KNOW PEACE

John 14:6

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Judges 6:11-24 NLT

11 Then the angel of the Lord came and sat beneath the great tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash of the clan of Abiezer. Gideon son of Joash was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. 12 The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!”

13 “Sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The Lord brought us up out of Egypt’? But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.”

14 Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!”

15 “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!”

16 The Lord said to him, “I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.”

17 Gideon replied, “If you are truly going to help me, show me a sign to prove that it is really the Lord speaking to me. 18 Don’t go away until I come back and bring my offering to you.”

He answered, “I will stay here until you return.”

19 Gideon hurried home. He cooked a young goat, and with a basket[a] of flour he baked some bread without yeast. Then, carrying the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, he brought them out and presented them to the angel, who was under the great tree.

20 The angel of God said to him, “Place the meat and the unleavened bread on this rock, and pour the broth over it.” And Gideon did as he was told.21 Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and bread with the tip of the staff in his hand, and fire flamed up from the rock and consumed all he had brought. And the angel of the Lord disappeared.

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!”

23 “It is all right,” the Lord replied. “Do not be afraid. You will not die.” 24 And Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and named it Yahweh-Shalom (which means “the Lord is peace”). The altar remains in Ophrah in the land of the clan of Abiezer to this day.

THREE POINTS FROM GIDEON’S STORY

Point 1: God Sees What You Can’t See

Verse 12: “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!”

• Gideon was hiding in fear, but God called him “mighty hero.”

• God sees our true identity, not just our current condition.

• Our calling is not based on how we feel, but how God sees us.

Takeaway: Stop defining yourself by your circumstances—start trusting what God says.

Point 2: God Uses What You Have

Verse 14: “Go with the strength you have…”

• Gideon focused on what he lacked, but God pointed to what he had and that was Himself.

• God doesn’t ask for what we don’t have—He always starts with what’s already in our hands.

• Our weakness becomes a starting place for God’s strength.

Takeaway: We don’t need to be the strongest—you just need to be available and yielded to Him and His will.

Point 3: God Confirms with His Peace

Verse 24: “And Gideon built an altar... and named it Yahweh-Shalom

(The Lord is Peace).”Jehovah Shalom

Jehovah = "the existing One"

Shalom = completeness, soundness, welfare, peace, safety, soundness (in body), health, prosperity, quiet, tranquility, contentment

• Peace isn’t the absence of trouble—it’s the presence of God.

Takeaway: God's calling may stretch us, but His peace will steady us.

Jesus is the Peace of God Personified

Luke 24:36 NIV

While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

Peace = eirēnē

a state of national tranquility, exemption from the rage and havoc of war, peace between individuals, i.e. harmony, concord, security, safety, prosperity, felicity, (because peace and harmony make and keep things safe and prosperous), of the Messiah's peace, the way that leads to peace (salvation), of Christianity, the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is

NO JESUS, NO PEACE

KNOW JESUS, KNOW PEACE

Isaiah 26:3 NKJV

You will keep him in perfect peace,Whose mind is stayed on You,Because he trusts in You.

Colossians 3:15 NKJV

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.