we're excited today to have with us kicking off our our Series in July a man of God

who is really just a tremendous gift to the body of Christ a tremendous preacher
when I heard him for the first time at our Men's Conference and listened to the
message on Psalm 51 I mean I told him last night I said I've just never

Forgotten that every time I read Psalm 51 dr. Mason it just comes alive to me in a
new way because I remember some of the illustration dr. Eric Mason is a tremendous
communicator of the Word of God over 10 years ago he and his wife you bet moved to
inner-city Philadelphia and started epiphany fellowship they're in the center of
the city

He has since God has used them to plant now eight different congregations in major
cities in America in that awesome not only doing that but planting right now 11
churches on the continent of Africa so this guy has a heart for church planting he
has a heart for investing in the next generation has a mentoring program to do
inner-city ministry guys can come in people can come and spend two years with him
being mentored by this great church he and his

Wife Yvette have four children he's the real deal would you join me this morning in
opening your hearts welcoming dr. eric mason to james river church come on let's
give it out for him and then it's an honor it's an honor to be here and be blessed
to be able to share once again with you all I'm thankful for your passage let's
give God a hand praise for your pastors y'all gonna do better than that y'all can
do better than that give a got a hand pray

For your pastor amen amen amen love the Liddell's love what God is doing here and
expanding your territory and the opportunities for you guys to do phenomenal
ministry in this sector of the Midwest and this vineyard that God has placed us in
well let's go ahead and get down to business turn in your Bibles I want you to grab
two passages for me I want you to grab a second Corinthians chapter 10 and I want
you to grab Judges chapter six thankful for God's work here

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And praying as you guys move forward and doing what God wants you to do that he
would continue to open doors provide resources develop leaders and expand his
kingdom somebody should say Amen right there amen amen amen judges chapter six and
second Corinthians chapter 10 you don't mind standing with me real quick do you
well I read this I want to read this I mean we're gonna read this judges chapter
six we'll read that second but

Second corinthians chapter 10 verses three through six it says for though we walk
in the flesh we are not worrying according to the flesh for the weapons of our
warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power somebody say divine power to
destroy strongholds to destroy strongholds we destroy arguments and every lofty
opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey
Christ being ready to pursue every obedience when your

Obedience is complete judges 6 11 verse 11 it says now the angel of the Lord came
and sat under the terebinth at Afra which belong to joash the abbe azomite while
his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the
Midianites in the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him the Lord is
with you o mighty man of Valor Gideon said to him please sir the Lord is with us
why has all this happened to us and where are all his wondrous deeds

That our fathers recounted to us and did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt but
now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian the Lord in the
Lord and the Lord turned to him and said go in this might of yours and save Israel
from the hand of Midian do not I send you and he said to him please Lord how can I
save Israel behold my clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I am the least in my
father's house and he said the Lord said to him but I will be

With you and you shall strike the Midianites as one man I would like to talk to you
about briefly today in this time that we have breaking free from strongholds
breaking free from strongholds father God in the name of Jesus I'm praying that you
would throw your weight around in this place show the enemy who's boss there are
already things that are arising in people's mind I pray that you'd break the spirit
of fear as soon as I said

Strongholds some folks got scared break it over them in the mighty name of Jesus
God I'm praying that you would help people to face stuff they haven't faced any
ears or face challenges that they've ignored and God I'm praying that you would go
into the uncharted places of their soul in the mighty name of Jesus and do what you
can only do let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable
in your sight Oh God our strength and our Redeemer and

Whom we trust and help us not to be just hearers deceiving ourselves but help us to
be effectual doers and God may you be glorified and your Saints to be edified and
your enemies to be horrified in Jesus mighty name we pray everybody who that said
amen you may be seated in the presence of the Lord one of the most challenging
things in pastoring where our pastor happen to Pastor in an inner-city context but
our church is multi-ethnic

And multi-religious socio-economic and one of the things that I've learned is no
matter what color you are no matter which socio-economic bracket background you're
from and no matter where you're from everybody has stuff that they need the Spirit
of God to deal with and in having that reality it's interesting with all of the
different nationalities we have Haitians we have Asians we have Europeans we have
white folk we have black folk we have Latinos

In our ministry and no matter what color they are we have men and women leading and
it's interesting that no matter what sector or what a peg radio and everybody's
dealing with something that they need the Lord to release them from one of the
greatest challenges that we deal with is people not wanting to face the depths of
what's in the way of them being all that God wants them to be if we would just
allow the Lord to get in the way of our lives and us not see it

As in the way but it's the greatest place of freedom then we find ourselves in some
of the greatest in most deepest places of comprehensive Shalom and transformation
and so we come to this first text and Paul is doing something interesting for the
Corinthian church the Corinthian church was the high dollar a city church they were
like a sort of a financially wealthy Center City Church with some type of socio-
economic differences there but the

Challenges that the Corinthians were dealing with is one of the greatest challenges
they were dealing with was spiritual end maturity and that spiritual immaturity was
impacting the depths of what God had for them they had every single spiritual gift
fully active in which we all believed in the power of the holy spirit the filling
of the Holy Spirit the moving of the power of God in every single gift on steroids
but there was

Something wrong in even the fact that there were spiritual gifts flowing the holy
ghost was using them to edify people and people were coming to Jesus Christ yet
there was still something in the way and Paul diagnoses it right here it's a
stronghold somebody said stronghold yeah yeah yeah yeah a stronghold of stronghold
a stronghold family stronghold based on his fastest look at what Paul begins to say
as he begins to lay out to the corinthians

What he wants them to understand a stronghold of me this is for the we for though
we walk in the flesh we are not waging war according to the flesh for the weapons
of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy fortresses or
strongholds a stronghold here is interesting a stronghold is a mindset value system
or thought process that hinders your growth let me say this again a stronghold is a
mind and sense some mindset value system

Or thought process that hinders your growth so what do we see what 1 1 1 preacher
said a stronghold is a stubborn disposition it's what we were we were we in our
lives as believers function in my mind in an unbelieving belief system in other
words when you I like the way Wilkerson says that he says most of us think of
strongholds as bondages such as sexual trespasses drug addictions alcoholism our
sins we put at our top or worse senseless but Paul is referring to

Something here much more worse I humor than our human measuring of sins he says a
strong is an accusation firmly planted in our mind by Satan to establish listen to
implant lies in our mind falsehoods and misconceptions especially concerning the
identity and work and goodness of God the first thing that happens when many of us
go through a difficult thing and it's beyond our understanding of why the sovereign
Lord would help us to allow us to go through something like
That as we begin to doubt his goodness that's a strong whole because if the enemy
listen can get you to doubt what God is like then what will happen is he can't work
the good into you that he wants to work in you while he takes you through it and so
the devil likes to likes to hijack the glory of God in your life it's and so and so
Paul is challenging God's people he says God wants you to be free from this and why
does he wanted to be free

Because we tear down everything that bigs itself up above Jesus Christ and who he
is anything in your life that competes with Jesus as a stronghold it means anything
that that tries to compete with God's passion for you God's plan for you God's
purpose for you your identity in him is listen a stronghold that needs to be
addressed and if you and I see this this is the weird thing about us God has
already given us the victory so the

Question isn't whether or not he's giving you the victory he wants you to walk in
the victory not just in walking in the victory but utilizing the power of the
Resurrection and the work on the cross to tear some stuff down I wish I have some
help in here that's something listen let me tell you something that God has
anointed your hands with tearing down capabilities and so what he want you to do is
he wants you to challenge somebody say challenge challenge that

Demonic speculation challenge it with who God is and so we see here that Paul
really helps the Corinthians to let them know that your spiritual growth is being
tainted because of your disposition towards the goodness of God because of the
stronghold that you've allowed to take hold of you and what's interesting is
strongholds aren't just the things that we that hold to us a stronghold is
something that you hold onto and so now we're going to look at a case study

In the book of Judges that lays out practically how in the world we've laid the
theological if you will or the biblical foundation for what a stronghold is now
we're going to see God working in a young man's life and his community's life and
in his family's life to challenge him to face some things that he didn't want to
face judges six judges six it says now the angel of the Lord came and set under the
turban is at Ofra not Oprah but Oprah

Interestingly enough that this was a time based on judges 17:6 the Bible says that
because there was a generation there was a generation based on chapter two the
third generation after the Joshua generation and their children didn't properly
convey the nutrients of the kingdom to the next generation what happen is is when
people who've experienced the move of God when people have experienced revivals and
the might of the Spirit in their lives and don't

Pass that down you destroyed the ability for the legacy of God to go to the next
generation when you don't tell of the goodness of God to your children and your
children don't catch it at they don't sell it to their children's children you open
up a generation based on judges 17:6 this says and there arose people who did what
was right in their own eyes and so what happened here in this passage is the
children of Israel were losing their minds acting a plum

Nitwit like my grandmama would say and what they began doing is they began having a
knowledge of God but not wanting to live into its power and so what happens is you
have Gideon here functioning in a stronghold God is so powerful that what happens
is is when we wile out he takes out his divine belt now I don't know if you know
this but God gives weapons and spankings to its people when they asked the food and
don't want to do what he wants them to

Do so but God decided he was going to do when they got their idols out he pulled
out his Bell and listen when God gives you a spanking listen CPS can't help you
they can't help you but what's happening is is when God gives you a spanking it's
for your good and for your development not for your destruction it's so right here
in the text God is about ish if God is about once to end the spanking whenever God
wants to end the spanking that he's giving you he challenges you

To join him and tearing down the reason why he's giving you a spanking in the first
place and so look what it says here it says which brings me to my first and only
point today the first one and one and only point one point I promise are much aware
it starts wit and ends with an encounter with God they're going to break free from
strongholds it starts and it ends with an encounter with God look what happens here
in the text he says now the angel of the Lord came and

Sat under the terebinth about over not know what I like about this passage it shows
the coolness of God God is watching getting in while out in his stronghold God who
is the originator of cloaking technology okay shows up and it's chilling next to a
terrible tree sitting on a tree watching Gideon in his stronghold and just looking
at him he's present but not seen even though he's present Gideon doesn't know he's
present but God is

Present and God doesn't let the stronghold and Gideon his in stop him from moving
towards him that's what I love about God God does not let your mess that you're in
stop him from moving towards you yeah yeah yeah that's that's that's that's what I
love I love the fact that God has listened your mess isn't the worst mess listen
that God has ever seen okay let me see if I can make it plain God has seen
everybody's mess past present and future simultaneously

What you would do actually and potentially in what you actually did and how messy
it would have been if he let you go to that direction or how much he would let you
been and all of the underlying conclusions and he can see those at the same time
and he yet want you yet love you let become that big letting some be committed to
you see the problem with many of us is we think the Lord loves some future us see
many of us think that

God loves me when I get it right God loves me if I'm perfect no no no no the Bible
says I don't know about your Bible but my Bible says and while we were yet sinners
Christ died for us in other words if you could have gotten it right you would have
saved yourself but that's why God demonstrated his own love and so he's
demonstrating his own love again in this passage by showing up and he's cloak all
up and just watching getting in in this race like man what is this

Dude doing he don't even know I'm looking right at him I was looking at him when I
was in heaven but I'm closer in the sense of my dwelling persons and the pre-
incarnate form of Jesus Christ looking straight at him while he's Wilding out in
the midst of his stronghold now look what he says right here it says which was
would belong to joash the ABS right while his son Gideon was beating out Wheaton a
winepress what does that

Have to do with anything why would you be wheat in a winepress wine presses for
grapes you would take wheat of course we got some country folk in here when my
country folk at Oh ain't no country folk ok y'all and the country folk in here ok
and so what they would do was they would go out to the threshing floor and throw
the wheat up and let the wind separate the wheat from the tares but this shows us
something there Gideon is in a strong show because of Israel's idolatry

Because he's afraid of the Midianites he has to go into a secret place to do what
would normally be used for something else you know you're in a strong hole if
you're using something that was created to function one way for another way and see
it as a normal I call that functional dysfunction okay let me see if I can make it
plain y'all look at me funny my wife got me started to watching the home-and-garden
TV and Food Network
And now I'm addicted I admit it but there's another show and I think it's a and
it's called hoarders y'all heard of that show y'all heard that show I grew up in a
hoarding house and one of the things that you see when you're going I mean some of
the people's house you trying to get an understanding how in the world they're
functioning in a house like this one woman had 80 cats in one little tinkle pot I
don't know how to even share that I mean then you got

Clothes everywhere mess everywhere and you can smell all of the messed up miss of
the matter I'll just put it that way throughout the house man the people came over
the house don't oh do they open the door there's a pole good God Almighty what in
the world was that in there right and they were trying to win it there was and what
was funny is that the woman came to the door chilling like she says how are you
doing now for the person that's not in her mess you're

Like how in the world can you stay in a house that's this hoarded up this messed up
and smells like this in other words she had been in there so long that the smell
became the new normal for her let me tell you something some of you have been in
some stuff in your life where the stitch is clear to everybody that's not in there
with you but you're hoarding some stuff in your life and God is knocking at the
door of your life saying I wants to come in I want to

Change it matter of fact I'll join you in the mess and that's what God is doing
with Didion right now so many of us you need to let go of what you're hoarding
because God has better for you then you have for you let me say that again God has
better for you than you have for you therefore you must wage in your life the war
are pulling down strongholds but you gotta have God's help with it because some of
us are just paralyzed in

Our state you come to church every Sunday you shout and you praise you pray in the
spirit you've got a big old Bible under your arm but no one knows the turmoil that
you're working through and God says I love you enough to want to encounter you and
tell you and proclaim you and prophetically speak to you beyond where you are look
at what it says in the text it says in the Lord and the angel of the Lord appeared
to him so he was standing there God uncloaked

Himself that would have scared the daylights out of me I'm just telling you right
now he uncloaked himself and he says listen Church the craziest thing that you ever
want to hear of somebody that's in the midst of a stronghold and running away from
the presence of the Lord yet knows the Lord but doesn't walk with the Lord look at
what it says and the Lord the first thing he says to him is the Lord is with you o
mighty man of ala I'm confused hold on you and I

Should be very very confused right now because Gideon is functioning in his
stronghold Gideon is running away from the Lord's presence Gideon is under the
discipline of the Lord but interestingly enough is God doesn't speak to him based
on where he is help me today God he doesn't speak to him based on the state that
he's in because if cuz you already know you're in the state that you're in so God
doesn't always necessarily have to give you every line item of your mass

When he has to do because of the brokenness in your life and your commitments are
holding to these things it's society beyond where you are so what God begins to say
is he says the Lord is with you o mighty man of Valor now you're looking at me from
him because you've got to understand what a mighty man of Valor is in Hebrew it's
the word a so high oh hey so high oh Ohio is a terminology meaning a man or woman
of

Worth and great value so so in the midst of him speaking in a way and functioning
in a way outside of the value that God has given to him God get ascribes value to
him even though he's functioning outside of the sphere of the value that God has
for him and was interestingly enough was interesting ly enough here as well is that
a mighty man of Valor or mighty woman of Valor is interesting because it was like
the special ops team you know David had his his minions of

Dudes that were wrong with him but then he had a clique of just a few free warrior
dudes now these dudes were crazy okay they would take 10 15 dudes and go up against
thirty thousand by himself you know I'm saying they would a special ops team these
were the crazy people that were differently trained then the bigger military
warriors that he had the mighty men available going 15 like this and they go in and
and nobody would know and they hit somebody like that and roll

Over here and then they get somebody here and hit him like that and do just
dropping out you know I'm saying this drop is I mean just dropping up in other
words it's like our Navy SEALs you know I'm saying a black ops and our Rangers
that's that's it God calls him what he is not now this is what's weird to me God
doesn't pick like we pick he's the worst picker of people I've ever met in my life
now infinitely when we play a basketball

You go to the courts about three of us you know we go to the court you know we need
to go pick up games so what you gonna do is you're gonna look around and you won't
see who plays a game decently so that when is your turn on the court you put them
on your side and so you choose based on skill God doesn't even function like that
see God God the Father God the Son God spirit they show up on the basketball court

God has a headband on some long shorts and socks poured up to here some sneakers on
he's showing some gum looking around on the court God the Sun says Jesus says pops
she said you she says who you want to choose mm let me look around yo shorty over
there come on that person been like out there for hours they just they just on the
internet now there's nobody won't use them you understand what I'm saying but God
is like being like okay he

Walking all crazy coming on over then he said yo young lady over there she said who
me he said yeah come on let's play are you sure you want me on your team you said
yeah come on my team right and then God the Father got everybody laughs and they're
like we bought the one these cats man they don't know wouldn't know where they bout
to do then God the Father get you on there to get the person on the team and then
God the

Father goes out he runs the point no-look passes it to you you like wow where did
this come from and you know like this is like wow what in the world is happening on
some you take pound you slam dunking are you going back yeah and then like why
didn't we choose those guys and the reason why is because God is a bad talent scout
on purpose God is a horrible talent scout because he doesn't choose you based on
what you have for yourself he always chooses you

Based on you being in him and what you'll be like once he gets to you and starts
working in your life and changing your life and challenge in your life and building
up your life listen God doesn't shoes that way because he likes to choose people to
work through and to work in who he can get the most glory out of their lives listen
ha Jesus show this listen this is Jesus choice list of disciples of the hundred 20
let's listen who he chose he

Chose religious skeptics businessmen are a bad businessman horrible businessmen

Hebrew fundamentalists a thief folks a shady government worker a radical Jew Mama's
voice spoiled rich kids a prostitute a healed outcast aristocrats a legalist a
licentious person and a formerly demon-possessed woman so you represent his reign
I'm dizzy but that's us and if God can choose them you and I got a chance because
I'm just telling you right now that God is in the
Business of choosing people powerful how God speaks to Gideon based on where he is
but look what happened and look how deafened Gideon's ears has to become family of
God so even hearing God's speak life to him look at what happens here says
beautifully that's why I'm telling God is important and Gideon said to him please
sir he didn't know he was he said if the Lord is with us why then has all this
happened to us and where are all the wonderful deeds that our

Fathers recounted to us saying did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt but now the
Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of many and it's interesting that
first off he doesn't know that God is present right there in front of him as a
matter of fact many times the enemy will make you think that God has forsaken you
when God has been there all the time some of you have been raped some of you have
been molested some of

You have been taken advantage of and you're asking the question where are you God
and God says I've always been there I didn't do that to you they did that to you
now coming in charrette shop on the mess that has happened in your life don't you
let what happened to you make you think I don't love you don't you let what
happened to you make you think I'm not committed to you don't you let yourself ever
ever ever think that my heart is that massive

For you God comes in he begins challenging Gideon so I love him men some of you I
like speed of zeros book he writes well when he talks about emotional health ISA
virtuality he said one of the greatest things that the church deals with is
allowing not allowing themselves to deal with their past issues and letting and
forgetting and not working through the impact of the past on the present and that's
what God is calling you to do God

Wants you to visit some places in your life family God that has broken your heart
God wants you to visit some places that you haven't visited in a long time this is
not just for the young person there are some bound up older people in here that God
wants to break through the anointing of God he wants to break the yoke of bondage
on your life he wants to challenge those places because there are things in your
life that's inhibiting the massive 'ti of what God wants to do

Should glorify himself and some of you said I've gone too far too away God said
it's not no one is never too far for me not to reach them Bible says is the Lord's
arm too short to save no it isn't too short to say how dare we think that the
Living God can't reach you there are some places in your life that you've closed
off because you don't think anybody cares about you you don't think the church
cares about you and God is saying to you based on this passage I am

Committed to you and now what I want you to do and this what you have to do
applicational II you have to start opening up somebody say open up so look what he
does in verse 25 this is crazy after Gideon realizes that he's had an encounter
with God it's not until he has an encounter with God until he's encouraged to deal
with the strongholds in his life look at verse 25 the same chapter it says that
night the Lord said to him

Take your father's bowl and the second Bowl seven years old and pull down somebody
say pull down or you can do better than that pull down so pull down the altar of
the owl that your father has oh and cut down the Ashera cut down this Shira that is
beside it and build an altar listen to the Lord your God on top of the stronghold
here with stones late in due order this is powerful it's powerful because what God
tells you to do is God

Tells you to go to the place where the stronghold is that means some of you guess
what you're gonna have to do you're gonna have to get the cord and you're gonna
have to trace back some of you may have to go through some therapy some of you may
have to go through some things that help me trace back to the root of the mindset
that maybe you think a particular way that was an unbelieving belief system that
the enemy has used as a way to stop you from being who God

Wants you to be and so Gideon's stronghold was in his daddy's house in other words
he had to go into his family structure it's believed that his dad was a priest of
the L and a shara and what they began to do with the sheera and the bow is they
beginning to trust them for rain and trust them for fertility and fruitfulness
instead of the Living God and so God says I want you to stop trusting in nest to
make you fruitful the thing that you trust and outside of

Me to make you fruitful only makes you barren and so what he tells them to do is he
tell he says cut down and and pull down the work cut down in the Hebrew means to
cut at its root literally means to uproot it from where it is now this is what I
like what God had him do God not only called him to uproot some stuff and tear down
some stuff whenever God takes something away from you he always gives you something
better in his place so in the sang-hee he didn't tell him to

Stop worshipping he didn't stop tell him to stop trusting for fruitfulness he just
told him listen I want you to build in all turn and altar is a place of sacrifice
an altar it's a place of worship an altar is a place where the people of God in the
Old Testament woody utilize as a place for them to be centered now that we're in
Jesus Christ there is no physical altar now even though we use

Pulpits and stuff as altars the altar is now inside of us because the altar
eventually became a physical temple and now that we're the body of Christ we are
the temple so therefore the place where we have to go to get the mess out and then
big-up God and build an altar to him it's in our hearts what is 1st Peter 3:15 says
it's a set-aside Jesus as Lord we're in your heart and so now what's enthroned on
your life that you're afraid for God to get to it I remember I

Remember one time my house was a mess when you have toddlers and stuff you know you
clean one second then it gets messy again you clean one second I don't know how
they do it they just have this knack of wreaking havoc on a clean room and so
somebody knocked on my door why they come over now they're people always wait until
you not in the best place with your house to knock on your door I don't like my
people pop over my house calling me

Calling me it's like I say yes or no um so they're not going to door and I say yo
how you doing and you know when you're trying not to let somebody in they're always
gonna look over your shoulder I don't like when they do that I don't know you like
that don't do that all right but when if somebody did I don't know how they feel
about me I don't want to let them in but there's some people they can pop over
anytime because when I open

The door for them and I said oh it's just you come on in that's a message that I
don't care about that and they'll come in and they won't judge my mess what they
I'll do a good friend go front he'll come in and they'll just start picking stuff
up and helping you clean up that's what Jesus wants to do today in your life Jesus
through the work of work on the cross and his death and resurrection wants you to
open the door

To places in your life where you're scared to let anyone in - and what he wants to
do is he wants to encourage you today just say if you open up that area of your
life I know it's dark in there I know it's a bunch of skeletons in there I know
it's some stuff in there that you're embarrassed by I already know about it but I
need you I want you to let me into it because the only way the only way God I can
work in your life is for you to open up that area of your
Life to me last thing I remember when we first got our building we have an old
industrial building 32,000 square feet our first building right there by Temple
University and when um we were there and got the building it was rat infested bad
infested rat and roach infested so we had a guy come in and do comprehensive
extermination and he says pastor this wood I need you to do and they just staff to
open up every single door I'm

Like what do you mean he said anything that has hinges and a handle open it I was
like okay he said the reason why I want you to do this is because if you don't open
up everything and I exterminate this part that which has infested which you've kept
close when it finally gets open we'll reinvest what I've cleaned up so what God
what is God saying to you today open it up open it up open it up open it up open no
matter how unclean it is no

Matter how embarrassed you are it's time I know it's been years open it I know it
hurts you I know they hurt you open it I don't care where it is in your life you're
not broken you feel about it open it because the balm of Gilead says I'm here to
lovingly engage you and what happened with Gideon is this I'm a close on this is
when Gideon got free there was some people that wasn't happy when God frees you
because they're people that share the

Stronghold with you and they like you because of the commonality of the messiness
of you two together but what happens is is when you get free everybody's not going
to be excited but you can't worry about listen how people feel about you getting
free you gotta be in this he who's the Sun sets free is free indeed for freedom
Christ has set you free every head bowed every eye closed