Gbile Akanni teaches that believers must face spiritual battles with faith, obedience, and the right divine equipment to possess their God-given Rehoboth.
In this powerful teaching, Gbile Akanni explores the story of Gideon to reveal how believers can face their spiritual battles with confidence and divine empowerment. He emphasizes the importance of faith, obedience, and being equipped with God's message—Christ and Him crucified—to overcome the enemy and possess their Rehoboth. Through vivid illustrations and biblical insights, Akanni calls Christians to embrace brokenness and humility as they carry the light of Christ into their spheres of influence.
Full Transcript
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Telephone number 0703 03636 59 0703 76811 98 Email address lsmedia at livingseed.org Or visit our website at www.livingseed.org Let us sit back and listen as the servant of God brings forth the Word of Life. We are going to cry to God to take us further. He has put our hands on the plow.
We will not look back again. We are going to be reading to take our burden of prayer from the book of Georges, chapter 7. Georges, chapter 7, we are reading from verse 12 to 23. Now the Midianites and Amalekites, or the people of the East, were lying in a valley as numerous as locusts, and their camels were without number as the sand by the seashore in multitude.
And when Midian had come, there was a man telling a dream to his companion. He said, I have had a dream. To my surprise, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian.
It came to a tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned and the tent collapsed. Then his companion answered and said, This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon and the son of Joash, a man of Israel, into his hand God has delivered Midian and the whole camp. And so it was when Gideon had the telling of the dream and its interpretation that he watched it, he returned to the camp of Israel and said, Arise, for the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand.
Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man's hand with empty pitchers and torches inside the pitchers. And he said to them, Look at me. Do likewise.
Watch. When I come to the edge of the camp, you shall do as I do. When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow the trumpet every side of the whole camp, and say, The sword of the Lord's hand of Gideon.
So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just as they posted the watch, and they blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers that were in their hands. Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers they held the torches in their hands and their trumpets in their right hands for blowing, and they cried, The sword of the Lord's hand of Gideon. And every man stood in his place all around the camp, and the whole army ran and cried out and fled.
When the three hundred blew the trumpets, the Lord sent every man's sword against his companion throughout the whole camp, and the army fled to Beth-Akashia, towards Zererah, as far as the border of Ebe-Mehuda by Taba. And the men of Israel gathered together from Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh, and pursued the Midianites. May the Lord give us a burden to pray this morning in the name of Jesus Christ.
God has been speaking to us about what to sow. What to sow in our lives to become the good seed that the Son of Man will in turn sow upon the face of the earth, sow in the nations, sow in every profession, sow in every home. God has been speaking to us and we cannot take what God has been saying for granted.
And this morning again He came to us to show us the way into these things. The way into Rehoboth, which is the way of discipleship. That is the road to take to arrive at our Rehoboth.
Now, from the story we have read and from what we heard yesterday, there is no Rehoboth without contention, without facing a battle. There is no Rehoboth. You will not be able to arrive at Rehoboth and the Pharisees will be looking at you like that.
And the Midianites, they will just look at you and allow you to pass easily. There is no Rehoboth without contention. But from this scripture you discover that God has gone ahead of us.
The Lord went ahead of Gideon. After he had selected the 300 for him, God helped him to be able to believe and to plunge into this journey into his own Rehoboth, into this battle against the Midianites so that they would take possession of their possessions. The Midianites would no longer ravage their land.
God helped him. In verses 13 and 14, you will see what God told him to do. He went nearby, he went near the camp of the Midianites and as he listened, somebody was telling a dream to his companions.
He said, I have had a dream. To my surprise, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian. It came to a tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned and the tent collapsed.
I wonder what kind of bread is that one. What kind of bread? It must be a mysterious bread. This must be a wonderful bread.
A bread of barley loaf tumbled into the camp of the Midian. And you are that bread. I am that bread.
God is going to send into the camps of the Midianites and their tent will be struck so hard that it will fall, it will be overturned and it will collapse. The tent of the Midianites will collapse in our time. The camp of the enemy will be overturned in our time.
We are going to take possession of our possession. What the enemy has thrown in, he will vomit it. He will not live to enjoy it.
This loaf of barley bread, and you know, as Brother Sisu was speaking, I just saw that this loaf of barley bread has been properly baked. It has been properly cooked. It has been tossed by the Almighty God.
It looks like ordinary bread and the enemy may say to you, are you coming to me as if I am a dog? You are coming with sticks and stones. It looks like an ordinary piece of bread. We will finish this one before you will even arrive at us.
No, don't worry. A cake of barley bread, properly baked, will break down the tent of the Midianites that it will collapse. But you must be properly baked.
Don't forget that. You must be properly baked so that you will become that cake of barley bread that will be so effective in its action that everybody will say this is nothing but the hand of God. This is not an ordinary bread.
You must be properly baked. So, as we saw, you know, Gideon had the dream that they were telling him, and it's amazing that the interpretation that that man's companion gave was, I don't know, how somebody would prophesy against himself. That's the kind of confusion that God normally sets into the camp of the enemy when he stands with his people, when he goes before his people.
And his companion answered and said, this is nothing else but the sword of Gideon, the son of Jehoash, a man of Israel, into his hands. God has delivered Midianites and the whole camp. Hey, God has delivered the Midianites, the enemies of God in our camp, that has been ravaging our camps and our cities, that has been ravaging our nation.
God has delivered them into our hands. It is not when the battle is over that you will know that God has delivered them. Even before it begins, God is saying, I have delivered the Midianites into your hands.
You need God to now help you to cry to God and say, Father, let me arise in faith. Don't allow me to sit down again. As soon as Gideon had that dream, he could not sit again.
He rose up in fact. It did not only affect him. It affected him so much that he in turn affected the army.
He went into the camp and he went to say to his people, arise, that's verse 15. Arise, for the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into your hands. He did not say the Lord will deliver.
The Lord has. I'm happy to announce to you that the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into our hands. All the Philistines that were pouring sand into the way of Isaac, the Lord has delivered them into our hands.
Let nothing make you to sit down again. He rose and he told the people, look, the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into our hands. And so shall it be.
In the name of Jesus Christ, we are going into our rehoboth. You see, this battle was a battle for possessing their possession. It wasn't for passage anymore.
It's a battle to possess your possession wherever God has located you. You will possess it because the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into your hands. Now, as he spoke to the people, there was something that he did to them.
I would like you to see in verse 16, God helps Gideon. He knew that the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into our hands. But it was God with the correct equipment.
And the weapons of Herod were not cannot. But they are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. What did Gideon do? Then he divided 300 men into three companies.
And he put a trumpet into every man's hand with empty pitchers and torches inside the pitchers. He put in each man's hand a trumpet with empty pitchers and torches inside the pitchers. Look at their equipment.
Don't worry. Don't worry about what God has put in your hand. Your own equipment may even be your possession.
Your own equipment may be the pulpit where you are preaching. Whatever is the equipment, physical and spiritual, you will be equipped. And you will need to pray that you will not go from here unequipped in the name of Jesus Christ.
Look at the equipment. A trumpet. A message.
And we have been told time and time and time again that we have a message for this move of God. You are not just going to be preaching anyhow. When you are preaching and told this story and that story, the message is Christ and Him crucified.
Or say, I determined not to know anything among you except Christ and Him crucified. That is our message. That is the message that will conquer the Midianites and move us into the land of ruthfulness.
We will no longer be hiding our calm from the Midianites. It is this message that will move us into abundance. Don't go again telling the stories of Caterpillar and the lizards.
The message is clear. Christ and Him crucified. This message is the sword of God's deliverance.
It is the sword of the deliverance of the Lord from the hands of the Midianites. So that we can enter into our new homeworld, a land of ruthfulness. You must preach Christ, nothing else.
No more, no less. Christ and Him crucified. Whether you are a researcher, your message is Christ and Him crucified.
You are a king. The message is Christ and Him crucified. In every profession, Christ and Him crucified.
People are a puppet. That is the message. That is the message.
And you are going to be praying, Lord, don't allow me to deviate from this message. Because you won't get anything. You won't get the victory if you go into any other thing.
Do you know for every generation, God sets the goal. He sets the focus. He finds you.
He gives the message that will conquer the particular Midianites for that generation. This is the sword of the deliverance of the Lord for this home of God. Please pray.
We are tempted to go and be preaching all kinds of topics. God has not called us to just be preaching topics. He is a person.
The person of Christ. You need to pray for yourself because there is a temptation to that day. There is always a temptation.
To pray that you know much more than that. Christ is the message. The inexhaustible message.
Christ, you can't preach Him enough all your lifetime. Christ is the message. Pray, Lord, don't let me preach any other message.
Not myself. Not another. But Christ and Him crucified.
He gave them a trumpet. And then He gave them an empty pitcher. Empty pitcher.
It is only empty pitcher that can enter into the Lord. You will call on God. Then God will empty you of yourself.
Empty pitcher. It was an empty bowl that Jesus entered to preach to the multitudes in Luke chapter 5. A pot in which the fishermen have gone out. You must go out.
Go out and let Jesus in. It is only an empty pitcher that God will use and you will pray to Him. Many of us are full of matter.
We are full of many things. You will call on God. Empty me.
Empty me. Whatever instrument you will use to empty me of myself. Empty me of everything.
Empty me, O God, that I may become the pitcher that you are going to use to move us into our level 1 in this generation. To move us into truthfulness. You will see that these 300 men, actually they have been emptied.
That is why they could preach and shout the sword of the Lord and of Gideon. You won't hear somebody saying the sword of David. The sword of Josiah.
The sword of Deborah. No. The sword of the Lord and of Gideon.
All of them behind their different names. But no. They are not preaching themselves.
You will call on God. Empty me of myself. Empty me of everything.
Empty me. Don't let me be a stumbling block in this move of God. In this move into the land of truthfulness that God is showing us His people in this century.
And He gave them a torch. A lamp. And the lamp is to be put in the empty pitcher.
If the pitcher is not empty, it will not be able to contain this light. This lamp. And you know when He gave them that lamp, it is the pitcher that signifies Christ in you.
Christ in the empty pitcher. And the Bible says Christ in you is the hope of glory. If we will experience this lamp of God, it must be Christ in you.
You will be called on God. Father. Let nothing.
Nothing else be located in me except Christ. Let it be Christ walking inside of me. Empty pitcher.
Empty me oh Lord. And pour into me the very life of God. The life that is light.
Not the life that is shouting. Many of us today, we don't like shouting. We don't find people in the church, they will put a loud speaker to be disturbing the entire community.
The light that will conquer the media night doesn't shout. This light shines. You will be called on God.
Pour into me this light that is light that will conquer the media night. Apart from the good place, there were instructions to obey. We were told in the morning, if you obey my instructions, my commandments, then you will be comforted.
There were instructions that God gave these people also to obey. Look at verse 17. And he said to them, look at me and do likewise.
Watch. And when I come to the edge of the camp, you shall do as I do. That's the first instruction.
Watch. Watch. Those of you that don't know how to follow people.
You are the follower of yourself. You are the leader of yourself. You will not succeed in this kind of warfare.
God is saying watch. There is a leader for watch. If you are no leader, you are out of this matter.
Watch. Of course, our own Gideon primarily is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the commander or the host of the Lord.
He is the commander. And he says to you, watch me. Watch.
You are going to pray, Lord, make me sensitive in the spirit. Open the eyes of my mind. Help me to see as you see.
Don't let me be blind in this day of Leopold. Don't let me be blind, my God. Help me to see as you see.
He said to watch. Watch. Verse 20.
Okay, verse 18, 19 and 20. When I blow the trumpet and all who are with me, then you also blow the trumpet on every side of the whole camp and say, the Son of the Lord and of Gideon. So Gideon and his hundred men who were with him came to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the meeting.
Watch. Just as they have posted the watch. And they blew the trumpet and brought the pictures that were in their hands.
Then the three companions blew the trumpet and brought the pictures. They held the subjects in their hands and their trumpets in their right hands for blowing. And they cried, the Son of the Lord and of Gideon.
And one thing touched me. The light inside the picture was not meant to remain inside the picture. But for the light to shine, the picture had to be broken.
And each of them broke the picture. It was that action that made the light to shine. There is need for brokenness.
There is need for us to be flexible in the hands of God. There is need for the Lord to break us and make us people of a broken and a contrite spirit. Adjustable, flexible, amiable, humble, contrite before the Lord.
You will beg God, Father, any stiffness inside of me, break it. Break this picture, oh Lord, don't let me remain intact. Don't let me remain intact in this day of my hope.
The light will not shine except the picture is broken. And this is the crucified life that God is calling us into. The life that has been crucified with Christ so that Christ may shine forth from within us.
Lord, break me. Break this picture. Let me not remain intact.
And the last thing was what I saw. When they did as the Lord commanded, you know the end of the story. The Lord went, they were not the ones that were shooting any gun.
It was the Lord who went and turned the media night. Having their own equipment and swords and guns, they turned to each other and started killing each other. That was the battle of the Lord.
They turned to each other. God is going to set the media night against each other. And we are going to enter into our removal in the name of Jesus Christ.
And one thing that touched me was the men of Israel in verse 23. And the men of Israel gathered together from Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh and pursued the media night. Can you see that disciples multiplied? The army multiplied.
When those who are on the stage or at the battle front, when they did what the Lord said and obeyed Him, disciples multiplied. Look, people are waiting on the wings to follow the Lord. But you that the Lord has captured and captivated, you must obey Him.
Then you will see the disciples multiplying. The army of the Lord will multiply. You won't say, oh, we are too few.
No! God knows those here, He is keeping at the wings. He is only waiting for you to obey. We are going to pray, Lord, help me that I will obey you.
I will obey you. And you see, each of these army of Gideon, they were located in different parts of the camp of the media night by Gideon. That's the other matter.
They were properly located. Gideon located them. In fact, the Bible says something in verse 21.
And every man stood in his place all around the camp and the whole army ran and cried and prayed. All the army of Gideon, every man stood in his place. You are going to pray, Lord, where is my place? You have a place, we have been told.
You have a place in this Rehoboth. To experience Rehoboth, there is a particular location. Whether geographical, whether professional or spiritual, whatever.
You have a location where God wants to locate you. Isaac was properly located where God located him. You are going to pray that in this day of plenty, in this day of goodfulness, in this day of Rehoboth, Father, locate me.
Locate me in the right place. Don't let me be mislocated. So, as of now, they are still mislocated.
You are supposed to be, maybe on the poopy, you are a lawyer as Paul was, but you are supposed to be on the poopy. You must not be mislocated. Or, maybe you are preaching, but you think God wants to give you a congregation bigger than what you have now, at our Royal Majesty.
This yesterday, he said to us yesterday, he was a professor, but he wanted you, he called you, to a better and larger congregation, to the traditional school. You are going to pray, in this day of Rehoboth, Lord, locate me. Locate me properly.
Put me in the correct location where I will experience Rehoboth. Don't let me be mislocated. And by my action, Lord, let disciples multiply.
Let disciples multiply. You will move us toward Rehoboth. Even though there are concessions in our time, you will move us toward Rehoboth.
But Lord, help me to do what you are telling me to do. There is an instruction to obey. There are equipments to collect.
But God has surely given us the victory. You will rise up and pray, and cry to God, and plead to the Lord and say, Lord, put faith in me. Whatever you need to give me, that makes me to arise in that contrary situation.
Lord, put faith in me, to arise, do something in my life. I need the divine mobilization. I need something in power.
A divine push. I need the specializing power of the Almighty God. Put something in me.
You are going to pray, Lord, He is with me. He is with me. Put a message, the right message in my mouth.
Christ and Him crucified. And if there is anything in my picture, remove it. Lord, excavate it.
Lord, take it out of the way. I have seen this picture. And you will pray, Lord, put the life of Christ.
Pour it into me. Don't let me go with my own life. It avails nothing.
Lord, pour the life of Christ in me. And please, Lord, break this picture, that the life may flow. Let the life flow.
That is what conquers the medium life. That life, that is life. That is the life that God is portraying for us.
Give me that life. That life. And you will pray, Lord, please locate me properly.
I have a space. I have a space. I have a place.
A particular location. Geographical, professional, spiritual location. Immortal.
A place to occupy. Lord, please locate me. Don't let me be mislocated.
If there is another time you are mislocated, not today. Don't allow me to be mislocated because I see my other colleagues being located here and there. Help me to stay where you have put me.
Help me to be located where you want me to be. And Lord, by this action, may you defeat the medium life. May you multiply disciples in the land.
Would you please rise up and let us pray. Pray. Please pray.
Let's go into prayer right now. Stand on your feet, everybody. Come on, God.
It is not in this day of Leopold that we will be lazy. And we will be lazy about. It is time for us to arise and to go confront whatever Philistines, whatever Midianites will not let us in time for our revival.
Come on, God, for your life. Call upon the Lord. Let us pray.
Sermon Outline
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I
- Introduction to the battle for Rehoboth
- The significance of the barley loaf dream
- God's promise of victory before the battle
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II
- Gideon's preparation and divine equipment
- The symbolism of the trumpet, empty pitchers, and torches
- The necessity of being 'properly baked' and prepared
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III
- The call to obedience and watching the leader
- The importance of brokenness for the light to shine
- God fighting the battle and causing the enemy to turn on itself
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IV
- The multiplication of disciples through obedience
- Possessing your possession through faith and action
- Encouragement to remain steadfast and focused on Christ
Key Quotes
“There is no Rehoboth without contention, without facing a battle.” — Gbile Akanni
“You must be properly baked so that you will become that cake of barley bread that will be so effective in its action.” — Gbile Akanni
“The light will not shine except the picture is broken.” — Gbile Akanni
Application Points
- Trust that God has already delivered your battles before you even fight them.
- Be humble and empty yourself of self to allow Christ's light to shine through you.
- Obey God's instructions closely and follow His leadership to see multiplication and victory.
