Gideon's Call and Commission

Good morning.

As has been said, I am not Pastor Andrew.

! Pastor Andrew spent the week, as John was just praying there, Pastor Andrew spent the week

! investing in the teens in their mission trip to Skyview Ranch.

And as he was doing that, then I have the opportunity to bring the word this morning.

So we look forward to hearing the report.

In our family, we got maybe a little bit of a sneak preview with our son Ethan being on the trip.

Got to see some of the pictures and hear some of the stories, but neat to hear how God was working.

So all that to say, my name is Andy Manwiller.

My family and I, we've been coming for about 17 years here to Maranatha.

My wife and I have been married for 26 years, 9 months, 26 days.

We have 4 awesome kids.

It is so much fun.

But I love reading, listening to God's word.

I love teaching and sharing what God is teaching me.

So I'm thankful for the opportunity to share this morning.

So let's go ahead and pray again.

You can never pray too much.

And as I pray out loud, you pray quietly, as Pastor Conner used to say.

You can multitask during the message.

You can listen and you can pray for me.

And we'll dig into God's word together.

So let's pray.

Thank you, God, for your word, that it is truth.

And we pray this morning that you would sanctify us through your truth.

May your words be many and mine be few.

And I just pray that this would be a sweet time of digging into your word together.

That we would leave here changed by the singing, the fellowship, the word, just this opportunity to be in your house.

Thank you, God, for the freedom we have to do this.

May we not take it for granted and use it for the fullest for your kingdom and your glory.

So take this time and use it in our lives.

And equip us to go and be the church and do what you've called us to do this week.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Have you ever felt like God wanted you to do something that you didn't really feel capable of doing?

Or maybe calling you to do something that maybe you don't want to do, you're not willing to do.

Maybe it's sharing the gospel with someone.

Maybe it's trusting in the gospel for ourselves.

Maybe you're playing the game and it's time to do business with God.

Maybe it's getting to know our neighbors.

Maybe it's serving in church somewhere.

Maybe it's investing more in our families.

Investing in our relationship with our spouse.

Investing into our children.

Whatever it is, God calls us to do these things.

God has things for us to do that, again, sometimes we're maybe not able to do.

Or maybe we're not willing.

And today we're going to be looking at another example.

One of the many examples.

Last week we looked at Barak and he seemed a bit unwilling.

If you go with me, I'll do this.

Today we're going to look at another judge.

And just part one, I believe in two weeks, I think Pastor David is going to be preaching part two of Gideon.

But we'll see Gideon's fear, his apprehension.

And maybe we can identify with that.

And then God can use that to open our eyes and challenge us to grow and serve him even with things that we don't think we can do.

Or things maybe we're not willing to do.

So the background, we're going through Judges this summer.

And just a reminder of it, one of the saddest verses in the Bible is in Judges 2.10.

So if we look at Judges 2.10, it says,

I mean, this is crazy.

This is, you read through the Pentateuch, Genesis through Deuteronomy, and even Joshua.

And you see what God had done, bringing them out of the land of Egypt and doing all these miracles.

And then that generation didn't pass that on to their children.

It's been said that Christianity is never more than one generation away from extinction.

All it takes is one generation to not pass on the truth.

And Christianity goes away.

Now, God will not allow that to happen.

His word is true and he is always at work.

But we need to be passing that on.

And so from this, all those great things God had done, and then a generation rose up that wasn't taught, wasn't told these things.

And then we see there's this cycle.

And verses 11 through 15 kind of give us that cycle.

Pastor Andrew and others have kind of talked us through this.

But look at verse 11.

And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals.

There's this cycle of when we forget God and we turn to sin and we run from him.

And we see this cycle happening over and over.

We've already seen three iterations of this.

In chapter 3, in Judges 3 verse 7, it says,

Judges 3:7

And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth.

That's the setup where the people turned away from God.

God brought pain into their lives.

They called out to him.

He rose up a judge.

In this case, it was Othniel.

And he delivered them.

And this cycle that happens over and over again.

And this was the first iteration of that.

Look at verse 12.

And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

And he strengthened Eglon.

And this was the setup.

There's this cycle.

How many times did the Israelis have to go through that cycle?

How many times do I have to go through that cycle?

Chapter 4 verse 1.

And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

After Ehud died.

They were following a person rather than God himself.

The people would turn away from God.

And God would bring pain into their lives.

God brings pain into our lives for our good.

With my children.

There's not much better in life than being a husband and father.

Being a dad is so fun.

It is so cool.

But sometimes that does mean teaching and training and disciplining my children.

Not just trying to zap them when they do something wrong.

But when they sin, when they disobey, they're hurting themselves.

They're setting themselves up for worse failures.

And I want to bring pain into their lives.

As I've heard it said, turn up the heat.

To get their attention.

To turn them back to what is right.

To me.

But ultimately to God himself.

And that is what God is doing.

God's discipline is always for our good.

Whether it's discipline that comes because of my own sinful responses.

Or sometimes he just brings pain into our lives.

Because of the circumstances around us.

And so God is always trying to get our attention.

That's kind of the main point we want to look at today.

That God is with us.

We'll see how we should respond to that then.

And God is always working.

Am I working with him?

So this cycle, we've already looked at three different cycles.

Starting in chapter 6.

So today, again, we're going to go through all of chapter 6.

I've got 40 verses and 32 minutes.

Here we go.

I'll try not to go too long.

But that's all right.

Verse 1.

Here's the setup for Gideon.

The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

And the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years.

This is now the fourth time in the book where we see this cycle happening.

And this time, the pain is Midian.

It was kind of fun.

I'll try not to take too much time on this.

It was kind of fun just looking up all the times Midian appeared in the Old Testament.

Who is Midian?

Midian was actually a son of Abraham by Keturah in Genesis 25.

After Sarah had died, he had another wife and he had Midian.

Midian moved east.

He's connected with Moab and the Ishmaelites.

And they were often kind of a thorn in Israel's side.

God used them often to bring discipline, pain, discomfort to turn their attention to God.

The traders who sold Joseph into slavery in Genesis 37.

It's the Ishmaelites, but the Midianites are also mentioned there.

It's almost synonymous a little bit.

So again, they're connected in that way.

When Moses killed a man, he tried to deliver God's people in his way instead of God's way.

He fled and he fled to the land of Midian.

And his father-in-law was the priest of Midian.

If you remember the story of Balaam and the donkey, the donkey that talked,

the Midianites were a part of the group that wanted to have Balaam curse Israel.

And when that didn't work, Balaam was sneaky.

It's fascinating if you read through it.

Balaam then had them sneakily introduce sexual sin into the nation of Israel to try and undercut what God was doing.

And it was actually a Midianite woman that was brought into the camp.

I hadn't noticed that before.

And putting that together, that was in Numbers 25.

And Moses ultimately was told to take vengeance on Midian.

So there's this give and take.

And God used these people in the lives of Israel to bring pain and to draw him back to him.

Does God sometimes bring challenging people into our lives to point us back to him?

How do I respond to that?

So let's see what happens.

So there's the setup.

Again, the people turn from God.

God brings pain into their lives to draw them back to him.

Verse 2.

And the hand of Midian overpowered Israel.

And because of Midian, the people of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains,

and the caves, and the strongholds.

So because of the oppression, they're trying to survive.

And it's kind of fun as you read through Scripture.

When in 1 Samuel, 1 and 2 Samuel and such, when David is running from Saul,

he hides out in the caves and the dens.

And I think this is kind of where those came about.

It's kind of cool.

As you look through that, like he didn't make them himself.

They were already there.

But anyway, Scripture ties together.

And just dig into Scripture.

God's Word is the foundation, not just for an academic exercise,

but to know the God of the Word.

Anyway, I just thought that was kind of neat.

So they're hiding.

They're trying to find these secret places so they're not found.

Why?

What was happening?

What was Midian doing?

Let's look at verses 3 through 5.

For whenever the Israelites planted crops,

the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east would come up against them.

They would encamp against them and devour the produce of the land as far as Gaza

and leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey.

For they would come up with their livestock and their tents.

They would come like locusts in number.

Both they and their camels could not be counted,

so that they laid waste the land as they came in.

We can't even imagine this.

We can't even fathom this.

We live in such peace and prosperity.

Yes, things are hard.

Yes, circumstances.

And you could point to all kinds of things going bad.

But can you imagine living in this,

where it's not just like, oh, prices are up or whatever like that.

Like people are coming and stealing,

and there's literally nothing left.

This discomfort, we can't even fathom this.

God actually calls us, back even from Genesis,

we are called to bring order out of chaos.

We did a work, a connect group work study,

and we talked about this one of the weeks that I taught.

And God, one of our jobs in life is to bring order out of chaos in your home.

We have to bring order out of chaos because chaos happens naturally,

but we bring order.

That's part of being good stewards of this world and bring order out of chaos.

But these people were destroyers.

They were disruptors.

May we not be destroyers and disruptors,

but may we be bringing order out of chaos.

And they were suffering these consequences,

these people coming in and just causing chaos in their lives

to an extent, again, that we can't even begin to fathom.

And we don't have time to dig into it,

but I'd encourage you sometime to read through Deuteronomy 28,

and it's paralleled in Leviticus 26.

Deuteronomy 28 is really clear.

It's really cool.

God says, God gives some blessings if they obey.

God's rules and guidelines are always for our good, okay?

God's rules and guidelines are always for our good,

even if it doesn't feel like it.

And he says, if you obey me, you'll have blessing.

Now, we are not, we are under a different covenant,

but the concepts are true.

The Proverbs, these things are generally true.

And he would say, if you obey, this is what's going to happen.

But he also promised them, if you disobey, this is going to happen.

And if you still don't turn to me, this is going to happen.

And if you still don't turn to me, this, and if you read through it,

it's fascinating to see the cycle, the downward, it's going to get worse and worse.

And I think we're kind of in this.

And as has been mentioned, like Pastor Andrew talked about,

not necessarily looking forward to some of the end chapters, right?

And just the horrid mess that is the book of Judges.

And that can be my life and your life if we don't heed the warnings.

God keeps his promises.

And that's also true of not just giving us the fruit of the Spirit and love, joy, peace,

patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

But it's also that he will bring pain into our lives to draw us to him.

Again, God's goal in his rules, his guidelines, and the circumstances he brings

is always to turn our attention to him.

So may we fix our eyes on him.

So what happens here?

So we got the setup.

They turned from God.

God brought the Midianites.

Things are bad.

Verse 6.

And Israel was brought very low because of Midian.

And the people of Israel cried out for help to the Lord.

This is what we should do.

Do we allow difficulties in our lives, whether brought about by our own sin

or just because we live in a broken world,

do we allow those things to turn our attention to God?

1 Thessalonians 5.17 says to pray without ceasing.

And the idea there is just being in that constant attitude, that mindset of prayer,

that whenever something good happens, our first response should be,

thank you, God, for this.

And as soon as something bad happens, our response should be,

God, what do you want me to learn?

God, how can you show your glory?

How can I make you look good in this?

What do I do?

Our first response should be to turn to God.

And that's what the people of Israel finally did.

May we be quicker to turn to him in our circumstances.

So that's the background.

What does God do when the people turn to him?

Let's read verses 7 to 10.

When the people cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites,

the Lord sent a prophet to the people of Israel.

And he said to them,

God sent a prophet.

God reminds them of what he's done for them.

He reminds them of how they've been rescued from slavery.

He shows them how they've fallen short of his glory and how they've disobeyed him.

And that the goal, again, is always obeying his voice.

God's rules, his guidelines, his directions, his instructions, his tasks

are always for our good and his glory.

He sent a prophet.

Today, he's given us his word.

He's given us pastors and teachers.

He's given us the church.

I am so thankful for this church.

This is our church family.

And we have pastors who preach the word to us faithfully.

Pastors and leaders who invest in our lives.

God has sent us his word.

Am I listening?

Am I listening?

Not just going through it rote.

Like, oh, I read my Bible today.

Check the box.

Oh, I went to church today.

Check the box.

But no, are you here to listen?

Are you here to hear from God and his word?

When you read the Bible, do you read it on a regular basis?

And do you listen?

Listen, God is giving.

God is calling to us all the time.

But am I listening?

Is my heart hard?

Or am I listening?

Tom Zentz, a few weeks ago on Memorial Day, talked about how we need constant reminders.

May we humble ourselves to recognize, I need these reminders.

I have been brought out of the house of slavery of my own sin.

I am a slave.

I'm either going to be a slave to sin or a slave to God.

You tell me what you think is the better taskmaster.

I want to be a slave to the God who loves me and has my best in mind for my good and his glory.

May we be reminded of the truth of the gospel and live in it every day.

So that's the background.

It's verses 1 through 10.

The next section, and that was, if you're following along, I don't have my slides up there.

That's all right.

I'll tell you what the blanks are.

Cycle of apostasy was the first one.

A-P-O-S-T-A-S-Y, if anyone wants to spell it there.

The second one is Gideon's call.

Gideon's call.

So we have the background.

The people called out to God.

And God sent them a judge.

Someone to deliver them.

And here is the call.

And we're focusing on his story today.

Verse 11.

So there's this guy, Joash.

He's from the tribe of Abiezer, which is in Manasseh.

We'll see that come up later.

And the angel of the Lord.

I'll let Pastor Andrew go into all the theological details of who the angel of the Lord is.

But for now, this is God speaking to Gideon.

And where's Gideon?

Gideon is scared.

He's hiding.

He's trying to provide for himself and his family.

He's in the wine press.

So that was a place that was lower, underground.

And they would, like, the threshing of the wheat, they're throwing it up.

And the wind would blow away the chaff so that you have just the good stuff left.

But he's in a pit trying to hide.

And so it's hard work.

He's scared.

He's hiding.

He's still trying to provide for his family.

He's trying to make it through.

Do we find ourselves maybe sometimes in those circumstances?

Life is hard.

And we just, Proverbs 37, try again.

Psalm 37, 3 is a verse I want you to write down and think through as we go through this.

Trust in the Lord and do good.

Gideon's doing that.

We'll see his faith to a certain degree here in a minute.

But Gideon's doing that.

The angel of the Lord comes, hangs out under a tree.

And then he speaks to Gideon.

Let's look at verse 12.

And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him,

The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.

He's got the right guy?

Gideon's hiding in a pit trying to do his work in a way that doesn't even work very well.

And he calls him a mighty man of valor.

And he says, and this is key as well,

The Lord is with you.

This is a theme in the Old Testament.

This is a theme throughout the whole Bible from the beginning to the end.

The Lord is with you.

So remember, God is with us today as well.

But this is fascinating, right?

He calls Gideon a mighty man of valor.

Was Gideon acting like it?

No.

He was not acting like it.

But God saw something in him.

Or more likely,

God saw what he was going to equip him to become

something more than he is now.

The world will tell you,

Look within yourself.

Follow your heart.

Lies.

Don't believe it for a minute.

But God saw something that he was going to do in Gideon.

And so, you know what?

Gideon couldn't do this.

Gideon didn't even want to do this,

as we'll see necessarily.

But God is calling in him.

God was going to work in him

to will and to do of his good pleasure.

It's a verse we're going to look at at the end.

God sees things that he's going to do in us.

He calls us to do things that we're not doing right now.

He calls us to be things that we aren't right now.

And let's see how Gideon responds.

Verse 13.

And Gideon said to him,

Please, sir, if the Lord is with us,

why then has all this happened to us?

And where are all his 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 Midian.

Okay, I definitely read that with a certain tone.

That's how I think he said it.

You might think differently.

But clearly, regardless,

he clearly doubted.

But the fascinating thing is he knew the truth.

He knew the stories of what God had done.

While Judges 2.10 was true,

apparently his father had passed some truth on to him.

We'll be talking about his father more here in a minute.

But he heard the stories.

He knew of it.

But the fact is,

he didn't see it right now.

His circumstances and his feelings

did not match the truth that he knew.

Can anyone else identify with that?

Because I can.

I don't know.

I have struggled with a lot of things

in the last year, several years.

But God is so good.

But circumstances and what I know to be true

don't always match.

Does that mean that I'm disqualified?

Does that mean that we're disqualified

if we have doubts?

If we're with Gideon and we doubt?

And maybe even we say these things to God,

maybe even with a tone?

Well, see, the answer is no.

Gideon poured out his heart.

He shared what he thought.

David, in the Psalms,

pours out his heart.

Some of the Psalms are hard to read.

It's okay.

The key is he's going to God.

He's responding to God

and his work in his life.

So verse 14.

Gideon says,

yeah, whatever,

whatever's going on.

But verse 14,

Did he answer Gideon's question?

No, he didn't.

Which sounds a little bit like Job, right?

Job did not get direct answers.

If you remember last summer

when we went through Job,

the main point of that

when we got to the end was

just trust God.

Fix your eyes on him

and do what he's calling you to do.

Trust him in the midst

of your circumstances.

And Gideon gets a similar answer.

He gives Gideon a task.

He says,

go and save your people.

But more importantly,

it was God

who was telling him to do this.

God gave him clear instructions.

Has God given us

any clear instructions?

If you open your Bible,

can you find some clear instructions?

Husbands,

love your wives

as Christ loved the church.

Don't focus on her part.

Focus on yours.

That's not today's topic though.

Children,

obey your parents.

Fathers,

bring up your children

in the nurture

and admonition of the Lord.

Speak the truth

in love.

There's so many instructions

we have been given.

We have been given tasks

and therefore are good.

They're not easy.

We don't always feel

like doing them.

They don't always work

the way we want.

But God has clearly

given us tasks.

And even the Great Commission,

God has clearly given us

that task.

Our main goal in life

is to glorify God.

And one of the best ways

we do that

is by going

as we go

into all the world,

preach the gospel,

make disciples.

We have been clearly

sent to do this.

What was Gideon's response?

And Gideon 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.

Again,

he's responding honestly

and it may be factual.

He's hiding in a wine press

using it for a task

that it's not designed to do.

His family apparently

is small in the tribe.

I'm just going to take

his word for it

at that point.

But Manasseh is a small tribe.

In fact,

half the tribe's

on the other side

of the Jordan,

if you remember.

Half of them settled

over there.

So it's a smaller,

they took a lot of land,

but so he's struggling.

He's looking at it.

How can I do this?

It's an honest assessment.

But where's his focus?

His focus is still

on himself.

His focus is still

on who he and his family

are on their own

without God.

Moses did this

when God called him.

If you read through

Exodus chapter 2 and 3,

Exodus 2 · chapter mention

you'll see Moses

throws up five excuses

and God sometimes

doesn't even directly

answer them.

It's all about God

focusing on him.

Giving excuses.

May we not give excuses.

And again,

it could be,

I think God is revealing

how empty Gideon is.

How needy Gideon is.

He doesn't see God working.

We saw that in verse 13.

And he knows that

he's not sufficient

to do these things.

God brings us

to our lowest point

so he can fill us

with himself.

Because it's God

who gets the glory,

not us.

And God can use us.

We can do great things

for him.

But it's not

in our own strength.

And sometimes God needs

to bring us

to the end of ourselves.

Would it be better

to humble ourselves

before the Lord

and he will lift us up

as James said

rather than having him

humble us?

That God opposes the proud

but gives grace

to the humble

again in James.

So God is revealing

his need.

And so what happens here

in verse 16?

Again, the focus

is not on Gideon.

The focus is not

on his family.

The focus is on God himself.

God has called him

to do this thing.

Again, this is a theme

throughout the whole Bible

including in Revelation.

One of the best parts

of being in heaven forever

is God's presence

with us

in an even more

tangible way.

God will be

with his people

and he will be

our God

and he will be with us.

It's I will be with you.

Whatever God

is calling you to do,

whatever hard things

are happening in work,

I've talked to many of you

about my work, right?

God is with you

wherever you are

no matter how hard it is,

no matter what is going on,

God is with you.

You are not alone.

You also have

the body of Christ

but God is with us.

And he says

you're going to strike

the Midianites

as one man.

You'll have victory

as I am with you.

We have been given

tasks as well.

Again,

family,

church,

all these different things.

I do want to just talk

very briefly about

Matthew chapter 28,

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

the Great Commission.

We tend to focus

on the fact,

go therefore

and make disciples

of all nations,

baptizing them

in the name of the Father

and the Son

and the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe

all that I have commanded you.

Don't forget the end.

Behold,

I am with you

always to the end

of the age.

God is with us.

We tend to also forget

verse 18.

Let me read that one.

All authority

in heaven

and on earth

has been given to me.

Go therefore.

God is the one

who has called us

to these things

and who is sufficient

for these things.

Nobody,

but God is

and God will work

through us.

Like Gideon,

we need to get our eyes

off of ourselves

and on to God

when God says,

I will be with you.

Let's go

and take steps of faith,

trust in the Lord

and do good.

After this,

we'll see how Gideon responds

just like any of us would do.

More doubt.

But God is so gracious.

Look at verses 17 and 18.

And he, Gideon,

said to him,

If now I have found favor

in your eyes,

then show me a sign

that it is you

who speak with me.

Please do not depart

from here

until I come to you

and bring out my present

and set it before you.

And he said,

I will stay

until you return.

This is again

the setup

for the next paragraph.

He's asking for a sign.

Verse 19.

So Gideon went,

Gideon went into the house,

prepared a young goat,

unleavened cakes

from an ephah flour,

the meat he put in a basket

and the broth he put in a pot.

He brought them to him

under the terebinth

and presented them.

Gideon wants to show hospitality.

Gideon wants to show his hospitality

by providing a meal.

And what happens here?

There's more.

What does the angel of the Lord

do with this?

The angel of God said to him,

Take the meat

and the unleavened cakes

and put them on this rock

and pour the broth over them.

And he did so.

Then the angel of the Lord

reached out the tip of the staff

that was in his hand

and touched the meat

and the unleavened cakes

and fire sprang up from the rock

and consumed the meat

and the unleavened cakes.

And the angel of the Lord

vanished from his sight.

It's kind of like Elijah

pouring water on the sacrifice.

But that happened after this,

so I can't use that

as an illustration.

But Gideon probably had in mind,

he knew the scripture,

he knew the stories.

Back in Leviticus 9,

Leviticus 9:23

verses 23 and 24,

I don't have time

to look at that right now,

but you can go look that up later.

Back in Leviticus 9,

23 and 24,

when Aaron,

the priest,

was consecrated

and they made a sacrifice,

the glory of the Lord

appeared to the people

and fire came out

and consumed the offering.

God had appeared to him

and fire came out

and consumed the offering.

God was there.

God was present.

And so what was his response?

Look at verse 22.

Then Gideon perceived

that it was the angel of the Lord.

And Gideon said,

Alas, O Lord God,

for now I have seen

the angel of the Lord

face to face.

What was me?

There is humility here.

He recognizes

that in God's presence,

he is nothing.

And this happens

throughout scripture.

Job,

when God confronts him,

he puts his hand

over his mouth.

He repents

and dust and ashes.

Moses,

at the burning bush,

he takes his sandals off

because he's on holy ground.

Isaiah,

when he sees God,

says,

Woe is me,

for I am undone.

I am a man of unclean lips

and I live among

a people of unclean lips.

We see this again

in a little bit

with Samson

and his parents.

The only valid response

to realizing

God is at work

is to humble ourselves,

to recognize

who we are

and who God is.

Do we turn

our attention to him?

Do we allow

our circumstances

to point us to him?

How does God respond

to Gideon's recognition?

Verse 23,

But the Lord said to him,

Peace be to you.

Do not fear.

You shall not die.

When all this is going on,

my circumstances

are out of my control.

When I am lost

and I am undone

and I'm seeing God working,

God brings peace.

So often throughout Scripture

when an angel appears

to a person,

he says,

Peace be to you

because they're ready

to freak out.

When Jesus appeared

to the disciples

after he rose from the dead,

he said,

Peace be to you.

He said it like two or three times

because they needed it.

I need that.

I get so anxious.

I don't know about you,

but I'm getting older

and so like feelings

are bigger now.

It's like this is weird.

I shared some things

that are going on

and at least two people

said to me,

Oh, you're telling me

you're in your 40s.

Okay, message received.

Life changes

and sometimes it's hard

and sometimes it's good,

but regardless of where we're at,

God is in control

and if I fix my eyes on him,

there is peace.

God's kingdom

is not of this world.

He does not promise

a nation to rise up

and that's like the Jews

thought they were going to rise up

and take out the Romans.

That's not what God promises us.

His kingdom

is not of this world,

but it is of the heart

and what God promises us

is not comfort

and ease

and riches.

It's not what he promises.

He promises us

love,

joy,

peace,

patience,

kindness,

goodness,

faithfulness,

gentleness,

and self-control.

That's the fruit,

the evidence

of the spirit

of God working in us

and that is so much better

than anything else

whether we have

great riches

and great things

or we have not.

The kingdom of God

is of the heart

and as we rest in him,

he gives us

and brings us peace.

We need that.

We need to fix our eyes

on God himself.

And so what happens

when Gideon realizes this

in verse 24?

Then Gideon built

an altar there

to the Lord

and called it

the Lord is peace.

To this day,

it still stands

in Ophrah

which belongs

to the Abiezrites.

Another good response

to realizing

that God is at work

is building a reminder.

We are forgetful people.

Again,

Tom Zent shared that

with us

on the Memorial Day service

and it's been said

from the pulpit

many times,

I am a forgetful person.

We are forgetful people.

I need reminders.

Do you have any reminders

of when God

was working in your life?

We have black lava rock

out in front.

We've chosen that

as our landscaping

because you don't have

to do it every year.

But my wife

has taken some rocks

and painted them white

and written on them

things that God has done.

So when you go out front

out of our door,

there's these bright white

reminders of what God

has done.

It's just a small thing.

I'm very good

at forgetting them.

I'm very good

at walking right past them

and not remembering them

or letting them

focus my mind on him.

But I have the opportunity.

Do you have any reminders

of what God has done

in your life?

So that when you face

hard times,

you can look back

and see God has done

this for me.

God has done this

for the Israelites.

God is going to take care

of me now

as I go forward.

Setting up these reminders

of who God is

and what he's done.

Jacob did this

with his rock pillow.

The two and a half tribes

at the end of Judges

do this.

They set up a reminder.

Hey, we are a part of you.

We need reminders.

We are forgetful.

Even Peter and Paul

talk about reminding

people of truths.

I need these reminders

and I'm guessing

you do too.

So we move into

the next paragraph

starting in verse 25.

It brings us

to the third point.

So the first point,

cycle of apostasy.

Second was Gideon's call.

The third is Gideon's

first step.

S-T-E-P, step.

So God's got his attention.

He gives him

his first task.

Here we go.

Verse 25.

25 and 26.

That night,

the Lord said to him,

take your father's bull

and the second bull,

seven years old,

and pull down

the altar of Baal

that your father has

and cut down

the Asherah

that is beside it

and build an altar

to the Lord your God

on the top

of the stronghold here

with stones laid

in due order.

Then take the second bull

and offer it

as a burnt offering

with the wood

of the Asherah

that you shall cut down.

His first assignment

is to tear down

the altar of Baal

and the Asherah

that his father had

and replace it

with an altar

to God

and sacrifice.

So Gideon's dad

is an interesting character,

isn't he?

I think he clearly

told Gideon about God

because back

when the angel of the Lord

first appeared to him,

he knew,

where's all these things?

I've heard these things,

but where is it happening?

So his father had told him,

but yet,

but yet he has an altar

of Baal

and an Asherah.

He's two-faced.

He's double-minded.

I'm guessing he felt

the cultural pressure

and wanted to fit in,

wanted to look good

to those around him.

After all,

we're in the judges, right?

And everyone was doing

what was right

in their own eyes.

So I want to look good

to as many people as I can.

Change starts

in the home.

It starts with me.

It starts with my family

and then God can use it

from there.

So first,

what idols do I have

in my life?

What idols are

in my family's life?

I need to tear them down

and replace them

with the things of the Lord.

So may I ask you,

what idols are in your life?

What idols are in our lives

that we can get rid of

in my family?

Look around your house.

What are some things

that are idols?

Look at your calendar.

Look at your budget spreadsheet

if you're as geeky

as I am about that kind of thing.

You can tell a lot

about yourself.

There's sayings about that.

You can tell a lot

about yourself

by your money,

your time,

what you watch,

your calendar,

things like that.

So evaluate those things.

What things need

to be torn down

and what altars

to God need to be built.

So what does Gideon do?

Verse 27.

So Gideon took the men

of his servants,

took 10 men of his servants

and did as the Lord

had told him.

But because he was too afraid

of his family

and the men of the town

to do it by day,

he did it by night.

So he obeyed,

kind of.

But he took a step

of faith.

God told him to do it.

He took 10 people with him.

God told him to do it.

He didn't want everybody

to know,

so he did it at night.

But he took a step.

Are we willing

to take those steps?

Like Nicodemus

came to Jesus at night.

So many other examples.

People afraid

but doing what's right.

Trust in the Lord

and do good.

What is a small step

I can take?

What is a small step

you can take?

And maybe,

how can I do it boldly?

Trusting in the Lord.

But there are consequences.

It doesn't always go well.

He was afraid of his family.

And we'll see,

rightfully so.

Verse 28.

And when the men

of the town

rose early in the morning,

behold,

the altar of Baal

was broken down

and the Asherah

beside it was cut down

and the second bull

was offered on the altar

that had been built.

And they said to one another,

who has done this thing?

And after they had searched

and inquired,

they said,

Gideon,

the son of Joash

has done this thing.

Then the men

of the town

said to Joash,

bring out your son

that he may die.

For he has broken

down the altar of Baal

and cut down

the Asherah beside it.

He took a step

for God

and now his life

is being threatened.

Sometimes things

don't go as planned.

God's plans

are not always ours

and sometimes things

get worse

before they get better.

But am I willing

to follow

and trust God

anyway?

The cultural response,

kill him,

cancel him,

whatever.

It's pretty drastic.

Most of us

will not face death

by standing up

for God.

Maybe we just

get looked at funny.

Maybe our families

won't like to change.

Again, after all,

he was afraid

of the family.

What happened?

Dad, why do you

want to meet together

and do family Bible time

at night?

Why are you making me

read the Bible every day?

Why are we serving?

I'd rather go play.

Why is this happening?

Our family might not like it.

We might be made fun of.

Maybe more serious consequences,

losing our job.

I'm pretty sure

at this point

we're not going

to face death.

The day may come.

Are we ready for that?

God is good

and he's worth

consequences for.

Am I willing

to stand for God

even if people

don't like it?

Luke 9, 23-26

is a good passage

to read through

as a reminder.

Jesus said,

take up your cross

and follow me.

Deny yourself

and if you

don't be ashamed

of God before men.

So Gideon

took this step of faith

and what happened?

The people didn't like it

but look at verse 31.

But Joash said

to all who stood

against him,

that's Gideon's dad,

Joash said

to all who stood

against him,

will you contend

for Baal

or will you save him?

Whoever contends

for him

shall be put

to death by morning.

If he's a god,

let him contend

for himself

because his altar

has been broken down.

Gideon took

a step of faith

secretly

but his dad

was impacted.

His father

got his act together.

He said,

okay,

yeah,

that's wrong.

I shouldn't have done that.

Let me stand up

for God now.

Our steps of faith

will have impact

for others.

As for me

and my house,

we will serve the Lord.

1 Timothy 4.12

This is a good reminder

that Gideon

took the step of faith

and his father,

someone older than him,

was impacted.

Do not let people

look down on you

because you're young

but set an example

for the believers

in word,

in,

I don't have that one

memorized very well.

Word,

spirit,

faith,

purity.

I butchered that one.

Go look it up

for yourself and see.

But we can set an example

for others

and God will use that

in the lives of others

whether they're older than us

or younger than us.

Are we willing to humble ourselves

and learn from people younger,

older,

and work together?

We'll talk about this

in a little bit.

We need all generations.

We need gray hairs.

We need young people.

We need everybody

together as the body.

So again,

this was a good response.

If Baal's God,

let him deal with it.

Kind of like Elijah.

Elijah says,

you know,

how long will you limp

between two opinions?

If Baal's God,

follow him,

but if the Lord is God,

follow him.

Do you and I believe

that the Lord is God?

It's easy in this setting

to say yes.

Tomorrow,

when we go to work,

when we go to play,

when we go to whatever,

go to our homes,

do we still believe that

and is it still true

and are we willing

to stand up

and say that

even when it's not popular

and may come with consequences?

Are we willing

to follow him

even if it's costly?

So what happened?

Verse 32,

therefore on that day,

Gideon was called

Jerob Baal.

That is to say,

let Baal contend against him

because he broke down

his altar.

He didn't die.

Again,

he saw God,

he didn't die.

He was threatened,

he didn't die.

He was branded though.

He was called derogatory names

from then on.

It's a small price to pay.

Don't worry about idle threats.

Proverbs 26.2

says like a sparrow

by flitting

or a swallow

and it's flying

so a curse unfounded

will not come to rest.

I love that verse by the way.

I love barn swallows.

They're my favorite birds.

There's some out in the backyard.

They just,

they always are flying.

You never see them land

and just like that,

these kind of curses,

you're going to be called

Jerob Baal.

May Baal get you.

It'll never land.

I don't have to worry about it.

I can trust my God

and he will take care of me.

So we move into

Gideon's next assignment.

That's the next blank

and I'm sorry,

that blank is small.

Gideon's next assignment.

Write that in there

as best you can

and then Gideon is ready.

Okay?

Gideon's next assignment

and Gideon is ready.

Let's see what happens.

Verse 33.

Now all the Midianites

and the Amalekites

and the people of the east

came together

and they crossed the Jordan

and encamped

in the valley of Jezreel.

He just faced his family.

He just faced his tribe

and now the enemy

is amassing.

He handled,

he weathered the last storm

now comes the next one.

The bad guys

are joining together

and they're hanging out

in the valley of Jezreel.

We've got a standoff going.

Verses 34 and 35.

But the Spirit of the Lord

clothed Gideon

and he sounded the trumpet

and the Abiezrites

were called out

to follow him

and he sent messengers

throughout all Manasseh

and they too

were called out

to follow him

and he sent messengers

to Asher, Zebulun

and Naphtali

and they went up

to meet him.

Woohoo!

We're getting the band together.

We're going to go attack.

This is good.

The Spirit of the Lord.

Notice that it was God

working in him.

We need to be open

to God working

and seeking in him.

Seeking out his direction,

his will,

being willing to submit

to that.

God was with him.

He called out his family.

He called out,

and maybe that was an impact.

His dad stood up.

His family joined him

in this battle.

As we take one small step

of faith,

there can be ripple effects.

God can use that

in bigger ways.

And then he called out

three more tribes.

He's ready for the big time.

But then comes

verses 36 to 40,

which Gideon is ready

was the second part

of point four.

Point five is,

or is he?

Or is he?

We see doubts

surface again.

Verses 36 and 37

says this,

Then Gideon said to God,

If you will save Israel

by my hand,

as you have said,

behold,

I'm laying a fleece of wool

on the threshing floor.

If there's dew

on the fleece alone

and it's dry on the ground,

then I shall know

that you will save Israel

by my hand,

as you've said.

Gideon says,

Whoa, whoa, whoa,

slow down a second.

This is great,

but you know,

I'm having doubts.

I'm not sure anymore.

God, are you sure?

He's asking for a sign

and trusting God.

Often,

our biggest successes

are followed

by our greatest challenges

and failures.

1 Corinthians 10, 12

says,

Beware you who think

you're strong,

lest you fall.

Be ready.

Beware when you think

you're strong.

Don't continue

in your own strength

what God has begun

doing in you.

Let him complete his work

even when it's hard.

Philippians 1, 6.

He who began

a good work in you

will be faithful

to complete it.

Am I willing

to trust him?

When God starts working,

am I willing

to keep going

in his strength

and not my own?

Use the talents,

gifts,

abilities that he's given me

but not do things

in my own strength.

Verse 38.

So he does the fleece thing.

I'm not going to go

too deep into this

and make things up.

Let the main things

be the plain things

and the plain things

be the main things.

What happens here

in verse 38?

And it was so.

When he rose early

the next morning

and squeezed the fleece,

he wrung enough dew

from the fleece

to fill a bowl of water.

Then,

so God answered.

God is gracious.

Sometimes he answers

with the fleece.

Sometimes he doesn't.

Kind of like with Job.

So what does Gideon do?

Then Gideon,

verse 39.

Then Gideon said to God,

let not your anger

burn against me.

Let me speak just one more time.

Please let me test

just once more

with the fleece.

Please let it be dry

on the fleece only

and on all the ground

let there be dew.

Again,

I'm not going to

over-spiritualize this

or make things up.

You know what I think

happened here?

Gideon's first test,

he was off a little bit, right?

What happens

if you put,

if I put a t-shirt

on my back porch

at night

and there's dew

and then the sun comes out,

the ground,

the deck is going to be dry

but the t-shirt's

still going to be wet, right?

Oops.

Hey God,

I got that backwards.

Can we try it again?

I think that's all

that happened here, right?

Whatever.

I'll let Pastor Andrew

correct me if I'm wrong

or he can go deeper

if he wants

but then he gives

that clear sign.

Okay,

if I put the t-shirt out

and now

if the t-shirt's dry

but they're still due

then God did something

because that's what,

you know,

that's not what happens

in the normal

natural world.

So he asked

for another go at it

and God is gracious

enough to answer.

Look at verse 40.

And God did so that night

and it was dry

on the fleece only

and on all the ground

was due.

Sometimes God is gracious

and gives us those answers.

He gives us that assurance

that we're following him

and sometimes he doesn't.

Am I willing to follow him

and walk by faith

even if I don't feel like it,

even if my circumstances

don't change?

Am I willing to follow him?

So now

Gideon is continuing

to be humbled.

He's amassing an army

and

in two weeks

we'll see what happens

in chapter 7.

But for now,

so what?

What's the takeaway?

I go home this afternoon.

I go to work tomorrow.

I got all these things

going on in my life.

What difference

does this make?

I've heard it said

God doesn't call

the qualified

but he qualifies

the called.

You might not feel

like you can do

what God has called you to do.

And what God calls us

to do is hard

because our sinful hearts

fight against it,

whatever it is.

But God will work in us,

again,

to will and to do

of his good pleasure.

We'll look at that verse

here in a little bit.

But I want to encourage

and challenge us.

Are we taking steps

of faith?

What is God calling you

to do?

To grow spiritually?

Maybe to trust Christ

as Savior?

to lead your family?

To invest and love

your wife

as Christ loved the church?

To invest in your children

even when it's hard?

To witness to neighbors,

to coworkers?

Maybe get involved

in the church?

May I just say,

as my wife and I

oversee the nursery ministry,

we can always use

nursery helpers,

isn't this a blessing

up here?

The people who play?

Do you play an instrument?

Come and join us.

One of the principles

of our music ministry here

that Pastor John

introduced in 2012

when he started

was more is better.

Maybe God is challenging

you to say,

hey, I play the whatever.

Can I do that too?

Serve with,

there's children's ministries.

I want to challenge you,

wherever you're at,

young people,

serve.

Get involved.

There's nursery opportunities,

children's ministry opportunities.

Get involved and serve.

You guys do a good job

of this overall.

Maybe God is calling you

to step up

and do different things.

For those who are older,

it is not time

to make way

for the next generation.

It is time

to serve

with the next generation.

May I encourage you

and challenge you,

don't check out.

There's no retirement

from the family of God.

We need the gray hairs

of which I'm now being.

We need the gray hairs

and the green horns.

We need to work together

to grow and sharpen

and encourage each other.

May this church grow

and serve one another.

So what is God

calling you to do?

Again,

maybe it's something

in the church.

Maybe it's missions.

Who knows?

Maybe it's something else.

But are you willing

to serve

and get involved?

Like Gideon,

there's nothing special

about Gideon.

He was broken.

He was small.

But God was going

to work in him.

Two passages

to look at

and then we'll close

in prayer.

Philippians 2,

12 and 13.

I've quoted this one

a couple times,

but you can see it

for yourself.

Philippians 2,

Philippians 2:12

verses 12 and 13

says this,

Therefore,

my beloved,

as you have always

obeyed,

so now,

not only as in my presence,

but much more in my absence,

work out your own salvation

with fear and trembling.

For it is God

who works in you,

both to will

and to work

for his good pleasure.

Excuse me.

God is the one

who works in us

to will,

to be willing to,

to want to do

what he called us to do

and then to follow

through and do it.

Will we rely

on his strength

to do it?

So if you've never,

if God's calling you

to step up

and do something,

would you step out

and do it?

Trust in the Lord

and do good,

whether it's family,

church,

whatever it is.

And for those

who have been serving

for a long time,

thank you.

We need the faithful,

people who have been

serving and doing this

for years

and continuing to do so

as an example

and teaching and training

the next generation

and serving with them

and bringing them up.

But remember,

it's not about you.

And for us,

let's not,

let's not trust

the older people.

Let's trust the God

that they are pointing us to

because 1 Corinthians 1, 26

and following says,

for consider your calling,

brothers.

Not many of you were wise

according to worldly standards.

Not many were powerful.

Not many were of noble birth.

But God chose

what is foolish in the world

to shame the wise.

God chose

what is weak in the world

to shame the strong.

God chose

what is low

and despised in the world.

Even things that are not

to bring to nothing

the things that are

so that

no human being

might boast

in the presence of God.

It's all about God

and His glory.

It starts with me

and my life,

me and my family,

me and my church

and we can impact the world.

What is God calling you to do?

Will you take that step,

trust in the Lord

and do good?

And may we watch

and see what God does

for His glory.

Let's pray.

Thank you God for Gideon.

Your patience with him.

Thank you that you are

patient with us.

God, I pray that you would

work in us today

as we sit here

and we're maybe

riled up

and we feel

the call,

the excitement.

Lord, will you work in us

to will

and to do

of what you're calling us to do?

Lord, would you work in us?

May we have strong,

godly people

in this church.

May we have strong,

godly families

in this church.

May we be a strong,

godly family

who loves you,

loves each other

and shares the gospel

with the world.

Go with us

and use us