We shall be able to do things that neighbors can look at and say it is Gideon who did it.

It is something they'll not be able to avoid because it will be so obvious, it will be so clear.

You come from a small family.

I am calling you forth.

I remember, pastor Edith, when I joined this church as a youth, I used to sit somewhere at the back and I didn't have nice shoes.

I had a poor self-image, a very poor self-image sitting at the back, but I thank God for the call of Gideons.

Yes, god is able to work with someone who feels like he can never be anything and do something amazing and something very beautiful.

I'm talking to somebody and God is calling you from there.

With that talent you have, with that gift you have, with that positioning and privilege that you enjoy, god can begin right there and those altars brought down in the workplaces and the altars of the living God, bishop Sifuna actually lifted here in Africa, all over Africa, and also going north, south, east and west, to the nations of the earth.

And so the army of Gideon arise.

The army of Gideon, shine, for your light has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.

Then, verse 3 says nations will come to your light and kings to the rising of your dawn, because they will see what the Lord is able to do.

I want to encourage us to stand up now as we pray and trust God together that something is going to happen in the last quarter of the year, that is, october, november, december, the last quarter of the year, that is, october, november, december, this last quarter of the year, that God will truly be seen and known and, as we do it here in Kenya, I know the impact will be felt around the world.

Let's pray, father, in the name of Jesus.

I thank you so much for Gideon and I thank you for Gideon's that, my God, you turned Gideon's life from an ordinary life to an extraordinary life, from the life lived in a cave, a life hidden someplace in the background.

There and God.

By your instruction and by Gideon's obedience, victory manifested.

God, you are able to do that for Gideon a long time ago and I know that there are Gideons here, father, I'm reminded that the oppression was for seven years and the bull that was given for the sacrifice Was seven years old, and that the chapter of victory Is chapter seven, seven, seven, seven.

What an amazing alignment.

And, god, I know there's an alignment for someone.

There's somebody listening to me.

And they have been back there Living a very nominal, ordinary, every day, like kind of life, life that makes no difference, living in caves.

Their talent has been hidden, their talent has been covered, a never-knowing harvest Because of the Midianites and also the Amalekites.

My God, you have come so that you deal with the Midianite spirit and also the Amalekite spirit that never want to see harvest, that seeks to destroy anybody trying to come up.

My God, you are able to pull Gideon from the caves and bring him to the front lines.

As I share with someone here, we are closing the month of September.

God is saying as you cross over into the month of October, you are going as a Gideon and God is granting you power and courage as you go, he will show you these altars, he will teach you how to bring them down and God is going to give you victory as you go into the next month.

God is saying this is your hour of commission, because he's calling out to Gideon and he wants Gideon to step out and therefore you know yourself upstairs, downstairs, in the pavilion, following the service online.

It is time for you and me to say I am joining Gideon's army and my life is going to make a difference.

It will no longer be just a nominal, ordinary life, but a life that achieves the extraordinary, and I'm not afraid of the warfare.

I will engage.

My God, I thank you for those who are making that decision and are praying that prayer in their hearts, and I know, as we leave this place, kenya will not be the same again.

Africa will not be the same again.

Africa will not be the same again.

Those big altars that have been set up as covenants, agreements made during the colonial time, as policies that have been set up by global organization that hinder the movement of the people of Africa.

My God, I am praying that you raise a generation like Gideon that are going to pull down and tear down those altars so that the nation of Israel can advance, so that Africa can advance, so the peoples of our continent can move into the next session.

My God, I thank you for that person.

Maybe a teacher, maybe a doctor, maybe a lawyer, maybe a driver, maybe somebody who works in a supermarket, but they are getting the fire of God within them and they are sensing I am a Gideon in my place and these altars must come down and the altar of the living God must be raised.

My God, I thank you for that one who is praying that prayer and who is now receiving the mantle of this, this call that is coming from this place.

This last three months will be powerful.

Let's give a hand to the Lord.

They're going to be powerful In Jesus name.

This destiny God has ordained for us Is a good one and everything in its path Must come down.

In the name of Jesus and therefore, father, I thank you for all those who have prayed that prayer and saying here I am Now as we go out.

Remember, when you get home, write some of those obstacles, tear that paper, that altar, just tear it to small pieces and burn it, because God is saying by faith, he's coming through for you and he's going to give you victory.

In the name of Jesus.

Thank you, my God, and now my Lord.

Even as we've taken up the Gideon mantle, it is time for you to bless us.

You can lift your hands to God.

I declare to all of us in my hearing that you are blessed on Monday, you are blessed on Tuesday, you are blessed on Wednesday.

You are blessed on Monday.

You are blessed on Tuesday, you are blessed on Wednesday, you are blessed on Thursday, you are blessed on Friday, you are blessed on Saturday, you are blessed on Sunday and you are coming with a testimony Next Sunday Because God is coming through.

Father, I thank you that I can release this cover of blessing and the blessing you have now received.

The devil can do nothing about it.

You are covered by that blessing and the blessing you have now received.

The devil can do nothing about it.

You are covered by that blessing.

Nothing can actually reverse it.

May this blessing open doors for you.

May this blessing protect you.

May this blessing cause you to rise from one degree of glory to another.

May this blessing continue to grant favor to you.

Those who are going for interviews you'll be surprised by the amount of favor because of this blessing.

Hallelujah, thank you, jesus.

Those who are going on work assignments this coming week, because of this blessing, you'll be surprised by the returns.

Those who are going to other nations doors will open and favor will be upon you because of this blessing.

Those of you who are studying you'll see the breakthrough right there.

Father, this blessing covers everything and this blessing opens doors for your people and therefore I pray that you are blessed with every blessing in the spiritual realms Ephesians 1 and verse 3.

And I pray this prayer in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and we all say Amen.