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1. John realizes that we all need encouragement. Especially new members (the children). 2. He encourages each group by letting them know that no matter who or what age you are, that if you confess your sins and ask for forgiveness, God will forgive you. He lets them know what their status in God is.

1. Hate and unforgiveness blinds us and keeps us in the dark, which separates us from God. Hate and unforgiveness effects us in all ways. 2. We come into the light, if we pray and ask for forgiveness.

1. We can pray, study God's Word and obey His commandments with the right attitude. 2. If we love God, love our neighbors and obey His Commandments, we will not become legalistic or self-centered. 3. To obey His Commandments and walk as Jesus walked, we can prove how serious we are about obedience.

1. John assures us that if we do sin, Jesus stands in the gap for us by going to the father for us. 2. We know that if we do sin, there is a chance that we may be forgiven and that we won't be separated from God. 3. We want to avoid sin because we want to please God. We love Him and He has been so very good to us. We should strive daily to live by God's Word.

1. Confession is the sincere and honest admission of our sins. 2. We should confess our sins so that they will be open before God and ourselves, even though He knows them already. 3. If we stop confessing our sins, we are consumed with guilt and our conscience beats us up. We don't feel free to go before God in prayer. 4. If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of our sins. 5. Forgiveness is to pardon you from sin and cleasing is to make you clean or purify you from sin.

1. They are lying to themselves and disregarding the Bible. 2. If you have read the truth in the Word and continue to commit the same sin, then you are only deceiving yourself, because God sees all. 3. When we walk in the light, we are washed in the blood and cleansed of our sins. 4. We can get back into the light if we sin, if we stop sinning,and ask for forgiveness and then contiunue to walk in the light.

1. We are usually looking at our fellow Christians in a worldly way and it is hard to relate in a Christian way. 2. We should begin by reading and studying the Word of God and work on reaching a deeper level in Christ ourselves. 3. We should get together and pray for understanding of each other and proceed to study the Word.

1. The cities of Succoth and Peniel did not want to get involved or take sides. They didn't believe that Gideon could complete the task. 2. Gideon punished these men because his men were tired and far away from hom and needed food, which was selfish of these cities when they refused. 3. These people were not showing love for their brothers. 4. Yes, Gideon was just, because these two cities were also benefiting from what Gideon and his army had done and they should have been hospitable to these men. 5. Seeing people begging for help and just passing them by and not helping in some way.

1. Gideon knows that if he doesn't vanquish the 15,000 men they will return later and attack them later. 2. Gideon had to be sure that he followed God's plan to the end. Whenever you don't complete a difficult task, sometimes it returns and is worst than it was in the beginning.

1. Gideon did this so that it would look like the enemy was surrounded by a larger army. 2. The strategy with the trumpets, the empty jars and the torches was a great idea becasue it confused the enemy and made them think that there was a larger army and made them so afraid that they started fighting each other. 3. When God is in the plan, any plan will work no matter how impossible things look.

The lappers were alert of any danger or attacks, while the kneelers seemed to be comfortable that they were safe instead of in a battle.

1. We demand that God's direction make sense to us because sometimes we don't understand his reasons. God knows far away what the results will be and we don't. We are afraid that we will fail. 2. If we are directed by our own understanding, we are in danger of making mistakes that we may not be able to resolve. 3. We must read our Bibles, pray and trust that God will direct our steps

1. God didn't want people to say that the only reason they won the battle was because they had so many men. 2. Fighting with a few men showed that God was the one that gave them the power to win the battle. 3. If he lost the battle and got the men killed, it would seem that it was his fault and he also didn't want God to think that he didn't have faith 4. Gideon was able to fully obey God when he was obedient and let God lead him in reducing the number of men.

1. He wanted to make sure that God was telling him what to do. 2. Belief, he just wanted to make sure that he understood what he was to do. 3. No, but he was just so overwhelmed and needed assurance. 4. Gideon was asking humbly and trying to establish his faith. 5. If we aren't sure that a direction is really from God. 6. If we have faith and trust in God, we should believe and not ask for a sign. It shows that we doubt him.

1. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon to blow the battle horn and he knew it was from God. 2. This is what other judges and leaders proclaim when the "Holy Spirit" comes upon them. This is the same spirit today that people felt then.

1. It seems like his father was "straddling the fence". He didn't want to upset anyone and worshipped both. 2. His father was probably afraid that the people would turn against him or kill Gideon. 3. No, because he was being obedient to God and had faith that God would protect them. 4. Gideon did what he was supposed to do. 5. Joash must have believed in Yahweh, because he said that Baal should have defended himself if he was god.

1. Gideon tearing down Baal and Asherah pole to show that they were not gods and could be destroyed. 2. He used the wood and killed a bull to make a burnt offering to God. 3. His family and the community would be upset with Gideon and might kill him. 4. Gideon took his men and did what God had told him at night so that no one would see him destroying their gods and attack him. 5. Gideon might have been afraid, but he put his faith in God to protect him.