"The Nobodies" - Part 2

Hi, this is John Ozanting, lead pastor of Evolved Church, and this is the Evolved Church Podcast.

Thanks so much for tuning in.

We hope that you find today's message encouraging and full of hope for wherever you're at.

We're continuing our series, The Nobodies.

I'm going to be looking at the book of Judges in the first half of the Bible, the Old Testament, the Jewish Hebrew Bible.

The book of Judges, chapter six, we're going to be looking at a story or part of a story from a guy by the name of Gideon, and that's kind of what we want to do over the next few weeks.

Last week we set up the nobodies from 1 Corinthians chapter 1, how God chooses the lowly, the laughable, the nobodies.

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

You've been chosen, you've been called by God for a significant purpose.

And so Judges chapter 6 in verse 6, it talks about how a devastating enemy has reduced God's family, his sons and daughters, to poverty.

Judges 6 · chapter mention

The Midianites have absolutely crushed Israel.

Impoverished literally means to become small, both economically and emotionally.

So the Israelites are impoverished by the Midianites.

And it's not hard to draw a comparison to the season that we're in right now.

COVID-19 has left the province of Alberta and cities all across Canada and around the world impoverished.

It's made us small economically and emotionally.

It has diminished us both with our economics and with our emotions.

We've all seen it, we've all felt it, we all know people who have been greatly impacted by this.

Last weekend, as we began this series, here's what I said: I said, COVID hasn't stripped you of your purpose and your calling.

It doesn't have that kind of power.

1 Corinthians 1, 28 said he chose the lowly, the laughable in the world's eyes, the nobody's, so that he could shame the somebody's.

You have been chosen, you have.

You've been chosen by God to accomplish his mission, his purposes for you, through you, in this lifetime.

Interesting to me that for thousands of years, hear this real quick, when a nation would turn their collective cry for help back towards God after a season of having turned their backs on God.

So an entire nation goes to God with a cry for help after having turned their backs on God, that God's response has always been, and as such will always be, a resounding yes.

Yes, I will help you.

For thousands of years, and we can read about this through the Old Testament.

The Israelites would turn their backs on God, and then collectively, as a nation, they would they would turn their hearts back to Him and cry for help, and He would, God would always say yes.

He never said no, He always said yes.

His response, I will help you, and here's the great part God accomplishes His help through the raising up of a person.

Interesting.

God accomplishes His help through the raising up of a person.

I believe today, all of you watching, Facebook, YouTube, church online, from the youngest of you to the oldest of you, I believe that through this time together, that God's gonna call out some deliverers today.

Deliverers.

Say it out loud.

One, two, three, deliverers.

You might be feeling like you need deliverance from something.

You need deliverance from uh, I don't know, being locked down at home.

You need deliverance from feeling like you're inadequate.

But maybe like me, uh, you joined the LLNC after last week's message, uh, and God wants to use every single card-carrying member of the LLNC.

What's that?

Let me remind you, the lowly laughable nobody club to be deliverance for somebody else.

Even if you feel like you need deliverance today, I want you to shift that real quick.

God wants you, actually, he's chosen you, actually, he's called you to be deliverance for somebody else.

The accuser, the deceiver, the enemy of our soul, Satan wants you to get your focus solely on what you think you need right now.

But that never goes well.

You know, this week, our youngest child, we have three kids, Caleb is our youngest, he just turned nine.

Now, one thing that we love about Caleb is that from the time he could talk, he has been a truth teller.

To his own hurt, this kid, time after time after time, always tells the truth.

Caleb, did you do that?

Yep.

Okay.

And he's just always been a truth teller.

And this week, Caleb uh he was on a 30-minute screen time block in the morning.

I heard his timer go off.

I went upstairs.

He's still on his screen playing a video game.

I said, Caleb, did your timer go off?

And he lied to me.

That little turkey, he lied to his daddy.

And here's the thing: I know when he's lying because he's so good at telling the truth.

And so he he focused on what he thought he needed, on what he thought he wanted.

And he believed the lie.

And so we had a moment where actually we laid down on the landing of our staircase in our home side by side, and I looked him in the eye and I reminded him of who he is.

Caleb Lucas Zanting, you are a truth teller.

You've always, always told the truth.

Mommy and Daddy love that about you.

And don't let a screen change you to become somebody who you're not.

And I grabbed his little chin and I held it in my hand as close as I could.

And Daddy loves you so much.

I want to remind you, Caleb, you are a truth teller.

And sometimes we need the heart of a father to grab us by the chin.

Would you allow God's father heart?

Would you allow Holy Spirit today to gently lift you up by your chin?

Just hold you there for a second and remind you that the Father wants to use you to bring some deliverance, to bring some freedom, to bring some restoration, to bring some hope to somebody today, this week.

God's like, don't believe the lie that it's about you right now.

Even if you think you need deliverance from something, I still want to use you to bring freedom, to bring hope, to be a bringer of deliverance for somebody else.

For thousands of years, when God's people turned to him with a cry for help, he always said yes.

And then he'd raise up a nobody to get her done.

I can't help but believe that God wants to call out some nobodies, some deliverers today.

So here's our big question for today's message, part two of the nobodies.

Our big question is this Who in your world does God want to bring freedom, hope, and deliverance to this week through your life?

Who in your world does God want to bring freedom, hope, and deliverance to this week through your life?

I believe firmly that today, through this time together, that God's calling out some deliverers in the room.

And I can't help but feel that maybe it's just, it's you.

It's you.

Come on.

We're a part of a very long and beautiful narrative of God using a person to bring about deliverance.

We can read and we will read in the weeks to come about some of these examples from the Bible, starting with Gideon's story today from Judges 6.

You are a part of a very long narrative where God would respond to his people's heart cry for help by raising up a deliverer.

You're a part of that.

So let me speak specifically to the doubters in the room today.

You might be watching and church is kind of new to you, and you're questioning: does God have a purpose?

Does God even know my name?

Does God have a calling on my life?

Does God want to raise me up to be a bringer of deliverance for somebody?

The answer is yes.

I'm talking to you.

You might be feeling abandoned, you might be feeling isolated, you might be feeling inadequate, you might be feeling insignificant, lowly, laughable, nobody.

So what?

Those feelings, as much as they're valid and real, okay, those feelings do not have the necessary power to strip you of your purpose and your calling.

Just like COVID-19 doesn't.

Your feelings don't either.

God chooses men and women, just like you and I, to facilitate a change and to bring freedom and hope and deliverance to someone else.

So the big question, who?

Who in your world does God want to bring freedom and hope and deliverance?

Who in your world is crying out to God for help right now, and God's saying, I'm gonna send you a deliverer.

God's gonna send them you.

Alright, Judges chapter 6, in verse 11.

Judges 6 · chapter mention

One day the angel of God came and sat down under the yoke in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Aberzite, whose son Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress, out of sight of the Midianites.

Okay.

So at the time of Gideon's encounter with the angel of God, Gideon's beating grain inside of a winepress.

That's kind of weird.

This is a clear indication of the uncertainty of the time that Gideon was living in.

If he's beating grain hiding in a wine press, that's weird.

I don't know how much you know about threshing wheat.

I don't know a whole lot either.

That's okay.

But in the absence of modern technology, grain was threshed by, first of all, beating the heads of the cut stalks, secondly, discarding the straw.

Third, tossing the mixed chaff and grain up in the air, and then the wind would blow away the chaff and the grain would fall down and then they'd collect the grain.

If you're hiding in a wine press, the wind can't blow away the chaff.

Threshing wheat on the hilltops would have been unwise for Gideon.

It would have been seriously detrimental.

It would have prompted the attention and the devastation of the Midianites.

So Gideon resorts to beating grain in this sheltered vat normally used for pressing grapes.

He kind of gets creative and he does an activity in an environment that he's not meant to do.

He's doing work that doesn't fit the environment for fear of the Midianites.

Present day, here we are, sheltered in place, doing work that doesn't fit our environments for fear of COVID-19.

We've all done it.

I've seen videos on TikTok and Instagram and YouTube.

You've probably watched them as well.

You know, we're trying to log into Zoom meetings from home.

We're snowboarding in our bedrooms.

I saw a guy like doing snowboard stunts off of his bed onto a white blanket, simulating snowboarding.

I saw a video of somebody, two people playing tennis from their balconies.

Okay.

We're wasting hours and hours on TikTok instead of checking our kids' math homework.

We're leveling up in Coinmaster instead of doing the laundry.

Whoops, that was me.

We are doing activities right now, doing work that doesn't fit the environment for fear of COVID.

We're all doing it.

Come on, be honest.

Even if you haven't been using this season right now to grow the depth of your character, to grow the depth of your calling, God's still sitting down today with you under your oak tree, reminding you of your purpose and your calling.

It's not too late.

It doesn't matter.

Nine weeks, ten weeks have passed.

God still desires to use you today, regardless of how you're feeling, regardless of how you've spent your time, regardless of how you've hidden in your home, you have been chosen.

He has work for you to do.

You aren't missing anything, you're not lacking anything.

There's not something that you need to accomplish the work that He's called you to.

He's already given you His spirit.

You are a bringer of deliverance.

You are a bringer of hope.

You are a bringer of freedom.

You are.

I believe that today, through this time together, God's calling out some champions, God's calling out some deliverers in the room.

So now that you've been commissioned by God, He's called you, He's called me, He's called us to be a bringer of deliverance for someone else.

There are two responses that we want to avoid.

And Gideon, thankfully, shows us the way.

So Judges 6, verse 11, again, one day the angel of God came and sat down under the oak tree.

Judges 6:11

Gideon was threshing wheat in the wine press out of sight.

Verse 12 The angel of God appeared to him and said this, God is with you, O mighty warrior.

And then Gideon replied, with me, my master?

If God is with us, why has all this happened to us?

Where are all the miracle wonders our parents and grandparents told us about, telling us, didn't God deliver us from Egypt?

The fact is, God has nothing to do with us.

He's turned us over to Midian.

The first response we see from Gideon, when God commissions him, calls him to be a deliverer, the first response we see, blame God.

Blame God for the mess that he's in.

Wine, whine, wine.

If God is with us, why has all this happened?

Where's the miracle working God we heard about?

The fact is, God has nothing to do with us.

He's to blame for the Midianites.

I don't know why I'm talking in this voice right now, but hang with me anyways.

The first response we see from Gideon is he blames God.

So here's a question.

What are you blaming God for right now rather than taking responsibility for?

If God's chosen you, if God's called you, if God wants to use you in this season to be a deliverer, what are you blaming him for rather than taking responsibility for?

It's easier to blame God for where we're at and what we're going through rather than take responsibility for our own idleness, our own laziness, our own lack of passion.

Gideon outright blames God for the horrific havoc caused by the Midianites.

It was a devastating enemy, the Midianites, that reduced God's people to an impoverished state.

It wasn't God.

It's a devastating virus that has reduced us to our current state, not God.

All right, hang with me.

I hear people blaming God for COVID-19.

Oh, he's an angry God.

He's punishing planet Earth for something.

He's jealous, he's pouring out his wrath.

Garbage.

Don't believe that for a second.

That's not his heart.

That's not his nature.

That's not our father.

If that were true, then sure, shelter in place and do nothing.

Because if God's behind this, then there's nothing I can do to get us out of this, right?

Come on, hang with me.

If that were true, shelter in your home, do nothing, be idle.

Don't love and serve people around you.

Don't rise up with purpose and calling to bring up, be a bringer of deliverance and freedom and hope to somebody else.

Gideon's a great example of people who know what God's done in the past, who've memorized all the religion, memorized all the principles of faith, but then they hit override because of their present circumstances.

They're going through something that's difficult and hard and challenging and devastating, that's bringing an impoverished state.

And then they override everything they know to be true about what God's done in the past.

For Gideon, stories of past deliverance, past deliverance for his people, his tribe, they're irrelevant right now because of what the Midians have done.

Do not allow God's power and his heart to override your faith.

We've seen him move in the past.

We're seeing him move today.

Remember, God reminds us of what he's done for us in the past to enrich our trust, enrich our faith for what he's about to do.

God used a prophet to deliver his message, and he used an angel to speak to Gideon.

Guess what?

He's using Holy Spirit to do the same for you and I.

Are we listening?

Are we listening for that confident, trust-building, faith-enriching voice of Holy Spirit, reminding us of who God is, how he's worked, how he's moved, and what he's going to do.

It's easier to blame God for where we're at rather than take responsibility for our own idleness, our own inactivity.

What are you blaming God for right now, rather than taking responsibility for?

So here's God's response to Gideon for the blame game.

Gideon's first wrong response to this calling is to blame God.

And here's what God says in Judges 6, 14.

God faces Gideon directly and says, Go in this strength that is yours.

Save Israel from Midian.

Haven't I just sent you?

I love this.

Boom, mic drop, right?

Gideon, you say that I'm doing nothing, and yet here we are having this conversation.

I am sending you.

This is me sending you.

All excuses aside, all blame aside, all hiding aside, all idleness aside, God is saying, Hey, I'm sending you, I'm calling you.

Rise up, become deliverance for somebody.

It goes on in verse 15.

Gideon shifts gears and he says, Okay, me, my master, how and with what could I ever save Israel?

Look at me.

My clan's the weakest in Manasseh, and I'm the runt of the litter.

So blaming God didn't work.

God calls him out of that.

And so now what does he do?

His second response, he attacks himself.

He turns it into his own inadequacy.

Wine, whine, wine, my family's nothing.

I'm nothing.

I'm a nobody.

This is his second line of defense to push back against the call of God on his life.

First he blames God, that doesn't work.

Then he attacks himself.

Well, previously in verse 12, the angel of God appeared to Gideon and said this to him: God is with you, O mighty warrior.

And I love that because it's really important.

Notice that God always addresses us by our calling, not by our current.

He addresses us by our calling, not by our current state.

O mighty warrior, okay, is what the angel says to Gideon.

That's not who Gideon is.

He's hiding in a wine press, beating grain.

He's not a mighty warrior.

He's scared.

He's hiding.

But God's inviting him to become something, and so that's how God calls us out.

God's addressing you by your calling today, by your future endeavor, by who he sees you becoming, not by your current.

I believe that today, through this time together, that God's calling out some deliverers.

And your response might be similar to Gideon.

Me?

No, no.

Pastor John, oh, God wants to use you.

God wants to use that other person who's smarter than me or kinder than me or more spiritual than I am.

No, no, no, no.

No excuses.

No blaming God.

No attacking yourself.

Because God always calls you as He sees you, not as your current.

Okay?

Stop blaming God.

Stop attacking yourself.

Big question.

Who in your world?

Who?

I'm praying right now, in this moment, trusting that Holy Spirit's like nudging you.

You already know who it is that God wants to use you to be deliverance, to be freedom, to be hope for somebody else in your world.

Judges 6, verse 16, God says to Gideon, I'll be with you, Gideon.

Judges 6:16

Believe me, you'll defeat Midian as one man.

God is with us, church.

Come on.

God is with us.

Today He's reminding us of what He's done for us in the past to enrich our trust, to develop our faith for what He's about to do.

God used a prophet and an angel to deliver His calling and His peace to the Israelites and to Gideon.

And today, God's using Holy Spirit right now, wherever you're watching from, in your home, He's using Holy Spirit to do the same for you and I.

So are we listening?

I just know that God's calling out some deliverers in the room.

So what does it look like to bring deliverance?

Who?

Who in your world right now does God want to bring freedom and deliverance and hope to this week through your life?

And then will you allow the nudge of Holy Spirit, a still small voice, a quiet time with God, a prayerful consideration.

God, if you've called me, if you've chosen me, if you could use a nobody like me, then I want to rise up with faith.

Next week we're actually going to continue to look at Gideon's story together.

But today I wanted to just call out some deliverers in the room, call out some champions in the room, to push through the lies, to push through the feelings, to push through the negative self-talk, and trust that maybe, just maybe, God is right and true, and he's calling you to rise up and be deliverance for somebody.

Will you do it?

All excuses aside, all blame aside, all idleness aside.

Are you in?

Are you ready?

Are you available?

We sang it again.

Narrow as the road may seem, I'll follow where your spirit leads.

Broken as my life may be, I'll give you every peace.

Here I am, God, with open hands, counting on your grace again.

Less of me and more of you.

I just want to see you move.

I hear you call.

I say, Yes, Lord, I'm available.

Wherever you're at today, maybe you're brand new to this faith journey, maybe you've been following Jesus for a long time.

This past week, in response to part one of this series, I had conversations with so many people who were like, that is how I'm feeling.

I feel I feel locked away, I feel inadequate.

Thank you, Pastor, for sharing these words with me.

And that's my hope and prayer as we spend the next few weeks together in this series, The Nobodies.

I know it's a weird title, but if you're brand new to faith, if you if you've been serving God for a long time, I just trust that his presence and his power and his spirit are a work in your life today, reminding you to stop blaming him, stop blaming anything else, stop attacking yourself, and allow the Holy Spirit to bring you to that place of confident trust, confident faith that God's chosen you, he's called you by name to be a bringer of deliverance, hope, and freedom for somebody in your life this week.

Thank you so much for listening to today's message.

If you're ever in the Edmonton area, hop by for a visit.

And if you need any more information, visit EvolveChurch.com.

We hope to see you support.