REPEATING WHAT JESUS DID

MF Blume
January 10, 2016


Judges 7:17-21  And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do.  (18)  When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.  (19)  So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands.  (20)  And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.  (21)  And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled.

2 Corinthians 4:6-10  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  (7)  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.  (8)  We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;  (9)  Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;  (10)  Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.


The breaking of Gideon’s vessel corresponds to Jesus being broken in the death of the cross so resurrection life could come forth.
•    Paul said this is repeated in us as we go through the breaking of troubles, perplexity, and persecution.
•    It did not distress, bring despair or destroy Paul.
•    Instead it broke the earthen vessel of the fleshly weaknesses of Paul so the light of the knowledge of the glory of God inside him could be manifested.
•    It was Christ’s dying that led to His resurrection life!
•    As Jesus’ resurrection gave life to us all, that same life manifested in us, and no longer hidden, to bless those around us IN HOLY GHOST MINISTRY!

The whole key was Gideon told them to repeat what they saw Him do.
•    That’s like Jesus dying on the cross knowing He would resurrect, and us taking up our crosses and following him knowing is shall cause His life to come forth from us, too!

Look at another picture in Gideon’s story that shows the principle of what Jesus has is passed onto us.

\Judges 6:36-40  And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said,  (37)  Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said.  (38)  And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.  (39)  And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.  (40)  And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.

It is interesting that the first night saw Gideon tear down the idol, and that makes this fleece test of asking the fleece to be soaked with dew while the surrounding ground would remain dry.
•    And the THIRD NIGHT sees the fleece turned around and remaining dry and the surrounding land wet with dew.

The whole work of the cross took three days.

This shows the principle of what is seen in Gideon is repeated in the onlookers who are serving God.

Dew stands for something in the bible.

Psalms 72:1-2  A Psalm for Solomon. Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son.  (2)  He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment.

Then we read:

Psalms 72:6-8  He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth.  (7)  In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth.  (8)  He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.

Hosea 14:4-5 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.  (5) I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.

Deuteronomy 32:2  My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:

Dew is blessings of the Lord.

Put this together with the fact that FLEECE is the wool shorn from a sheep., and Jesus is the LAMB slain from the foundation of the world.

So the fleece being soaked with dew while the ground was wet in this second day stands for the blessings of God that were all over Jesus, soaking Him with divine favour!
•    The rest of the land around the fleece shows all of us without that favour.
•    But when the THIRD DAY saw the fleece dry and the res t of the land soaked with dew, WE SEE JESUS GAVE US HIS HOLINESS AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, AS his life was given forth to us THROUGH THE BREAKING OF THE CROSS.

He became sin having taken our sins, and became dry while we were soaked with the righteousness of God.

And we have to repeat that in us.

Let the breaking occur, and see life ministered to others.

Notice that following Jesus is associated with denying ourselves.

Matthew 16:24-25  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.  (25)  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Deny ourselves in following Him.

Satan depends on our fleshliness that gets offended when people hurt us to distract us from doing the will of God and ministering to others.
•    And if we can deny ourselves, and allow the hurts to come and not fighting back, realizing it’s worth more to be able to minister to others than to get offended and be distracted from doing His work because we’re all wrapped up in how WE WERE HURT, then satan’s efforts are ineffective.

What took Jesus on despite the suffering of Himself, was the joy set before Him of giving life to millions of others.

Hebrews 12:1-4  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,  (2)  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.  (3)  For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.  (4)  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

My cousin and I were talking.
•    He shared with me how someone stole his guitar, and he initially thought of who did it and what he could do to handle it.
•    But God spoke to him that all things work together for good to them that love God in Romans 8.
•    He also thought of how Eph. 3”20 said God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think.
•    God can handle this and allowed it to happen for good.
•    So he was rescued from getting upset and taking it into his own hands, and it avoided hurts, and troubles.
•    And the guy came and returned his guitar!

Rob Wilson shared this on facebook

One day I was at Muddy Waters restaurant at the Forks having some food with a friend, as we were eating and talking about music I could hear the Voice of the
Creator telling me to look over at the table beside me, I looked and there was a man having a beer all alone, I noticed he had a blue bag but I never thought
anything of it. I go back to my food and convo and the voice of God says "Go sit with him" I didn't listen at first thinking it was just me in my head, then I heard it again with more urgency! "Go sit with him" I said to my buddy " I think God wants me to talk with this guy beside us" then I hear Gods voice for the third time "GO SIT WITH HIM NOW! "

As I look over the guy downs his beer grabs his blue bag and rushes out the restaurant, I followed him out and got his attention I said " hey man? " he turned around in distress and says "What" I told him " I don't know what your going through but I was having a burger and God told me to talk to you
" he said " there is no God" then these words came out of my mouth, I said " God says don't give up" instantly his eyes fill with tears and says to me " how did you know" 3 times he says this, then he says to me " look in my blue bag! " I looked in I seen a brand new yellow rope, a thick one, he says " I was having my last beer and I was gonna hang myself on a tree by the river" I brought him back in the restaurant and shared how God changed my Life and how Jesus Saved me from death and jail, he says to me " Today I believe in God cause no one knew what I was gonna do" . I took the last $600 in my bank and paid for his room for a week at this motel And went and visited him for breakfast and got him in teen challenge.

How can you compare getting offended with someone and letting it go with letting God use you to do things like this?

I know someone who was pastoring and had a dream one night of a liver or kidney, like an x-ray, with indications something as wrong,.
• I can’t recall the details, but he said he got up the next morning in Church and knew he had to tell them that someone there had a problem with whatever the dream was about, and God was there to heal it.
•    Sure enough, there was someone there with that condition.
We not only do the things Jesus did like the miraculous, but the things he did like denying Himself taking up His cross and dying.




SERMONS