Great Texts of The Bible: Biblical Leadership, Membership and Discipleship | Judges | Pastor William Hixson

Okay. Uh we're in a series of messages

picking out one section, one verse

usually or maybe a couple of verses that

are kind of keys to open up either that

particular book or open up for us some

responsibility

uh or blessing that we should focus on.

And obviously there's

you can pick se several keys out of

every book. Uh but the point is is not

to do a book study but to simply move

through the Bible and acquaint people

with some passages that maybe they've

never known at all. They're a new

Christian or uh something that they've

known a little bit about but not really

been able to think through the way they

should.

And so we've been doing that and we are

now in the book of Judges,

seventh book in the Bible, in the Old

Testament,

book of Judges.

Last week we were in Joshua. So we are

moving on.

So I call your attention to that book.

Not the most pleasant book in the Bible.

Not the most enjoyable. rough times,

uh, difficult times.

But you know what? We need to know how

God brought people through difficult

times because our life isn't always easy

and it's not always

sometimes it's very hard. There's

patterns in life.

So, this is a good book for us, this

one. Father, help us as we wait upon you

today. Uh, and if there's anyone that's

neglected this particular book of the

Bible, may they begin reading it through

and spending time in meditation and

thought.

What does it teach about Jesus?

What does it exhort me to follow? What

does it warn me? Whatever the needs are,

we pray.

And so, help us today as we meditate on

this particular section. The book of

Judges is particularly relevant to our

time

in which we live. So guide us we pray in

Jesus name.

As we look today in the United States of

America

and the kind of things we are facing as

a nation

and as a local church.

We live in times that are much high in

my opinion like the nation of Israel was

living in the book of judges.

Now they were a theocracy. We're a

democracy and you know we're a public

there's a difference. But having said

that uh we're in the church age. They

were in the kingdom age. But having said

all that, there are some things that

transcend times

and some of the problems that they were

facing, some of the issues that they

were dealing with.

Exactly

like the things we're facing

and especially churches are facing.

There was no church in the book of

judges, a different program, the kingdom

program. But there were issues there

that are very, very important.

They're important today, they were

important then.

So think about churches in the United

States for instance or maybe in the

country that you're from

and think of these issues that we're

going to talk about today. There's three

of them.

Think about the issues and see if

there's an application

and then we'll deal with a form

briefly.

Number one, in the United States,

in churches, in churches, local

churches, there's a leadership problem.

There's a leadership problem. And we're

not just talking about the apostasy

problem where a lot of pastors are

apostate. They're not even saved

themselves. That's one big problem.

But there is a a leadership problem

among churches that are Bible believing

and uh Christth honoring.

We're struggling.

Seminaries around the nation have had

low involvement, low enrollment for

several years. You've heard me talk

about it's starting to climb now. Things

are changing.

But there's twice as many churches

seeking pastors as pastors seeking

churches. That's a not a good figure.

Obviously, there's a leadership problem

in the United States.

Now, in the book of Judges, they had a

leadership problem.

It's a big one. It was a huge one

there. Think about where they were

coming from. They come out of Egypt.

Moses is the first mediator in the Old

Testament, a mediatorial kingdom. He's

followed by Joshua. Joshua was the

assistant to Moses for 40 years and then

he takes over.

Moses brought him through the wilderness

out of Egypt and Joshua brings him into

the promised land. But now when you come

to the book of Judges, Moses is dead and

now Joshua is dead. How do you replace

them?

It was one kind of transition when

you're transitioning from Moses to

Joshua.

But now a different situation is going

on.

And in the book of Judges, the

leadership problem is very very clear

and pronounced and mentioned right at

the beginning. Turn to chapter 2 and

verse six.

Chapter 2 of Judges verse 6. I'm going

more than one verse. I'm not going verse

by verse, but I am going more than one

verse in Judges for the points that I'm

trying to make.

Judges 2:6. And when Joshua had let the

Judges 2:6

people go, the children of Israel went

every man to his inheritance to possess

the land. And the people served the Lord

all the days of Joshua.

All the days of Joshua

and all the days of the elders that

outlived Joshua. Now, think about this.

We're in the third generation.

That's when things tend to go ary in

churches.

Third generation.

It's really hard

get past that third generation.

Remember, Dr. Witkim told me when I was

in seminary, the average lifespan of a

seminary in the United States being a

good place is 50 years.

Think of that.

All the money, all the people, all the

effort. That doesn't mean they don't

they cease to exist in 50 years. It

means they cease to being a good place.

Now, there's exceptions to that rule.

But we're in a similar kind of thing

here when they served all the the all

the time of Moses, all all the time of

Joshua. And now no Joshua, no Moses.

You're in a third generation.

The people served the Lord all the days

of Joshua and all the days of the elders

that outlived Joshua. So it went on a

little bit after Joshua's time who'd

seen the great works of the Lord that he

did for Israel.

But the people who' started and saw that

were all gone.

Even the young ones that were gone.

And Joshua the son of D and the server

of the Lord died being 110 years old.

And they buried him in the border of his

inheritance in Timnath Heres in the hill

country of Ephraim on the north side of

the hill ga.

And also all that generation were

gathered to their fathers. All that

generation were gathered to their

fathers. And there arose another

generation after them. Watch this.

who knew not the Lord.

Remember Jesus said, "This is life

eternal that they might know you, the

only true God and Jesus Christ whom he

sent."

This third generation

and probably probably part second, but

definitely part third. There rose a

generation who didn't know the Lord,

nor yet the works which he done for

Israel.

And as a result,

the children of Israel did evil in the

sight of the Lord and serve

the Ali.

You know what it was said of the

pilgrims when they came to to America?

Remember they left an apostasy in their

the difficulties in some of the churches

in England. They started over. They

started fresh. They they went to other

places than England and then they

finally came to America.

You know what happened?

Many of the second and third generation

went materialistic

and left the god of truth that the

parents and grandparents

had sacrificed to bring truth to their

family.

Someone said it this way and I never

forgot it. Religion begott prosperity

and the daughter hate the mother.

It was the prosperity that came from

people who were delivered from their

sins and could work hard and serve and

live for others and live for God. That's

what brought prosperity.

But there arose a generation

of the pilgrims

that didn't know the Lord.

And there was actually a split in the

pilgrim's church.

And the the ones that took it over in

that apostate generation got the

building

and the few Christians that were left

got out.

Think of that.

And I can't remember the quote exactly

because I'm going from memory, but the

result of that meeting was the

Christians got out and the ones that

were false got all the material stuff.

And the saying was religion begot

begot prosperity and the daughter ate

the mother. This other one said when

they when the split happened, they kept

the furniture but we kept the faith.

You know how often that's happened in

America?

I'm talking in my lifetime.

I'm talking about the 40s, 20s, 30s,

40s, 50s. I wasn't back in the 20s. That

was my dad's lifetime. 20s, 30s, 40s,

50s, 60s, split, church splits. The

false Christianity kept the buildings.

The true Christians got out, kept the

faith

over and over and over again in this

country.

is still happening. And if you don't

know that part of church history, you've

missed a big thing in America.

So,

here we are

with a generation that had more

privileges than any generation.

Their parents and grandparents were part

of the Exodus. They saw the 10 plagues.

They saw the miracles of Egypt, the

blood on the door. They had all that.

Red Sea parting, the the uh the uh

Jordan River parting,

the great defeat of Canaanite armies,

defeating Jericho, defeating I defeating

cutting the promised land in half, and

then defeating everyone in the south,

and then defeating the ones in the

north. And it was theirs. and they go to

their inheritance and they settle down

and say, "We're

we made it now."

A generized

a generation. You know, we've got all

kinds of names for people. It's kind of

an American thing, right? I'm the baby

boomer generation. They got a name for

us.

Baby boomer. They have postw World War

II generation. I was born in 1949.

Then every generation afterward, they

got a name. And generations have

personalities. Did you know that?

Did you know in school that even in

sixth grade there was a personality of

your class?

And then seventh grade, eight there

always a personal. Every class has own

personality. It's a strange thing.

Every generation has its own

personality. Think different and look

different

and they always think they're improving.

Isn't that true? Every generation thinks

they're better than the previous gen.

So, you know, current generation, mom

and dad, they struggle with computers.

So, obviously, they're dumb.

And so, it's natural, right?

that every generation thinks they're

improving, but actually biblically,

everybody's getting worse.

So all you young people, cheer up.

Evil men and seducers will wax worse and

worse. You're going to have it harder

than we had it.

But that doesn't mean you can't stand

for the Lord or live for the Lord.

So here we are in this particular

section of judges.

Now the period of judges was a period of

300

years.

Have you ever heard of the dark ages?

Why was it dark?

Better ask that question from a

religious perspective.

book of Judges was a relatively dark

time

and one of the problems was the

leadership problem.

No Moses to keep the whole nation in

line. No Joshua to keep the whole nation

together. People just kind of fragmented

into their own tribes and family.

Turn with me to chapter 17 of the book

of Judges.

I want you to watch this phrase over and

over and over again in the book of

Judges

176.

In those days

there was

no king in Israel.

But every man did that which was right

in his own eyes.

That's what it says.

Turn over to chapter 18 verse 1.

In those days there was no king in

Israel.

in 19 verse1

and it came to pass in those days there

was no king in Israel in chapter 21

verse 25

the last verse of the book of judges

in those days there was no king in

Israel every man did that which was

right in his own eye.

Now, there were benefits of having no

king.

There were benefits, a lot of freedom,

no centralized power over the whole

nation.

And the people uh had that freedom, but

that freedom caused a disintegration.

And there was no king to direct the

whole show, the whole theocratic kingdom

of the Old Testament.

Now, when you go to the book of Ruth,

which we will, Lord willing, next week,

no, not next week, the week after next

week because we got a missionary next

week. When we go to Ruth, I want you to

go to the last verse of the book of

Ruth.

The book of Ruth takes place in the time

of the judges.

In fact, there are many people that

think that the book of Ruth is part of

the book of Judges. I'm not going to get

into that.

That these four chapters in Luke are

really part of the book of Judges,

but the book of Ruth took place in the

time of the judges.

In fact, Ruth 1:1 says it came to pass

Ruth 1:1

in the days when the judges ruled.

So definitely the book of Ruth is not

it's in a time of the book of the

judges. And guess what happens?

Boaz marries Ruth

and a baby's born.

And what's the baby's name?

Very interesting.

And what's the baby's uh uh genealogy?

The baby's called Obed. Little Obed, the

nickname for Obadiah.

Well, baby Obed in Ruth 4:17.

Ruth 4:17

And what is Oat? He's the father of

Jesse, the father of David.

Who's David?

He's the king.

And so this is an interesting picture

as we come to the book of Ruth and we

get the genealogy

uh take the genealogy takes you all the

way through until you end up with Obed

begott Jesse that's David's dad and

Jesse begott David that's the one who

become king and the answer to the

leadership problem is finally solved.

And how's it solved?

How is the answer of the leadership

problem solved? It's solved by two

people who did the right thing at cost

to themselves.

It cost Ruth. It cost Boaz.

Two people did started did the right

thing.

That's where it started.

So very interesting, isn't it?

So we don't know when God's working

because we may not live long enough to

see the answer.

Oh, the churches are going down. We

can't find all leadership. Every people

are struggling all over the nation. Uh

we don't have enough leaders. We don't

have pastors. And if we got pastors, we

don't have enough good pastors.

What's our job?

Our job is to live for the Lord, love

the Lord, serve the Lord, wait for him

to work in his time and his way,

not pull the panic button, not jump out

of the ship. I'm tired of this.

Nothing's going on here in this church.

I'm out.

Ruth went to a little town in a little

nothing place

and married Bolet,

the richest guy there, but more

importantly the most spiritual guy, most

sacrificial.

When God wants to solve the leadership

problem, what's he do? Somebody has a

baby. And guess who's in charge of when

the baby comes and who the baby comes

to? God.

You say, "Well, you got to wait for that

baby to grow up." Yep. God's not working

on your time label.

So, our job is not to say, "I want to

see results now. I want to see things

now. I want this all fixed now. I don't

want to live in this time. I want to

live in a different time where it's

easier and better."

Do we know that Ruth and Boaz ever un

grasped

the significance of their lives in that

little no place town in Bethlehem?

And of course, David is the ancestor of

Jesus.

So it just gets better. Took a thousand

years for that to happen.

But these two people were doing big

things in a little place.

You don't have to be in a big place to

do big things. You don't have to be in a

big church to do big things. You don't

even have to be in a little church

that's doing well. You can be in a real

little place where it seems nothing's

happening. It's all famine. This is

terrible.

And God will do what he wants. Our job

is to be faithful. Let God take care of

the results.

Now you remember what happened in when

the judge of Samuel was the last judge

and he was kind of semi over the whole

nation but he was just a prophet and

then the people said give us a king like

the nations. Well that's not the program

God wanted to give you a king not like

the nations. The rest of them are you

know Nebuchadnezzar there there's

there's a there's not somebody to

follow.

And so this is a beautiful picture.

Um,

so people wanted a change of government.

We want a king like the nations. Yeah.

Well, you got one. It was name is Saul.

You you can push the panic button.

Didn't wait on God.

So the leadership problem can be a good

thing. I hate to say that. It's a bad

thing. That can be a good thing because

God has things he does providentially in

lean times

in our country. If you ever study

Jonathan Edwards and those people, the

churches were going down, down, down.

Pastors were getting uh uh discouraged.

People weren't coming. Everything was

looking bad. And what did the pastors do

that were true? They kept doing the same

thing they always did.

They did look for results. Oh, I'm going

to compromise and get more people if I

do this.

Difference between a crowd and a church.

So, God had a purpose for all of that.

Now, God had a provision. He He had a

plan for a king. Deuteronomy 17. This is

going to be the king. He's got to read

the Bible every day.

king has to be under the king

does doesn't just do what he does.

And in Genesis 49, there was a provision

for a king, the trump of the tribe of

Judah.

And God used all the missteps and sins

of Reuben and Simeon and Levi to get

down to the fourth son, Judah, so that

the king would come from Judah. It was

all planned providentially

uh and of course it finally happened.

Application to us. We got problems

today.

Those problems should force us to think

about

the subject of biblical leadership.

We're having trouble. You ever notice

how many big-time pastors are dying? I'm

not talking about the bad

still got them. But the better ones are

a lot of them are dying off in the last

two years.

They're getting promoted to heaven.

And people say, "Who's going to replace

them?"

Well, if God doesn't replace them,

they're not going to get replaced.

But we need to work with the leadership

issue the way we should and realize, you

know, there's a vacuum when leaders die.

There's a vacuum when leaders leave.

One of the best things Pastor Osp ever

ever said to me other than teach me the

Bible was God takes out the big trees so

the little ones can grow.

Think about that.

We tend to depend on the leader.

Let them do our thinking for him and our

work for them and work for us and

everything else. And if we're going to

develop, sometimes God takes out

the big trees so the little ones can

grow. It's God job to provide the

leaders. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11

Ephesians 4:11

and 12. He gave some apostles, some

evangelists, some pastor, teachers.

Jesus Christ gives that. He'll give that

to Athens Bible Church. Whoever's going

to be next if there is a next. If Jesus

doesn't come, we're looking for that.

But God knows the issues.

And God knows how to train a leader,

too. Oh, Joseph, you're going to be the

second most powerful man in the ancient

world. You're going to be under Pharaoh

and nobody under everybody else under

you. Oh, well, how am I going to get

trained? I'm going to throw you in jail.

I'm going to have you falsely accused of

raping. That that'll that'll work for

you. I'm going to have your own family

reject you,

send you into slavery.

What?

Very interesting.

God leadership isn't all academic.

Leadership has to do with life

experiences and things that uh are

needed for us.

Um you know, I was thinking back in the

time I've been in this church almost 50

years.

In those 50 years, I was thinking about

all the elders we've had that have come

and gone.

I was thinking about the Bible teachers

that maybe weren't elders that were

major Bible teachers in this church that

have come and gone either moved to

understand them are being promoted to

heaven all the deacons I started

thinking about them all the leaders of U

Bible Fellowship all the leaders of

Chinese Bible study long list of leaders

that have come and gone

for whatever reason the Lord just said

Bill Hicks is planted here he's planted

He doesn't get to go. He's this is where

he's going to be. But sooner or later,

I'll be gone. But when I'm gone, that

doesn't mean

that we have to despair because the God

that raises up the leaders is the God

that's still alive and he provides as he

sees fit. That's the book of Judges. And

yes, it went down pretty long and they

didn't have a kingdom. We had 300 years

of judges and there was a some

disorganization

and some did better than others and

there was warfare and all that other

stuff. God knows the leadership problem.

He can fix the leadership problem. He

can fix it temporarily or he can fix it

permanently because and that's what God

did in judges. Sometimes they were

working alone. Ehood worked alone.

Samson worked alone. The first judge and

the last judge worked alone.

Others had a little more help.

And that brings us to a second problem,

membership problem. Not only is there a

leadership problem in America, there's a

membership problem.

People just aren't committed.

They'll attend, but they don't interest

in being a member. I don't want

responsibility. If I get a member,

somebody's going to ask me to do

something. and don't want to do that.

Now, I think all of us should attend uh

and make sure this church is something

we want to identify with. There's a time

to say, "All right, I'm time to put the

harness on."

Today I or in America today

and I I saw this online and I hope it's

right. You know, sometimes these

statistics you can't trust them, but

I've read similar ones. It is expected

in the United States of America in the

year 2026

that 15,000 more churches in America

will close their doors forever.

15,000.

Why are they closing? People just stop

coming.

It it it's not enough to have leaders.

You got to have me. Leadership isn't the

only problem. How about membership? And

by membership, I'm talking about

somebody that's really saved and is

really committed. So, they're going to

put my shoulder to the work. In the

United States, 15,000 local churches

will close their doors. Now, some of

them should close their doors because

they've gone apostate and we're better

off without them. But, you know, there's

other churches that are closing their

doors. They just can't pay the bills.

They're done.

And those buildings and those assets

uh are there, but the people aren't.

One generation sacrifices to build it up

and the next generation builds it up

more than the third generation gives it

away either to apostasy or they just

don't care.

See, I'm kind of discouraged about that.

The good thing is God's still on the

throne.

And so may God help us

as we think about that.

Now go to Judges chapter 6.

Judges 6 · chapter mention

Judges chapter 6.

Judges 6 · chapter mention

6 and 7.

What a marvelous section. If people

don't know anything about the book of

Judges, they've never read through the

book of Judges, you've probably heard of

these two guys. One is Samson. Who

hasn't heard about Samson?

Everybody knows about Samson. Everybody

knows about Delila's Barberh Shop.

Everybody knows that.

The book of Judges kind of ends with

Samson.

How many know about Gideon?

That's the other one. Everybody knows

about Gideon.

Now, after Gideon and Samson, can you

name me the name of other judges?

There's a bunch of other ones, but those

are the two big ones.

Yeah. Yeah, there's some others I know,

but but I'm just simply saying those are

the ones that kind of stand out. Kind of

stand out.

And when you go to Judges 6 and 7,

uh God took a nobody, his name was

Gideon,

and he did something wonderful with him.

in Judges chapter 6,

Judges 6 · chapter mention

uh, as we we go through this, the

Midianites were oppressing and they

didn't know what they were they didn't

know what to do.

And so in chapter 6:8, the Lord sent a

prophet to the children of Israel, who

said to them, "Thus says the Lord of

Israel, I brought you up from Egypt and

brought you forth out of the house of

bondage, and I delivered you out of the

hand of the Egyptians and out of the

hand of all who oppressed you and drove

you from from before you and gave you

their land. And I said to you, I'm the

Lord your God. Fear not the gods of the

Amorites in whose land you dwell, but

you've not obeyed my voice." That's the

problem.

And there came an angel of the Lord and

sat under the oak which was in Ofra that

pertained to Joash the Aizerite and his

son Gideon threshed wheat by the wine

press to hide it from the minion.

Gideon's discouraged. He gets addressed

to the Lord. Discouragement all comes

out and God uh God says in verse 14

looked on him and says go in this your

might and you'll save Israel from the

hand of the Midionites haven't I sent

you. And he said, "Oh Lord, wherewith

all shall I save Israel? My family's

poor, Manasseh, and I'm the least in my

father's house. Wait, wait. The Lord put

Ephraim before Manasseh."

And Manasseh is nothing compared to

Ephraim. They're the big guys. And I'm

the least in my father's house. I'm the

least in in Manasseh. You're picking me

from the bottom of the pile here. You

need somebody else.

and he just couldn't believe.

Verse 16, the Lord said, "Surely I'll be

with you. You'll smite the Midian

nightites as one man." Now God went

ahead and d and and told him what he had

to do, and he did it. So when we get

over to chapter 7,

Gideon

is charged

with attacking the enemy that outnumbers

him immensely.

He's not going to be defending.

He's going to be attacking.

Now, I'm I've never been in the

military, but I'm told, you know, when

you're defending, you don't need as many

people as when you're attacking.

You're attacking, you need more people

than those that are defending. Well,

the math didn't work here.

And this battle that we have in chapter

7, it's probably one of the one battles

that people know in Sunday school.

And God's concern wasn't they lose the

battle. God's concern was they'd take

credit for it instead of giving the

credit to God.

And Gideon had 32,000 men.

And you're going to attack with 32,000?

Yeah. You got too many.

Gideon would say, "We don't have enough.

You got too many."

Look what God says. You've got too many.

Read it. Judges 7. Then Jerobel, who is

Gideon, and all the people who are with

him, rose up early and camped beside the

well of Harod, so that the host of the

Midionites were on the north side of

them in by the hill Marray in the

valley. The Lord said to this must have

shocked him out of his sandals.

The people who are with you are too many

for me to give the Amidionites into your

hands.

Lest Israel vault themselves against me,

saying

my own hand is saved.

I want you saying that.

What's the picture? Someone said 32,000

might brag if they beat 135,000

Minionites.

32,000 might brag if we if they beat

135,000 million. That's what God's

saying.

Well, that's not probable, but it's

possible, I suppose.

But 300,

that's beyond you got 300 against

135,000 attack.

You're not saying

what

you know the story, don't you? God had

to God had to encourage God had to

encourage uh uh Gideon on that one.

And when when he realized what God was

asking him to do, he was stuck.

Notice the story. God says, "And what

does God not want?" I don't want anybody

saying, "My own hand is saved.

We did something. We did something. We

did something. Had the right leadership,

had the right follow every we did

something." I don't want you to say, "My

hand is saved." God's putting them in a

position where if God doesn't save them,

they're not going to get saved.

They're not just not going to win.

They're going to be obliterated.

So God came up with this. Now therefore

go proclaim in the hearing of the people

whoever is fearful and afraid let him

return and depart from the mount Gilead.

And the return of the people 22,000 and

there remain 10,000. 22,000 people said

glad God said that. I'm out of here.

And the Lord said to Gideon, "The people

are still too many. Bring down to the

water and I'll test them for thee there.

And it shall be of whom I shall say,

this shall go with thee, the same shall

go with thee. And of whom I say this

shall not go with thee, the same shall

not go with you.

Okay, wait a minute. Everybody else is

parachuted out of this project. You mean

you want to lose some more?

So he brought down the people with under

the water. The Lord said to Gideon,

"Everyone who laps the water with his

tongue as a dog laps him shall you set

by himself. everyone that bows down on

his knees to drink. And the number of

them that lap putting their hand to

their mouth were 300 men. They're laying

on their stomach lapping the water. But

all the rest of the people bowed down on

their knees to drink.

Some people trying to make a big

difference in this. Oh, the ones that

lapped look, they were looking they were

attentive or anything. No, it's just the

numbers.

The Lord said to Gideon, "By 300 men who

lapped, I'll save you.

like these odds

and deliver the Minionites into your

hand. 300 are going to attack 132,000.

They're going to attack, not defend.

You see the huggeeness of this

and let all the other people go to your

place. Now, that was a miracle. It was

amazing thing.

Uh John Swain would know this. There's a

famous marine general

was the most highly decorated marine in

history, modern day guy. And uh he gets

in trouble. He's surrounded and he says,

"Everybody enemies on the right. The

enem is on the left. The enem is behind

me and the enemies the enemy's ahead of

me." He said, "They can't get away now."

And I think at another time he said,

"We're surrounded. That simplifies the

problem."

And that guy was different.

But Jeremiah, I mean, I'm sure he was

shaking in his sandals and thinking,

"What is God want me to do?"

This is a precious truth in the Bible.

I want you to turn with me to 1st Samuel

chapter 14.

1st Samuel

14. This is later, of course, than the

book of Judges.

This is Saul's son, Jonathan.

And while we're turning, God doesn't

want you to say, "My own hand has saved

me." Any idea that adds to salvation by

grace through faith, is an offense to

God. God gets the glory if he's the one

that saved us, right? We get the glory

if we save ourselves.

By grace are we saved through faith, not

of ourselves. It's a gift of God. Any

other program is not the program. So in

1st Samuel 14 and verse 6, I can't go

into all this. We don't have time. But

the some Dan Jonathan says something

here that's very precious. He's with his

armor bearer and the his dad's fighting

the Philistines. And uh Jonathan

wants he I want you to come with me.

We're going to attack these guys up here

on the hill.

So they climbed up the they climbed up

the hill. uh one of those hills that was

hard to get up. And uh notice what

Jonathan says. It was a principle with

Jonathan.

Jonathan the son of Saul said this.

Jonathan said to the young man who bore

his army, "Come and let us go over to

the garrison of these uncircumcised, "It

may be the Lord will all will work for

us. It may be

for there's no restraint to the Lord to

say by many

or by few.

I think Jonathan knew the story of

Gideon. Don't you?

And now he's going to put it in

practice.

You and me, we're going to climb

straight up this mountain and we're

going to show oursel and uh and we're

we're going to fight it out with these

guys. Now, there wasn't too many up

there.

1520 or something like that, but they

still were successful.

Now, this outlook is why Jonathan loved

David

because David went out and confronted

Goliath

oneonone.

Odds against him,

David, it's a man after my heart.

He loved him from that moment on.

because he believed that principle. They

had a shared theology. Do we share that

theology?

Do we think there's a mission for a

church that's declining? Do we think

there's a mission for a church that's

small? Do we think there's a mission for

a church that's uh a Bible class that's

not what it used to be? Or do we want

things to always be better, better,

bigger, bigger? All Now, if it gets

better, better, and bigger, there's

nothing wrong with that. Thank God when

that happens. But if we're just faithful

when things are doing well, that's not

faithful. We got to trust God, not our

methods, not our numbers,

and look at the smallalness as sometimes

an an advantage.

Is this still true?

Do small churches have a function? Big

churches have a function, but small

churches have a function as well. And

may God help us to do that.

As you've heard me say many times,

Charles Adden Spurgeon, one of the

biggest, most well-known preachers of

his time, was saved in a little

Methodist church in a service where

there were three people. He was one of

the three.

Pastor didn't even show up big stove.

Now that was an important church

service.

The deacon or whoever it was putting the

stove on preached because the preacher

couldn't make it and Spurgeon got saved.

And the Spurgeon thousands and millions

of people have been blessed by that

church service was an important service.

So the membership problem, we had a we

we talked about a leadership problem.

The membership problem is a problem.

People aren't committing. They won't put

their shoulder to the work. I'm not

criticizing anybody here today. It's

good to attend a church and make sure

this is a great church for me. I'm not

trying I'm not aiming at this anybody

because I know there's several want to

become members. I'm simply saying

don't look at the bigness of the group.

Big churches have their advantage and

their ministry and they're needed.

Little ones, middlesized ones, and so

now that's

Did you know if our church tripled, we'd

still be small?

I've seen this church go

four or five times in the 50 years I've

been here

from 20 to 120

down to 2020.

One time we almost broke 130

up and down up and down.

And I What did I do different to make it

go up? Nothing.

you you just put your shoulder to the

work. You pray, maybe pray more. You

just try to reach out. You try to do

what you've always been done and uh wait

for God to bless.

That's what Jonathan Edwards did when

the churches were all going out when the

revival broke out. This pastor did

nothing different.

Now today, we got people say, "Ah, this

is new. This will work. This will work."

Thank God for everybody that has

something that they think will work.

Maybe it will, but we trust our methods.

We're in trouble even if they're good

methods.

And some methods are better than others.

I'm not saying that. Saying we ought to

know those things, but we better not

trust them. Can't even trust our hard

work.

We can't make anything happen, but God

can't. So me, they had a leadership

problem and a membership problem. And uh

we have that today and God knows all

about it.

Paul said I planted Apollo I planted

polish water but God gives the one the

increase. Either he that plants or he

that waters it's God that gives the

increase.

Third

and last. No not last. I got a fourth.

There was a disciplehip problem. The

disciplehip problem was a generation

that knew not the Lord. Somehow it

broke. Somehow it wasn't just there

weren't the leaders was there that

somehow the family ministry and ministry

down was breaking the line.

I'm quoting this. We live in a time

where people don't care about what God

thinks is right. They love their bad

habits so much they've forgotten that

God's silence isn't the same as his

approval.

Those are the times in which we live.

And in the book of Judges, the problem

was they didn't know the Lord.

They didn't know the Lord. They didn't

know his work that he'd done for them

and they were benefiting from those 300

years. And they had enemies, Midianites,

Moabites, Ammonites, and all the

otherites as Pastor Osmo used to say,

and the Philistines.

And but they were historically,

spiritually, and theologically

illiterate, and they were morally

deficient.

And remember the tribe of Benjamin that

the book of Judges ends on all that

horrible sexual sin.

immorality, outrageous immorality

that they defended,

actually fought a battle to keep that

thing going.

Now, God knows how to work, doesn't he?

So, God can work. And God can work when

you're outnumbered. God can work when

there's a need. And there's a

disciplehip problem. There's a

membership problem. Leadership's

lacking. Membership's dwindling.

Disciplehip is stagnating.

But God will do what he wants to do when

he wants to do it.

Um,

someone said, "You can't win the world

by going to church." That's true.

You can't We We can't win the world by

going to church. We need to go to

church. You can't win the world by going

to church. win the world by the church

going to the world.

We got to reach out. But we can't even

that won't even work. We're to go into

world lo into world and preach the

gospel to all creatures. Lo, I'm with

you always, even to the end of the age.

It's his presence that enables encourage

us to be doing what we need to be doing.

Um,

we need to be Christc centered and not

self-centered.

I've read something with Body Brock

Buckam. He was complaining about some of

the testimonies that people gave where

they're all self-centered and plating

themselves. He says, "I don't have a

testimony." That's I don't have a

testimony.

I'm not saying testimonies are bad. I

think they're good. But he was talking

about those who were really kind of

preaching themselves and bragging about

what God's done for them and so forth.

He said, "I don't have a testimony." Uh

he says, "I don't know whether to hug

these people or hit them."

And he said, "All I have is God wrapped

himself in flesh, died on a cross,

nailed my sin there, too, was placed in

the grave, rose again the third day,

ascended to the right hand of the

father, and is the is making

intercession for me until such time as

my salvation's completed, and he takes

me home." And then he said, "That's all

I got.

I think it's good to tell people what

God's done for us, but we got to focus

on what God can do for you and why he

can't and how he can do it.

U good things, powerful things,

significant things can happen in bad

times. God uses flawed people like

Gideon and even like Samson

and the other judges

Because not many wise, not many mighty

are called. God's chosen the weak things

in the world to confound the mighty.

When I think of the book of Judges, I

cannot help but think that whatever

God's doing in our time,

he can can do it with those of us that

are maybe not enjoying some of the

success we had before.

Fourth, the rulership of Jesus Christ.

We've gone through several things

uh in our points today. Um

disciplehip, membership,

leadership,

but now the rulership

of Jesus Christ.

He's the head of the church. We don't

need a pope. We already got a head

of the church.

uh and he oversees the church and he

actually says where two or three are

gathered together

there I am

in

how does he have time for two or three

has time for one

he's omnipresent he's omnisient

he is the head of the church he's the

king of kings and he's the lord of lords

and nothing with the Lord whether by

many or with few. The principle of

Jonathan is the principle of scripture.

And so may God help you to be about our

Lord's business. And don't ever

complain, my ministry is not big enough.

My

I I want my church's ministry is not big

enough or God's not working. Be

faithful. That's the God work in his

time and in his

Sometimes when we think we're doing

great things, we're not. Other times

when we think we're doing nothing, we

are.

We don't know how to judge them

anymore. Gideon,

Father, thank you for the times when our

ministries take off and thank you for

the times they diminish.

You're in charge of all that.

You've said in the word, "Your thoughts

aren't our thoughts and your ways aren't

our ways." And that's surely true. We

thank thee for ministries that are

flourishing. We thank thee for large

churches that are flourishing.

And God bless them. And if you want a

larger church, you can build it wherever

it needs to be.

But may each of us have our work.

And there's advantages in big churches

and there's advantages in little ones.

And there's a work for all. So wherever

we end up,

may we be about your business till the

trumpet sounds. If anyone here is not

yet saved,

may they not use

as an excuse

the feebleness of churches.

Churches don't save. It's Christ that

saved.

God is the saint. Not the church, not

the preacher.

The Lord Jesus saved.

Salvation is of the Lord.

As Jonah found out in the fish,

he was beyond any human help.

And as we find out in our life, can't

save myself.

I need you to save

in Jesus name. Amen.