CALLED together and SENT out | Donovan Rillion | "I'll Never Be Enough..."

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I sometimes,

a lot of times, just don't really feel qualified

to be a minister, to be the guy that preaches

to people that are searching for answers or searching

for wisdom and guidance. I don't really feel

qualified to do that sometimes, a lot of times.

But in that message, I tried to reassure you

and myself. That even though we sometimes don't

feel qualified, now God will qualify us to do

what he chooses us or chooses for us to do or

calls us to do. And today I really want to call

out this idea that we tell ourselves sometimes

that we're not strong enough or that we're not

smart enough or we're not spiritual enough or

I'm not old enough or I don't have the education

or I don't have the experience. I want us to

call that idea out because the truth is we aren't

enough. We're not. I, Donovan Rillian, am not

enough. I'm not strong enough. I'm not smart

enough. I'm definitely not experienced enough

to do everything that God has called me to do.

But Christ is. What we talked about is how God

equips us to do what he's called us to do. But

sometimes it's not even something that we can

be equipped to do. It's not an ability that God

can give us or a talent that he can give us.

It's not something that maybe we can learn or

that we can train to do. Sometimes it has to

be a complete work of God. And the way we look

at it and we see the results, we can only say

that was God working. And that's how we get to

our passage today. Last week we looked at Moses

and how he was up on the hill with his hand raised

and he's holding the staff and his friends have

to help him hold it. And that's how the Israelites

have victory over the Amalekites. We know that

it was not Moses who won that battle. It wasn't

the Israelites and Joshua who won that battle.

It was God who brought the victory. And today

I want us to look at that idea of God being the

only one who can bring the victory. And we find

a story in Judges 6, verses 11 -16. And what

Judges 6:11–16

we're going to see here is a man and an army.

Because there's a lot of men and a lot of armies

fighting in the Old Testament. And there's some

really rich stories in there. So this morning

we're going to read Judges 6, verses 11 -16.

Judges 6:11–16

And we're going to talk a little bit about it.

Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under

Terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash

the Abizrite, while his son Gideon was beating

out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the

Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared

to him and said to him, The Lord is with you,

O mighty man of valor. And Gideon said to him,

Please, my Lord, 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. And the Lord turned

to him and said, Go in this might of yours and

save Israel from the hand of Midian. Do not I

send you? And he 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. And the Lord said to him, But I will be

with you, and you shall strike the Midianites

as one man. Let's pray. Read of Gideon and his

reliance on you for victory. As we see examples

in Scripture of the need for your power and your

might to accomplish the things you have called

us to do, God, I pray that something in us would

be shaken. That our confidence in ourselves Would

decrease. But that our confidence in you would

become supreme. God, I pray that we realize that

it's nothing we can do. It's nothing we can be

equipped for or nothing we can learn to do or

be trained to do. But sometimes it is only you

that can bring the victory and the battles we're

called to. God, I pray that we rely on you and

only you. And I pray that this morning you would

speak. To our hearts. It's in Jesus' name we

pray. Amen. In this passage, we find Gideon hiding.

He's trying to hide from the Midianites. This

is a man who's afraid. He's insecure. He is feeling

very weak. This is a man that we can relate to.

He doesn't have all the answers. He doesn't feel

strong enough. He doesn't feel like they can

go toe to toe with the Midianites. So he's hiding.

And I want you to notice how when the angel of

the Lord speaks to Gideon and the angel says

the Lord is with you, Gideon responds with this

question that we all ask or maybe have asked

before. And if you haven't asked it, you may

ask it one day. If the Lord is with us, why then

has all of this happened to us? Or maybe in a

modern translation, it's if God is so good, why

is all of this happening to me? If God loves

us, why do I have to deal with this? If God is

this good God that wants to provide life for

me, why do I feel like I'm dying? Or why am I

dying? Or why are my loved ones experiencing

this turmoil? If God is with us, why then has

all of this happened to us? And when you're reading

this, you may ask yourself, well, what happened

to them that has Gideon doubting the God who

has provided for the Israelites this whole time?

What could possibly have gone wrong to make this

man questioned the same God that provided victory

for the Israelites against the Amalekites. The

same God that brought them out of Egypt. The

same God that has promised good things and has

over and over and over and over again shown them

how powerful and how good He is. What could have

happened that has Him doubting? Well, there in

the same verse, Gideon says this, the Lord has

forsaken us. He's turned his back on us. He's

forgotten about us. And he's given us into the

hands of Midian. Maybe you have felt that way

before. Where you just feel like God has separated

himself from you. Where God has forgotten you.

Maybe you felt like you don't quite understand

what all the hype about this good God is. Well,

everybody says God's so good, but I can't see

it. It seems God has worked in their lives, but

I don't know if He's worked in mine. Maybe you've

asked the question, does God even care about

me? Has He given up on me? You see, sometimes

when we're being called by God, we find these

things to argue with Him about or to question

Him on. And it's often our current or our past

circumstances. Sometimes it's a fearful view

of the future circumstances that cause us to

question the good God that we serve. Here in

this passage, we see an example of all three

of those. The past circumstances, the current

circumstances, and the future. See, Gideon mentions

how in the past, God helped His people, and we

just talked about that. God helped and gave victory

to the Israelites in their battle against the

Amalekites. And God led them out of Egypt, and

He parted the Red Sea, and He provided food,

He provided direction for them. But now, where

is God? And now what we'll see in verse 15 is

where Gideon is going to question God on the

future circumstances. What he says in 14 and

15 is, And the Lord turned to him and said, Go

in the smite of yours and save Israel from the

hand of Midian. Do not I send you? And this is

his response to the angel of the Lord. Lord,

how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the

weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my

father's house. Basically he says, we are already

undersized. We're already at a disadvantage.

And not only are we at a disadvantage, but I

am the least of the disadvantaged. When I was

in high school, I was on a really, really, I

hope none of my old teammates or coaches listen

to this, I was on a really bad football team.

Like our football... Let me just simplify it

like this. We won three games in the four years

I played high school football. You didn't hear

me wrong. I said in all four years. We were really

bad. And we'd show up to some of these games,

and I'm from South Mississippi, and you guys

know this because we're still in the South. We

would show up to some of these games against

some corn -fed dudes. Y 'all know what I mean

by corn -fed, right? Okay, so these are some

big guys. And I think maybe I've said this to

you before, if not, when I started high school,

I was five foot nothing and I weighed 90 pounds.

So I was on a really bad football team and I

was the least on that really bad football team.

That's kind of what Gideon's got going on here.

Now, let me tell you what in my brain, if I'm

Gideon, I think is going to happen. My first

ever play of varsity football, I was a freshman,

and I still am not very good at learning the

playbook. And so coach had to just tell me what

to do. So I get put in in the middle of the game,

and coach says, hey, I need you to just blitz.

Just go. Okay. Now I'm five. I think I gained

like five pounds over the summer workout. So

I was now 95 pounds. Okay. So, so he says blitz

and I'm playing middle linebacker against one

of the most corn fed teams we played. And so

I go to blitz and I'm not kidding. The center

grabs me by my shoulder pads and throws. I'm,

I don't mean like, I'm not exaggerating. Like

he didn't just push me. He threw me. In fact,

let me clarify, I did go in and help on the tackle.

It was an outside run, and I got up and I helped.

Okay, so victory Donovan. But you know what got

showed in film over and over? Coach had the clicker,

and he'd press play, and you'd just see little

Donovan flying through the air. And he'd rewind

it and press play. He's like, look it really

on. And I'm like, coach, that's not very nice.

That's not a good way to encourage your players.

But that's what if I'm Gideon, I'm imagining

is going to happen to me if I try to go toe to

toe with the Midianites. We're a bad football

team and I'm the worst one on the team and you

want me to do what? This is some real poor pitiful

me stuff from Gideon. But God doesn't give him

a tissue and say, no, buddy. That's not true.

You are so strong. You're so capable. You're

so powerful. That's not what God does. God doesn't

hype Gideon up so that Gideon can feel like he

is strong enough to do what he's being called

to do. What God does is he says, I will be with

you and you shall strike the Midianites as one

man. God says, you're not the one who's going

to do this. I'm going to do it through you. God

doesn't lie to Gideon and say, you're enough.

He assures him that he is. That God is enough.

And here's the truth. God is not in the business

of boosting our self -confidence. That's not

what he wants. He doesn't want you to feel like

you're powerful and you're mighty and you're

strong. That's not what God's here to do. What

God does is He boosts our confidence in Him over

and over and over again through Scripture. And

if you look close enough, you'll see in your

life where God proved to be strong in and through

you. It wasn't anything you did. It wasn't anything

they did. It was God working. And as God always

does, He does what He says He's going to do.

We don't read through it. Or we won't read through

it for the sake of time. But in Judges chapter

Judges 7 · chapter mention

7, we see God actually decide to shrink Gideon's

army. So Gideon, he says, we're the least. But

Gideon had 32 ,000 people to fight in this battle.

32 ,000 sounds like a lot. That is more than

everybody in Union County put together. 32 ,000

people. But God says, hey, I don't want you to

take 32 ,000 people into this battle. I want

you to take 300. As if the battle wasn't already

scary enough. This would be like if I said, I

want you to go by yourself to the Capitol building

and you tell them what they need to change. And

you're going to say, well, I'm just a cattle

farmer in Union County, Georgia. Why would they

listen to me? Why would all, however many people

are in that building that are powerful and make

decisions, why would they listen to me? This

would be like, and I wanted to do this, but I

didn't have a weight set. This would be like

if I took my son Easton, who is four, and as

strong as he thinks he is, if I put him up here

and I had a bar and it had two 45 -pound plates

on each side. Now, for reference, that's 225

pounds, okay? This is a little bit more than

I weigh. And I can tell you, Easton cannot pick

me up. So if I took Easton and put him up here,

put this bar in front of him and said, lift it

onto your shoulders, he's not going to be able

to do that. But if I said, hey, Titus, can you

come help Easton lift this up? I don't know.

I've never worked out with Titus. Titus is a

pretty big dude. Something tells me Titus could

lift it pretty easily. But Easton can't. And

to put Easton in front of that bar and say, hey,

Easton, lift that, sounds insane. So for God

to look at Gideon and say, just take 300 people.

Let me give you some reference as to what those

300 people were going to go up against. It was

135 ,000 men. And not just men, but skilled,

trained soldiers. I'm not good at math, so I

did this ahead of time. With only 300 people,

each man would have to kill roughly... 450 opponents.

That's a lot, okay? So you may be asking, why

would God do this? Why would He put Gideon in

this situation? This is what He says in Judges

Judges 7:2

7, verse 2. The Lord said to Gideon, the people

with you are too many. It's too many for me to

give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel

boast over me, saying, my own hand has saved

me. See, with 32 ,000 people, the Israelites

might have been able to say, we were just really

playing our best ball. And we did everything

right. We were strategic. We went in for the

kills that we needed to, and we chose our opponents

wisely. This would give them a chance to say,

we had a part in this. Now, if I'm being honest,

it really wouldn't because 135 is still a lot

more than 32 ,000. But let's just pretend like

they could make a claim for themselves. And so

God is like, he's kind of, this is like Steph

Curry shooting from the half court line. Like,

you know, he can make it. He knows he can make

it, but he wants to just do it to show you. To

make sure you know He can make it? That's kind

of what God's doing here. He says, let's back

this up. Let's back it up. Let's bring it down

to 300 people. And let's see if you can do this.

See, God wants to use this as a way to ensure

that the army can't boast about even having the

opportunity or the ability. But he wants them

to know that it was only by his power and might

that victory would happen. Because the truth

is, is God shines in the impossible. When it

seems like there is no hope, when it seems like

there is no shot of victory, that's where God

does some of his greatest work. That's where

he shines. I want you to picture this for a second.

Imagine you're hiking deep in the mountains and

you come across or you come to a gorge. A deep

ravine with jagged rocks below. And the only

way across is this old rickety rope bridge. You

know those ones that sway when the wind's blowing

and with every step it rocks a little bit. You

know, those. kinds of rope bridges. You stand

there, you look at this bridge, and you think

to yourself, there is absolutely no way that

this thing is strong enough to hold me up, much

less for me to walk across it. And the truth

is, you're probably right, by itself the bridge

would never hold you. But what keeps you safe

It's not the old wooden planks. It's not the

rope. It's not the bridge itself, but it's the

massive cables anchored deep into the rocks on

both sides. And maybe you've seen a bridge get

built, but they take these cables and they've

got them deep in there so that there is no shot

that that thing is coming out. The bridge by

itself is pretty weak. But it is held up by something

way stronger and way more secure than itself.

That's you. And that's me. And in this story,

that's Gideon. And we're going to read, and it

was our scripture reading, something in the New

Testament that helps us to kind of understand

all of this. And it's one of the most famous

verses in the world. Often used out of context,

and we're not going to use it out of context

today because we would never do that from the

pulpit, would we? No. We're going to look at

Philippians 4 .13 and we're going to talk about

this context where Paul says, I can do all things

through Christ who strengthens me. And this is

not about my ability to lift heavy weights. It's

not about your ability to hit a baseball 450

feet. It's not about your ability to make the

basket, to score the points, to pass the test,

to get the job. That's not what this is about.

What this is about is something far greater.

The context here is Paul, the apostle, being

in prison. He knows that the Philippian church

is worried about him. Because if you have a friend

that you feel like is being wrongfully imprisoned,

you may be worried about them. We talked about

some conflict in Africa. And we worry about our

brothers and sisters, and so we pray for them.

But what Paul tells them is, I know you're worried.

Don't be. Because I have God on my side. And

that is all I need to make it through. See, again,

by ourselves we're weak. And by ourselves, being

imprisoned, especially wrongfully imprisoned,

might be enough to cause us to crumble. Being

persecuted, even the slightest bit of persecution,

might be enough to make us walk away. In fact,

somebody right now is choosing to walk away from

God because of some slight inconvenience in their

life. And let me not make light of it, somebody's

going to walk away from God because of a major

inconvenience in their life. Their loved one

passes away. Maybe family member after family

member after family member is just getting sick,

they're getting hurt, they're facing these trials,

and they're thinking, I don't think this is what

a good God would let me go through. Or even worse,

theology, this is what a good God would put me

through. They're going to choose to walk away

because of that. But what Paul says is, I understand

that my God shines in the impossible. I understand

that when I'm facing my darkest battles, my toughest

journeys, my hardest persecutions, that's where

God does some of His greatest, most magnificent

work. Paul says, don't worry about me. I can

make it through this imprisonment. I can make

it through the persecution. I can make it through

the beatings. And I can keep doing the good work

in this world that God has called me to do. God

called Paul to bring the message, to plant churches,

to spread the gospel. And Paul says, I'm going

to do it no matter what comes. And I love this

song by Wren Collective called Whatever Comes.

And in the song, the singer says, Lord, whatever

comes, be my bravery. Be my courage. A cedar

planted firm. Be the thing I need to keep going.

To keep preaching your goodness. You see, what

Paul knows... is this truth that it's only by

the power of God that he would have the strength,

that he would have the ability to continue on

and fulfill his calling. Because he knows the

same God that called Gideon to trust in his power

to have victory, despite Gideon's army's lack

of power, their lack of size, that same God is

the same God that is calling us to trust in his

power and not our own. And to me, that is such

a comforting thought because I do often feel

inadequate. I do sometimes feel incapable. And

for whatever reason... I can rest assured knowing

that I don't have to have it all together before

I can go. I don't have to know all the answers

before I can share the gospel. I don't have to

be strong enough before I can do the act of service

that God's calling me to do. My inability does

not matter. It never has. My availability does.

My ability to be available to God is what matters.

I use sports references a lot because that's

what I know. I don't know much else. I've heard

coaches say it a million times. And you may have

heard it too. Your best ability is availability.

You know, there's a player on LSU's football

team that was rated one of the top five receivers

in his recruiting class. In fact, in the same

class, he was rated higher than two guys that

were both first -round draft picks and had the

best rookie seasons you could imagine last year

in the NFL. He was rated higher than them. But

he has less yards in his four years of college

football receiving than they had in one season

each. He was better than them, talent -wise.

But you know what has hurt him? He's always hurt.

He lets a little stubbed toe keep him off the

field. He's always hurt, so he's never available.

It doesn't matter how good you are. If you're

not available for God to use you... you can't

be used. It doesn't matter how talented you are,

how strong you are, how smart you are. If you

won't let God work through you, it doesn't matter.

Likewise, it doesn't matter how weak you are.

It doesn't matter how illiterate you are. It

doesn't matter how little you know or how little

experience you have. If you'll be available for

God to use, He will use you. You've seen it before.

Maybe you've seen the movie Rudy. Rudy was not

that good at football. But he showed up over

and over and over again. He kept trying when

they said no. He kept trying when they said you're

never going to play, give it up. And he gets

in and he's this hero. Because he was ready when

he was called. My inability does not matter.

My availability... When I'm available for God

to use me, when I'm available for him to work

through me, I put myself in great position to

be a vessel for God's great works. So going forward,

I want us to stop throwing the pity party of

I'm not smart enough. I don't know enough. I'm

not strong enough or I'm not gifted enough. Maybe

even as a church, we're not big enough. We're

not cool enough. We're not young enough. Whatever

the excuses are individually and congregationally,

let them go. Instead, let's open ourselves up

for God to work in and through us, and then let's

pay attention to what, where, and who God may

be calling us to. I can do all things through

Him who strengthens me. Gideon and his 300 men

ended up defeating a trained army of 145 ,000

men. I want you to imagine what the Blairsville

Church of Christ, what the church in general

could do if we collectively made ourselves available

to God. If we all decided to just let his power

shine through us despite our brokenness, despite

our differences, despite our disagreements or

our inadequacies, our incapabilities, whatever

it is, if we just let those things go and said,

God, we're going to let you shine through us.

There's an illustration I saw one time. And I

did not, and this is lazy preacher of me, I did

not want to take the time to break a clay jar

and then glue it back together. But there's this

illustration where you take a clay jar and you

crack it and then you put it back together and

it still has some cracks and holes and there's

still some see -throughs. And you put a candle

in it and it represents how we're all broken.

We're all cracked. individually, congregationally,

maybe our families. We've got our things, our

issues. But when God is working in us, the light

shines through. In fact, it shines through better

if I've got some holes in me than it does if

I'm all sealed up. Isn't it crazy how big God's

light shines in this world when broken people,

when inadequate people, will let Him work through

them? We're being called to change the world.

We're being called to prepare this world and

the people here for the return of Christ. And

it may seem like a daunting task. There's less

than 100 people in this room, maybe 100. And

it may sound like a crazy task for us to change

this county, for us to change this world. And

the truth is, it is kind of crazy. We will never

be enough. We'll never be strong enough. We'll

never be capable enough. We'll never be definitely

me. We'll never be cool enough. But we can change

this world and get it ready for Jesus to come

back if we will let God work in and through us.

I genuinely believe that. We simply need to trust

and believe that when we're not, When we're not

strong enough, when we're not capable enough,

our God is. We have to believe that. And if you've

been doubting that, or if you've never fully

taken hold of that truth, if you'd like to accept

the call to let God work in and through you,

to let Him change your life so that you can change

someone else's life, so that they can change

someone else's life, if you just need prayers

because you do feel broken and you want that

light in you, we offer you this invitation. And

I invite you to remember and hold on to this

truth as you go through this week. If you'd like

to respond in a way that allows us to pray for

you and support you and love you this morning,

we give you this invitation now as we stand and

as we sing.