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Judges · Men's Leadership Study

Week 6: Tear Down Your Father's Altar First

Judges 6

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Read Together

Judges 6

Read the whole chapter aloud before discussing the handout.

Hidden in the Text

Weekly Devotional

Before Gideon could confront Midian's public oppression, he had to confront Baal in his father's yard. God even told him to use the wood of the pagan grove as fuel for the true sacrifice—the old idol became kindling for new obedience. Gideon did it at night because he was afraid, but he did it completely. By morning his father, who had owned the altar, was defending the act and telling Baal to plead for himself. One man's frightened obedience exposed a powerless god and shifted his household. Your first battle is often not the distant army but the inherited altar closest to home.

Discuss Honestly

Hard Questions

  1. 01

    Gideon asked, 'If the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us?' Ask your own version of that question out loud right now. Then read verse 10 and answer it.

  2. 02

    What is the altar in your father's house — the inherited pattern, appetite, or silence in your family line — that God is telling you to tear down before you take any new ground?

  3. 03

    Gideon obeyed at night out of fear. Where in your life would you accept scared obedience from another man but not from yourself?

  4. 04

    God called him 'mighty man of valour' before there was evidence. What identity has God spoken over you that you keep arguing with?

  5. 05

    The fleece came after the Spirit came. Where are you asking for confirmation about something God has already made clear?

  6. 06

    Joash had to defend the demolition. Who in your family or ministry will pay a price when you finally deal with something you've tolerated?

  7. 07

    What would it cost you, socially and professionally, to be publicly known as the man who tore that thing down?

Look Them Up

Cross-References

  • 1 Corinthians 1:27

    Gideon's 'my family is poor, and I am the least' is exactly the profile God selects.

  • 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

    God's strength is made perfect in our weakness. Gideon did not need to become strong before God could use him.

  • 1 Peter 1:18

    Redeemed from the vain manner of life 'received by tradition from your fathers.' The father's altar problem named in the New Testament.

  • Ezekiel 14:3

    Idols set up in the heart — the altar is never only in the yard.

  • Romans 12:1-2

    Present your body a living sacrifice; the altar is either occupied by an idol or by you.