(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

As we always do, we'll read the entire chapter, beginning in verse number 1. Judges chapter 6, starting in verse number 1, following on silently with Brother Hester as he reads. Judges chapter 6, the Bible reads, And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel, and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them dens which are in the mountains and caves and strongholds. And so it was when Israel had sown that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites and the children of the east, even they came up against them. And they encamped against them and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor ass. For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude, for both they and their camels were without number. And they entered into the land to destroy it, and Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites. And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord. And it came to pass when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord because of the Midianites, that the Lord sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God 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 that oppressed you, and graved them out from before you, and gave you their land. And I said unto you, I am the Lord your God, fear not the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell, but you have not obeyed my voice. And there came an angel of the Lord and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah that pertained unto Joash the abbeah's right, and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. And Gideon said unto him, O my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? And where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord hath forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. And the Lord looked upon him and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have not I sent thee? And he said unto him, O my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor and menassy, and I am the least in my father's house. And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then show me a sign that thou talkest with me. Depart not, hence I pray thee, until I come unto thee and bring forth my present and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again. And Gideon went in and made ready a kid and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour. The flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it. And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so. Then the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight. And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God, for because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face. And the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee, fear not, thou shalt not die. Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it Jehovah Shalom, unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. And it came to pass the same night that the Lord said unto him, Take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it, and build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove, which thou shalt cut down. Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the Lord had said unto him. And so it was, because he feared his father's household and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, and he did it by night. And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built. And they said one to another, Who hath done this thing? And when they inquired and asked, they said, Gideon, the son of Joash, hath done this thing. Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die, because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it. And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal? Will ye save him? He that will plead for him, let him be put to death, whilst it is yet morning. If he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar. Therefore on that day he called him Jerubabel, saying, Let Baal plead against him, because he hath thrown down his altar. Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over and pitched in the valley of Jezreel. But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, and Abiezer was gathered after him, and he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also was gathered after him. And he sent messengers unto Asher, and unto Zebulun, and unto Naphtali, and they came up to meet them. And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast said, Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor, and if it be due upon the fleece only, let it be dry upon all the earth beside. Then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said. And it was so, for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wring the dew out of the fleece a bowl full of water. And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once. Let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece. Let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. And God did so that night, for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground. Dear Lord, thank you for bringing us together this evening to spend time in your word, and I pray, Father, please fill Pastor Anderson with your Holy Spirit, and open our hearts and our ears, Father. Teach us and show us things out of your word that you have for us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Judges chapter 6, we start out this story of Gideon, and the story of Gideon is going to take several chapters. It's going to continue through chapter 7, chapter 8, and then we get into his children. So this is a pretty important section in the book of Judges, and the thing that I like about Gideon is that he's a very relatable character. He has a lot of flaws and weaknesses, very human, so we could relate to the fact that sometimes he lacks faith. Like there are a few times in this chapter even where you can see him lacking faith, being afraid, being scared, and he's going to have future episodes of fearing and lacking faith and so forth, but yet God uses him in a great way, and he's a great guy, and it just goes to show that God doesn't use perfect people because all of us have human faults and weaknesses, but there are also some really great attributes about Gideon that are why he is powerfully used of God to deliver Israel. So it starts out in verse number 1 of Judges chapter 6, and the children of Israel did evil on the side of the Lord, and that's how it always starts, right? They did evil on the side of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Biden for eight years. Oh, I'm sorry, excuse me. Not Biden, Midian, but you know the same thing applies, my friend. You know, you do evil on the side of the Lord, and then you wonder why we have wicked leaders, why we have evil people in our government. The government, it's, you know what it is? Representative government. This is who we are as America. That's who we get in the White House. That's who we get in Congress. That's who we get in the Senate. It's a reflection of who we are. You know, and Trump has been a pretty good reflection of who we were over the last four years because he's really prideful, arrogant, full of himself, and narcissistic. That's how America is, and he's also a fake Christian sometimes. Well, that's how a lot of America is, too. So, you know, we get the people in office that reflect who we are, okay, and it's a punishment from God when we get leaders who take away our freedom. That's a punishment from God. Here, the children of Israel are being punished by God. They're delivered in the hand of Midian. The Bible says in verse 2, and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel, and because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains and caves and strongholds. And it was, and so it was when Israel had sown that the Midianites came up and the Amalekites and the children of the east, even they came up against them and they camped against them and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor ass. So here's what's going on. The children of Israel, they turn away from God. They worship other gods. So for seven years, Midian dominates them, and they end up just heading for the hills when Midian comes through. You know, Midian and the other nations of the east there, excuse me, they come through the land, and when the Israelites see them coming, instead of standing against them in battle, they just flee to the mountains, head for the hills, they get in the caves, dens, rocks, whatever, and then when Midian comes through, they destroy all the crops. So the Israelites have already done all the work of plowing the field, sowing the seeds, and the harvest is going to provide them food. It's going to provide them everything. And the Midianites come through with this great army, and the Bible says they have so many people with them that they're like grasshoppers for multitudes, just like an army of locusts coming through, just eating every green thing. But not only that, whatever they don't eat, because they have this huge crew of humans and animals coming through, whatever they don't eat, they just destroy, because Israel is their enemy, they hate Israel, so they destroy everything. And it says in verse 6 that as a result, an Israel was greatly impoverished, impoverished comes from the same root word as poverty, so they're super poor, they're impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried unto the Lord. And again, this is the pattern, when things are going good, when they have all the food and the money and everything's good, they don't turn to God. But then as soon as they get poor, now all of a sudden they call upon God. And by the way, this is why we like to go soul-winning, preferably in poor areas, because those are the people that are more interested in actually calling upon the Lord than the people who are rich, everything's going good, they feel like they don't need anything. Now our church is to a point where we've already knocked most of the poor doors many times, and so we're getting to those middle class and upper class doors. Obviously we've got to preach the gospel to every creature, but we've always tried to emphasize the poor in our soul-winning because they're more likely to get saved. And the thing is, you know, if you look on the bright side of our country, you know, if things go bad in our country, first of all, if things go good in our country, well then great, we can all enjoy the goodness. But if things go bad in our country, that could actually drive people to turn to the Lord. It could actually be a good thing spiritually, because what if God had not brought the Midianites? I mean, it's never fun when the Midianites come through and just trash everything, take all your money, take all your food, destroy all your hard work, but what if the Midianites didn't come through? Would they be crying unto the Lord in verse 7 if the Midianites had not come through? No, because they cried unto the Lord because of the Midianites. So no Midianites, no crying unto the Lord. And then what would happen is they would just get worse and worse and worse and worse, and they would have just completely stopped worshiping the Lord, and then there would be no godly nation in the world. So God actually, in his mercy, sends the Midianites to trash the place, because it gets them to turn back to the Lord, and then they can keep passing that torch and keep passing the books of Moses and the word of God to the next generation. You know, that's how it got to us today, right? Because God kept that nation of Israel going, and then that nation of Israel produced Jesus Christ, and then, of course, Jesus Christ said upon this rock, I'll build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And for the last 2,000 years, you know, there have always been people that have been believing the gospel, preaching the gospel, saved Christians, passing that torch all the way down to us today. And so don't dismay at bad things happening in our nation, because these things must come to pass. They must happen, and at least it has the potential to bring people closer to God, wake people up, shake them out of their lethargy spiritually. So when they cry into the Lord, the Lord sends them a prophet in verse 8, and he tells them, God is not mad at you, and live your best life now, and name it and claim it. Here's what he says to them, I brought you up from Egypt halfway through verse 8, 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 that oppressed you, and dragged them out from before you, and gave you their land, and I said unto you, I am the Lord your God, fear not the gods of the Amorites, and whose land you dwell, but ye have not obeyed my voice. So he basically just rips their face and walks away. I mean, he just preaches a hard sermon, uh, because they're, they're, they're not right with God. You know, they need to put away the other gods, because sure, they're crying unto the Lord, but did they put away the other gods yet? Because a little later in the chapter, that altar of Baal is still around, and a little later in the chapter, they freak out when somebody vandalizes the altar of Baal, because they haven't put away the false gods. That's why the prophet isn't offering them a, uh, a message of hope, he's saying, look, the commandment is, I'm the Lord thy God, thou shalt have no other gods before me. That's the commandment, and until you get that straight, you know, this is going to keep happening. So then in verse 11, we shift gears, and there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak which was an ophrah, and that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite, and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. So Gideon seems to be a fairly young man, because his dad is the one who owns everything, and he's basically just in the family business there. And notice, he's trying to hide wheat from the Midianites, you know, because this is what they're reduced to. I mean, they are, uh, just getting devastated by the Midianites. The Midianites are going to take everything unless we hide it. So he's threshing wheat, he's hiding. So right away, we learn a few things about Gideon just from verse number 11. Okay, number one, we learn that he's a young guy, most likely, somewhat young. Uh, number two, he's a hard worker, you know, we see him doing physical manual labor, working hard, he's caught working hard, and we see that he's a can-do kind of a guy. You know, he's not just sitting around, whining, what do we do? He's taking initiative, he's taking action, he's hiding food, and trying to make things happen. Verse 12, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. Now, you know, when the angel of the Lord shows up to talk to you, this is how you want to be greeted. I mean, this greeting sounds great. You know, I would love for the angel of the Lord to show up and be like, Pastor Anderson, thou mighty man of valor. Be like, great, wow, thank you. So, it says in verse 13, and Gideon said unto him, O my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? Now, what's different about Gideon's answer versus what the angel actually said? Now, if you're reading a King James Bible, you get these little subtleties between the singular and the plural. You know, in the modern versions, everything's just you, but in the King James Bible, you have the these and the thous. Well, the these and the thous are singular, and the ye, you, your is plural. So, the Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. He didn't say the Lord is with you, thou mighty man of valor. You meaning the whole nation of Israel. He's just saying God's with you specifically, Gideon, just thee, not Israel, because is God with Israel right now? No, because they have turned away from the Lord. So, he says the Lord's with thee, but then Gideon kind of tries to hide in the crowd here. O my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? Because the Lord's not with us. The Lord is with thee, and this is very relevant to us in America, because even though I don't believe the Lord is with the United States anymore, but I do believe the Lord's with thee, the Lord's with me, the Lord's with us here, but the Lord's not with us as a nation, but we're Gideon, right? Or at least I hope we are, right? You better be, amen? You're here at church on faithful word on a Wednesday night, you know, it's pretty safe bet to say, hey, the Lord's with thee. So, don't be discouraged about the fact that all this has befallen us, because it's not us. Gideon is separate from the rest of the people. He sees himself as part of this nation that doesn't have God with them, but God singles him out and says, no, no, the Lord's with you, even if the nation goes astray. You know, even when the church at Sardis had gone south, he said, thou hast a few names even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. Even though Sardis had become a dead church, there were a few people in that church that God's still with them, they're still godly, righteous people serving him. And so, no matter how bad our family gets, our church gets, our nation gets, our business gets, whatever group our school gets or whatever, the Lord can still be with you personally. You know, you personally stand or fall before God, and so don't just think of yourself always in a group. Obviously there are groups that we're supposed to be part of, we're part of our family, part of our church, etc., but we need to also have that personal walk with God where we have a personal, we're either, we're with the Lord, the Lord's with us or not. And so Gideon here has the Lord with him, but he says, well if the Lord be with us, because he's referring to the whole nation, why then is all this befallen us, and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord has forsaken us, which is true, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites, which is true. And the Lord looked upon him and said, go in this thy might, and thou, look at the singular, see how God brings it back to the singular. He's a we, we, our, our, we, us, and then it's, okay back to thee, thou shalt save Israel. The Lord is with thee, go in this thy might, not in the nation's might, not in Israel's might, but in thy personal might. I need you to do this, and you know what, you need to stand on your own two feet, Gideon. Don't think about everybody else and what's going on. Go in this thy might. And he says, well where be all his miracles? You know, I think that's a great question to ask. That's not a bad question, and I, in fact, I think this is what God likes about Gideon, because there are definitely some negatives about Gideon in the story here. We see that he, he lacks faith at times, he's fearful at times, but I think God likes this attitude that says, where be all his miracles? Because you know what it reminds me of? It reminds me when Elisha takes the mantle of Elijah and slaps it down at the Jordan River and says, where is the Lord God of Elijah? You know, God wants people that are expecting great things from God, that expect God to do something big, that believe in the power of God and say, well look, if I'm not seeing the miracles, if I'm not seeing the power of God, if I'm not seeing victory, if I'm not seeing success, then you know what, it's obvious that the Lord's not with us, because if the Lord's with us, there's going to be power on our side. And if there's no power, the Lord must not be with us. You know what, in a sense that's a good attitude to at least expect God to have power and do things in our lives and to bring success, and we should be surprised if God is not working rather than being surprised when he does something. You know, some people are shocked if God answers their prayer. They're totally shocked if God comes through for them. They're shocked if people get saved out of soul winning. They're shocked when someone comes and gets baptized. They're shocked if the church grows and thrives or if lives are being changed. You know, really, we should expect those things. You know, when I go out soul winning, I'm expecting people to get saved. You know, I expect our church to grow and thrive. I expect people to be baptized. I expect for lives to be changed. You know, I'm surprised when these things don't happen, because I expect God to work, because God has power and I know what God's will is. I know what he wants. He wants people to be saved. He wants the gospel to be preached. So you know, I expect him to open doors and for great things to happen. You know, over the last 15 years, great things have happened in our church. Marvelous things have happened and God's constantly opening doors and there are all kinds of great testimonies and cool things that have happened and just things that just fall into place where it's just an act of God. And you know, I think that's what God likes about Gideon here, because when Gideon makes this speech, well where be all his miracles, then God's answer is, go in this thy might. I like this, that you've just said. This is good, what you've just said. And so even though we might look at this as being maybe, you know, an affront to God or even a lack of faith, you know, there's a good aspect to what he's saying here, that at least he believes in the power of God and he does believe that God would do great things if he were with them. Have not I sent thee, he says. Verse 15, and he said unto him, oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel. Like with, yeah, me and what army, you know, what's going to be the tool, what's going to be the method, how am I going to do it? Wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family's poor in Manasseh and I'm the least in my father's house. And the Lord said unto him, surely I will be with thee, and thou shall smite the Midianites as one man, as one man. So notice here again the emphasis on individuality. You know, basically the Midianites are actually without number according to earlier in the chapter, right? They came without, you can't even count the camels, you can't count the armies, it's, they've got all these allies from the east and they're coming without number, but God looks at it and just says, one man. He will smite the Midianites as one man. So to God, he doesn't look and see millions of opponents or hundreds of thousands of opponents or tens of thousands of opponents, he just looks and just sees it as just, you know, I mean, it's just as easy for God to destroy the army as destroy one man, because God's all powerful, God's almighty, and God can use one man like Gideon to get the job done and he can destroy the Midianites as one man. And so that's a theme that's coming up in this passage, this one man, thee, thou, thee, thou, singular, because of the fact that one man can do great things for God, one woman can be greatly used by God, even a child can be greatly used by God and can defeat any numberless enemies as one man. So he says in verse 17, and he said unto him, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then show me a sign that thou talkest with me. So this is the first of many times when Gideon doesn't have a lot of faith, he needs a lot of confirmations and he's not very sure of himself. You know, God, and I'm pretty sure that's why God greeted him that way in the first place, he knew that about him, he knows everybody, he knows that he's insecure, and so that's why he says, hey old buddy, old pal, thou mighty man of valor, he greets him as mighty man of valor, go in this thy might, because he knows he's humble. Now look, the key attribute to being used by God is being humble. That is the number one most important attribute to be used by God, you must be humble. Why? Because God can't put you in a position of authority if you're prideful, because putting a prideful person in a position of leadership is like giving drugs to a drug addict. You know what it's like? It's like taking someone who struggles with gluttony and giving them a job at a bakery. That's not the right place for them to work. That's like somebody who's struggled as an alcoholic, let's give them a job as a bartender. Now look, everybody struggles with sin. There's not a person in this room who doesn't struggle with sin, unless they're just giving into it all the time, but nobody just lives a good life with no struggle with sin. Even the apostle Paul struggled hard with sin in Romans chapter 7. Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. We all struggle with sin, but we don't all struggle with the same sins. Some sins that people struggle with in this building, other people in this building don't struggle with that sin at all. Other people, it's a major struggle in their lives, and vice versa. So the sins that you struggle with, I may not struggle with. The sins I struggle with, you may not struggle with, but we all struggle with sin. It's just not the same sin. Some people struggle with a bunch of different sins. Some people, it's just a handful of sins. The Bible says some men's sins are open beforehand going before the judgment. Other men, they fall after. Likewise, also the good works of some are manifest beforehand, and they that otherwise cannot be hid. So the Bible tells us, you know, some sins are more public than others. You know, some sins you can just look at people and say, this guy's an alcoholic. Whereas other people's sins could be just as grievous or wicked, but they're not as easy to spot publicly. But don't be fooled into thinking that there's anybody without sin or that anybody doesn't struggle with sin or have these battles in their life, because every single person has temptations and struggles and sins. But we need to know ourselves, and we need to know what our besetting sins are, what are the things that are temptations for us, what are the things we struggle with, so that we can be careful about those things. You know, now let me give you an example. For me, alcohol is not a temptation for me. It's just, it's something that I've just never been involved in. It's something that never enters my mind. Uh, it's just not a thing for me. But there, I guarantee there are people in this room, though, where alcohol is something that for the rest of their life, they are going to struggle with. They're going to have to be careful. You know, I've dealt with people and talked to people who, you know, I've, as a pastor, tried to help them and give them advice, and they just, they keep, you know, falling off the wagon, and they're struggling with alcohol. You know, is that my struggle? No. Is that ever going to be my struggle? You know, I'm 39 years old. If I didn't start drinking by now, the chances of me starting to drink after I'm 39 years old are pretty much zero. Okay? Now, does that mean that there aren't a whole bunch of other sins that I would indulge in? Of course, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. But here's the thing. One person has a struggle with alcohol, another doesn't. One person could struggle with stealing, another doesn't. But all of us have sins that we struggle with. And here's the thing. You don't want to put the guy who struggles with gluttony working in a bakery, and you don't want the guy who's struggling with alcohol working as a bartender. Now, I don't believe that anybody should be a bartender, period, as a Christian. Obviously, that's not an acceptable job for a Christian. But here's the thing. I could probably be around alcohol more than someone else without it messing with me because I have no desire, no temptation there. But other things I would say, hey, I can't work in that environment or I can't be around that. Obviously, none of us should actually be working in a bar or serving liquor or anything like that. But the point is that somebody who struggles with a certain sin may have to be more careful than another person who doesn't struggle with that sin. And I'm telling you, a prideful person, some people, their sin is pride. That's what they struggle with. And they're these big ego people who just, they just go around bragging about themselves. Every story they tell is a story that glorifies themselves, and they are just full of themselves, haughty, arrogant, proud. Well, let me tell you something. Putting that person behind the pulpit or putting that person in any leadership position is like putting the alcoholic at the bartender job or the glutton at the bakery. It's a poisonous combination. You must, if you ever want to be a pastor, you must be a humble person. And if that's even a sin that you struggle with, if that's one that you battle and struggle with, pride or feelings of how great you are, you know what? You're probably just not even cut out for pastoring, period. Because even if you're conquering that sin right now, if you have that proclivity, there's a good chance that when you get in the position of pastoring, you know, it could get even worse, okay? So there's that, but we have a bunch of, of course, power-hungry, prideful egomaniacs, you know, running our country in politics because, you know, politics is going to attract a lot of people like that. But also clergy could attract people like that, you know. A lot of people like that could gravitate toward being a pastor because they just, they want the fame, the accolades, they want people to praise them and lift them up and exalt them. But here's the thing, God can't use you when you're proud. And here's why God can't use you when you're proud. Because if God exalts you, then you're going to start being all high and mighty. You're not going to give him the glory. You're going to abuse your power. You're going to get even more puffed up and you're going to destroy yourself. And I'm not just talking about someone who's actually in ministry as a pastor or a deacon or some other, you know, position of, you know, being ordained in the local church. You know, even as a layman, you know, let's say God granted you a whole bunch of success out soul-winning or God granted you a whole bunch of success in discipling people and mentoring people and just serving God in whatever capacity. You know, even being a musician and, you know, succeeding in music and excelling in music. You know, if God grants you to succeed in those areas and you're a prideful person, then it's, again, it's like giving drugs to a drug addict. You're going to get worse. You're going to, you know, a guy like Gideon, God's looking at a guy like Gideon and saying, okay, this guy's humble. Maybe he's in a little too humble because I can barely even get him to go out and do anything because I have to keep pumping him up and telling him how mighty he is to even get him to do anything. But here's the thing, it's better to be a little too humble than a little too prideful. And so Gideon's a little too humble and God can work with that because here's the thing, God's interest when we get to the next chapter, chapter seven, God says, I don't want Israel to think that they won this battle because of their power and their might. That's why when Gideon assembles an army of 32,000 people, God's going to tell him this is too many people. Tell everybody who's scared to go home. So he says, hey, whoever's fearful, go home. 22,000 people go home. Then he's got 10,000 left. Then he does this water drinking test and we'll get to that next week. And then he sends home everyone except 300 people. He's like, all right, this is it. This is perfect size. It's like, what? We're going up against this army that's just without number. 32,000 troops is already a joke compared to what they've got. But God's like, nope, too many. I don't want anybody to think that this was through the power of man. You know, we want this to be through the power of God. So he goes with 300 guys, which is just, I mean, think about that's like a Sunday morning crowd at faithful word against an innumerable army. Think about that. That's insane. It'd be crazy. It'd be like, what? This is it. It'd be nothingness compared to that innumerable multitude. But God wants to get the glory. Is he going to get the glory from some prideful, arrogant pastor who's just up there taking all the glory for himself? You know, Pontifex Maximus up there, you know, getting worshiped like the pope? No. He wants somebody who's humble where the power's not going to go to their head. Where even if they do great things for God, even if they get hundreds of people saved or even thousands of people saved and, and maybe pastor a church or go to the mission field and do great exploits on the mission field or whatever or maybe they become extremely skilled on the piano or other instruments or they're a great singer, great song leader, you know, he doesn't want them to get pumped up. He wants that person to still go home at night and get on their knees before God and confess their faults before God and confess to God that they're unworthy and ask for his grace to continue. That's what he wants. He wants, that's why he's using Gideon because Gideon, number one, believes in the power of God and number two, Gideon is humble about himself and he's not going to let it go to his head when he wins. And by the way, when this is all said and done, you know what they say to Gideon? Rain over us, Gideon. Be our king. Rain over us. And you know what he says? No, the Lord's going to rain over you. Now, if he was a prideful, power-hungry guy, he'd just be like, great, sounds good. But he didn't. He declined being king. So back to the story here, it says in verse number 17, If now I've found grace in thy sight, then show me a sign that thou talkest with me. Depart not, hence I pray thee, until I come unto thee and bring forth my present and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry, tarry means I'll wait or stay until thou come again. And Gideon went in and made ready a kid, a kid is a young goat, and unleavened cakes of an ephah, a flower. The flesh he brought in a basket and he put the broth in a pot and brought it unto him under the oak and presented it. So he's got broth and he's got meat and he's got bread. He's basically feeding this guy, the angel of the Lord that showed up. And the angel of the Lord said to him, take the flesh and the unleavened cakes and lay them upon the rock and pour out the broth. Apparently he wasn't into soup and he did so. Then the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes and there rose up fire out of the rock and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. So basically he turns this into like a burnt offering just by touching it with the stick it just bursts into flames, spontaneous combustion, burnt offering. Then the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight and when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord Gideon said, allow us O Lord God for because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face and the Lord said unto him peace be unto thee fear not thou shall not die. Now that's a common fear in the Old Testament of people thinking that if they see an angel of the Lord they're going to die or if they see and the reason why is because God told Moses in the Bible, no man shall see my face and live. No man shall see my face and live and because Moses wanted to see God and and no man could see God the Father. That's why the Bible says in John chapter 1 no man has seen God at any time. The only begotten son which is in the bosom of the Father he had declared him the Father because no one has ever seen God the Father at any time. The only exception of that of course would be Jesus Christ has seen God the Father but of course Jesus Christ is not you know mortal man. He's obviously God in the flesh. He's the son of God. That's a different ball game but as far as mortal man human beings none of us have ever seen God the Father on this planet okay. No man can see God the Father and live so I guess we don't know exactly how much people in the Old Testament knew because there were all kinds of prophets preaching to them all the time orally even though they didn't have as much written word you know we've got this big old written word that explains everything from Genesis to Revelation it all fits together nicely packaged we get it. Obviously we don't know everything but we have the big picture. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking well they only knew what was written in the book of Moses at this point you know just just Genesis through Deuteronomy or just Genesis through Joshua but that's not true because there was a lot of oral preaching that was going on you know the Bible talks about Enoch preaching things that are recorded in the book of Jude so there's a lot of oral preaching that we don't know what they knew. We don't know how much they knew. There's a lot of preaching going on that wasn't just in those first six books that they had at this time so we don't know exactly how much they knew but apparently they seem to have had some kind of an understanding of God in the flesh of God appearing in human form because they're applying this fear of you know I've seen the angel of the Lord or an angel of the Lord and they're saying you know am I going to die because I've seen an angel of the Lord even though I didn't see God the Father himself. Now here's the evidence for this in Genesis uh I want to say chapter 32 Jacob wrestles with a man all night and he names the place where he wrestled with that man Peniel which means the face of God and he says I've seen God face to face and my life was preserved so we see Jacob wrestling with a human wrestling with man and saying I've seen the face of God and my life was preserved. So here's what I think could be going on in people's minds is that they're thinking Jacob wrestled the angel in Genesis 32 and he said I saw the face of God and my life was preserved but that seems to have been a special case. I'm not Jacob. Maybe if I deal with the angel of the Lord the messenger of the Lord which Jesus Christ is also called the messenger of the Lord or the angel of the Lord in Malachi chapter 3 it's impossible to interpret any other way than that Jesus being called the messenger or angel there and so we see that they think to themselves you know maybe that it's dangerous because God is so awesome and that you know even his angel or when he comes in human form you know could be deadly but of course we know that coming face to face with Jesus Christ is absolutely not deadly at all and no one ever died from that at any time. No one ever came face to face with an angel of the Lord or with the Lord Jesus Christ himself and died. This is so this is an irrational fear or an unfounded fear it's a wrong fear but you can kind of see where they're coming from or where the thought process and here's the thing it's easy for us to sit back and be like what's you know dude chill out but obviously if you were actually there confronted by these angels and and and fire coming out of a rock and stuff who know you might just be kind of freaked out and who knows what you're gonna say or think right it's easy for us to kind of just be the armchair quarterback you know criticizing everything that the bible characters do but we've probably never really been in a situation like this we might say something weird too. Okay but what we do and one thing that's undeniable though is that Jesus Christ does make Old Testament appearances. Now we don't always know which time is an Old Testament appearance of Christ except for Genesis 32 I believe is for sure that's an Old Testament appearance of Jesus because he he sees the face of God and lives. I believe of course that uh put off thy shoes from off thy feet you know when the when the captain of the host confronts Joshua that's for sure an Old Testament appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. So there are there are there are several that you could point to maybe five or six where you could say this is for sure actually a pre-incarnate Christ. Genesis 18 is one of those of course uh you know with Abraham but sometimes it's just an angel of the Lord but sometimes the angel of the Lord is Jesus himself and and like I said you can't really know for sure always which one it is when you're reading scripture we get to heaven we'll find out but the bottom line is Jesus did appear physically in the Old Testament which is really profound if you think about it because it proves that Jesus existed before Bethlehem's manger that Jesus Christ existed and that he actually existed uh in bodily form you know showing up and walking among us a few times. Now you know I personally believe and and obviously it's hard to understand exactly how this works because you know with our human mind it's hard to comprehend some of these things how I personally believe that that works is that basically Jesus is outside of time being God being divine he's not constrained by time in the same way so even though you know he's born physically in the manger and he uh or then laid in the manger and then you know grows up lives his life he dies he's buried he rises again and then ascends up in heaven obviously he lived that earthly timeline but in John chapter 3 verse 13 even while he's on this earth he says to Nicodemus no man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven even the son of man which is in heaven so he's basically saying the son of man is in heaven right now how does that work he's he's talking to him so basically Jesus Christ is always in heaven in this because he's basically he's God so he's dwelling outside of time and obviously it's hard for us to wrap our minds around that so that's because you say how could Jesus appear in the old testament even bodily before he's even born because basically he he exists outside of time he's not constrained by time in the same way that we are he's God so we you know we when we understand that that Christ is divine we understand the deity of Jesus Christ you know obviously there are some things that go along with that there's some some attributes that would go along with that and while Jesus was on this earth he was obviously limited because you know he he basically had to learn how to walk and talk as a baby he didn't just come out of the womb knowing everything and even when he walked on this earth he even said that of that day and hour knoweth no man only the father knows the day and the hour and he said neither the angels in heaven neither the son knows the day or the hour so he even said I don't even know the day or the hour in Mark chapter 13 proving that Jesus was not omniscient while he walked on this earth he obviously was living that time and I don't think he was you know skipping around time while he's on this he's not time traveling while he's on this earth he was born and he lived a normal timeline so in his incarnation yeah he lives a normal timeline he's not omniscient and and at times I don't even believe that he was omnipotent because of you know he's he's in well there's evidence for that because when he died and he's buried in his souls in hell he's saying thou wilt not leave my soul in hell you know he's relying on God the father obviously there because I believe that the resurrection was enacted by by a the collective effort of father son and holy ghost they were all involved in the resurrection of Christ it's the only way to make sense of the way the scripture tells it and so the bottom line is that Jesus in his earthly timeline shed off you know some of his power some of his glory some of his omniscience and his omnipresence or omnipotence and he basically lived as a human being obviously he had the power to heal and do things and and you know through the power of God through the Holy Spirit he's performing miracles and doing these things and he you know he knew their thoughts and different things but he had shed a lot of those things for his earthly existence but he also exists as God just eternally no beginning no end I mean before the world was even created he was already there he was in the beginning with God he was in the beginning he was God and so he's able to to basically pop up a few times in the Old Testament like in Daniel chapter 325 the form of the fourth man in the fire is like the son of God so he appears in the Old Testament and so that's where this comes from like oh man I'm gonna die they didn't realize that the death upon seeing God only applies to God the father which is why when you die and go to heaven you're not gonna see God the father you're gonna see Jesus it's not until after the millennium after the great white throne when death has been completely eliminated you know the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death when we're in the new heaven in the new earth there's no death no sorrow no then we shall see his face and his name shall be in our foreheads at that time when basically death has been completely eliminated then we will be able to actually see God's face and and be preserved and live so the Bible says here in verse 23 the Lord said unto him peace be unto thee fear not thou shall not die then Gideon built an altar there under the Lord and called it Jehovah Shalom and even if you don't speak Hebrew you probably know what that means Jehovah and Shalom is the most famous Hebrew word if anybody knows one Hebrew word it's Shalom which means peace you're like I didn't know that well then you congratulations you know absolutely nothing about Hebrew because it's the most famous word because not and then today even that's how they say hello and goodbye as well they greet and depart with Shalom but it means literally peace it's where Solomon gets his name uh Shlomo you know uh obviously comes from the same letters and so he calls the place Jehovah Shalom which comes from obviously the name of God and peace and this day it is to this unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiez writes obviously talking about when the book was written not to 2021 and it came to pass the same night that the Lord said on him take thy father's young bullock even the second bullock of seven years old and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath whoa so not only is Israel worshiping Baal but even his own dad is a big-time Baal worshiper his own dad has an altar unto Baal throw down the altar of Baal thy father hath and cut down the grove that is by it it's like a ceremonial grove of trees that Baal worshippers would commonly use the bible talks a lot about the groves of Ashtoreth and Baal and it says and uh Gideon took 10 men of his servants or I'm sorry let's back up I skipped a verse cut down the grove this by verse 26 and build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock in the ordered place and take the second bullock and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shall cut down then Gideon took 10 men of his servants and did as the Lord had said unto him and so it was because he feared his father's household and the men of the city that he could not do it by day that he did it by night so we see here again Gideon is constantly fearful and constantly uh lacking faith you say why would God pick a guy like this because I think all of us deal with fear on some level all of us lack faith at times so this is just kind of how human beings are even John the Baptist the greatest man who ever lived doubted and said art thou he that should come or do we look for another and so I believe God picked Gideon because he's humble and because he wants to rely on God and he believes in the power of God and those two things got to go hand in hand you know because if we're humble we're not going to try to do it in our own strength we're going to be looking to God's power and so that's why he gets used even though he's fearful but but here's the thing I think everybody has fear at times and everybody lacks faith at times but you know what the difference is some people act anyway you know and I remember somebody gave a definition of faith as this they said biblical faith is believing and doubting but acting on the belief believing and doubting but acting on the belief you know because here's the thing you can believe and doubt but still act on the belief or you can believe and doubt and act on the doubt and do nothing and and not go forward does everybody understand that and it's the same thing with fear you know there's there's fearing but acting in spite of your fear and then there's fear that just paralyzes you and you do nothing because look I guarantee there are a lot of people are scared to go out and knock on somebody's door and preach the gospel to them some people do it in spite of being scared other people are scared so they don't go so look it's okay to be human you're gonna be scared sometimes you're gonna be doubtful sometimes obviously in a perfect world none of us would ever fear or doubt if we were perfect but we are sinners we are human we are flesh that doesn't disqualify us from being used by god it's not like god looks down yeah you're pathetic you wimp you know if you're scared to death but you do the will of god anyway if you doubt but you go out on faith anyway and step out on faith anyway you know what god will take that you know uh there was a guy in the bible when jesus was was doing healing i i loved this statement where he says lord i believe help thou my unbelief isn't that a great statement lord i believe help and he says look if you believe jesus told him if you believe you know all things are possible to believe it lord i believe help them i don't believe and guess what that guy got his prayer answered so when god hears lord i believe help them i unbelieve he'll he'll take that he'll take it he doesn't not enough faith he'll take that you know believing and doubting but acting on the belief okay that's the faith that we see gideon having here he's scared he's doubting but in the end he gets the job done he does in the middle of the night but he still gets it done and so he couldn't do it by day because he's scared they wake up in the morning we're we're running out of time but um they wake up in the morning and they say who did this you know because the the altar of bale is destroyed the grove's cut down it's all burnt up it's all vandalized who did this whoever did this is gonna die they figure out it's gideon's dad's son you know they basically say it's gideon and his dad jumps in and protects gideon by saying well are you gonna plead for for bail like if bail's so mighty and powerful can't bail defend himself i mean isn't bail gonna punish whoever did this if he's actually god now the thing i like about this story is that gideon steps out in faith and does something for god destroys the altar of bail and his dad is obviously a big-time bail worshiper if his dad has an altar that everybody cares about but it's his dad's all it's like his dad is like the main bail guy as far as like he's the biggest donor to the bail church he's their biggest supporter or fan to where he built this big old altar that everybody's into but notice how he loves his son more than he loves bail though you know he loves gideon more because as soon as it comes to choosing between bail and gideon he chooses gideon and that's how it is with false religion you know a lot of people they profess a false religion they might even be involved in giving money but the other day a lot of them don't really believe in it you know do you really think every mormon believes all that weird jazz that they're taught do you believe that every uh you know uh catholic actually believes in catholicism because when you talk to them they believe all kinds of different things and and and so you know he's obviously not married to the bail worship because of the fact that you know he he chooses his son he doesn't want his son to be killed for the sake of bail so then he jumps in and just starts rebuking bail basically and just making bail look stupid saying is bail even a real god because bail didn't defend himself because bail is an idol that he has eyes but he sees not he has ears that hear not he's got a mouth that speaks not he's got feet but he goes not and so he's saying look maybe maybe maybe bail is not even real and so he even changes his son's name he says in fact you know now gideon's name is going to be changed to jeru bail you know basically the guy who bail has got a bone to pick with enemy of bail right he basically becomes known as the arch enemy of bail going forward jeru bail it's a great name i mean it doesn't really roll off the tongue or anything but i'm saying i guess you could just call him jerry you know somebody's eventually going to name their baby jeru bail you know and then just call him jerry but i like the fact that basically one man steps out in faith and does a simple act and dad is reached and the whole town basically ends up you know at least questioning bail and and turning away from bail so it's it's a step in the right direction but another another key point that of course we want to mention here is the fact that god can't really do a great work for israel until the bail altar is removed you know so if we want god to do great things in our life we've got to get rid of the altar of bail you know so getting this kind of garbage out of the church or out of our lives is prerequisite to being greatly used by god and again that's why we saw earlier that god's not with israel is because they've got other gods that's why he goes to gideon and says hey you're our guy and then this is the first step toward revival you know is tearing down the altar of bail and then gideon's dad now look he didn't know that his dad was going to react that way he you know he could have thought that this could get him disowned he's destroying his dad's stuff imagine just going to your parents house and just destroying their mary idol or something you know if your if your parents are catholic your parents are catholic and you went to their house and just start just smashing mary and smashing the saints and i mean you know it might not go over very well and i'm not recommending that you do that i'm not saying that that's what you should do because you know god didn't appear to you and make fire come out of the rock and tell you to do that and obviously in the new testament we don't battle against flesh and blood so it's it's not our place to go by force and do this but you know the nation of israel is a different ball game and it was right for him to just forcibly destroy bail's altar because you know it all belongs to god that's god's land and you know it's supposed to be reserved unto him and so we see that this is the first spark of turning the nation back to god it starts with one person stepping out in faith and even though they're scared doing it at night and taking this step so anyway gideon's dad steps in and he even he even turns around because they said we're going to put to death the guy who destroys the bail altar you know gideon's dad turns it around and says hey whoever wants to defend bail is going to be put to death i mean talk about a 180 a second ago we're going to put to death the guy who destroyed the altar now it's like no no you don't get it anybody who wants to defend bail anyone who will plead for bail let him be put to death while it's still mourning and then all of a sudden it's like really quiet like oh who said anything about putting anybody to death you know so his dad really goes to bat for him and then it says in in verse number 33 it says then all the midianites and the malachites and the children of the east were gathered together and went over and pitched in the valley of jesrael but the spirit of lord came upon gideon he blew a trumpet and abi ezer was gathered after him and so this is you know it's pretty miraculous that gideon's even able to assemble this great army of course god's going to send everybody home but you know he's able to assemble this great you know spirit of lord comes upon him he blows a trumpet and he you know god gave him the the charisma and the the words to speak and whatever to get everybody inspired and to get everybody out for the battle so they all come to him but gideon even though and here's even though publicly he's sounding the trumpet he's still kind of a doubtful guy and so then you know behind closed doors he sounds something all right we're going to do this and then he goes behind closed doors he's like okay god i need to make sure that you know that i didn't misunderstand something here because there's this innumerable multitude out here that want to kill us we've got 32,000 guys or whatever best case scenario let me just make sure here i'm going to do a little test i'm going to put this fleece so he's going to put this woolen you know i you know i always just kind of pictured it like the size of a doormat or something you know he puts this he puts out this you know woolen doormat and he says that he wants there to be only dew only dew on the fleece and no dew anywhere else he's like this is the miracle i'm requesting god so he goes to bed wakes up the next morning and the fleece is wet but then he starts thinking he's like you know what if somebody just put some water on this thing you know what i mean because it's not really that amazing that an object outside got wet and everything else is dry he starts thinking like that was a dumb thing to ask for i didn't i'm doing this thing backwards because you know it'd be a lot more miraculous if there's dew everywhere and the fleece is dry as a bone that's you know a little bit harder to fake that so then he goes back to god he's like okay god yeah don't get mad he says in verse 39 let not thine anger be hot against me i screwed up you know i asked for the wrong thing i i will speak to thee but this once let me prove i pray thee but this once with the fleece let it now be dry only on the fleece and upon all the ground let there be dew and god did so that night for it was dry upon the fleece and there was dew on all the great god's really patient with this guy he's given him all kinds of confirmations and even in the next chapter he's going to give him more confirmations and he's going to keep uh bolstering him but you know what we have today you know what we have the bible and the bible is constantly bolstering us and giving us little pep talks you say man i want the angel of the lord to show up and give me a pep talk well here i'm the angel of the lord i'm here to give you a pep talk we're more than conquerors through him that loved us right nothing can separate us from the love of god which in christ jesus our lord if god before us who could be against us right that's what the bible tells us and so we've got the bible to give us all the pep talks and we've got the comforter giving us the pep talks through his word and so we don't need the pep talks that gideon had but i like gideon because i like the fact that god used somebody who's not perfect somebody who has doubts somebody who's fearful but he acts in spite of his doubts he acts in spite of his fears and he's humble and he loves the lord and he believes in the power of god folks that's something that we can all achieve we can all strive for these attributes we can be gideon we can be gideon if we will just be humble and just trust in god and just rely on him and when we doubt act anyway we're scared do the right thing anyway nobody's asking you to be what's impossible you know just to be god-like in your in your behavior where you just never make a mistake and never fear or never you know obviously that's what you know we're striving to be like christ but that's not prerequisite for being used by god if you had to be perfect before you'd be used by god then nobody's going to show up to soul winning if it's like well you're not godly enough you know uh maybe next week that's what we do it is those of you who've never showed up to a soul winning time the first thing we do is judge your godliness and make sure you're godly enough i'm kidding of course because we would never do that and you know i've i've been to some churches where they they uh you know they would worry about people's appearance on soul winning and they would they would uh you know not allow people to go soul winning if they were dressed wrong or if they had you know uh whatever worldly appearance or maybe long hair on men or you know whatever the wrong appearance but you know i've always been against that philosophy because i've always thought you know anybody i'll go soul winning with anybody who's saved i'll even go soloing with people who aren't saved you know i've taken people that i knew weren't saved out soul winning and and you know and then they kept hearing the gospel over and over is great you know and and by the way i've known people who took an unsaved soul winning partner out soul winning and then they got this the partner saved the partner's like i prayed with that guy too i was right there with him i was getting saved too and people have said well don't you don't you afraid that's going to reflect poorly on the church i'm not really worried about it our church has no reputation to protect number one but number two number two here's the thing you know let's say i show up at the door with some super worldly dude or let's say one of you ladies shows up with a worldly gal or whatever and we show up at the door you know are you afraid that's going to make the church you know what i'm more concerned i'm more just excited about the spiritual growth that i'm getting somebody out so winning to me that's so much better and so much more powerful and so much more important to help them grow in the lord and get them out there serving christ and bearing fruit that's so much more important like who cares if somebody gets a weird attitude about our church because guess what have you noticed that we go out so many and knock tens of thousands of doors and very few people actually uh end up showing up so who cares if we offend some people or something you know what i'd rather do that than offend the the new christian who's showing up and wanting to do right and so you know i look hey i don't care if you got saved today you should show up for soul winning i don't care if you got saved last week you should show up for soul because that's a great way to grow in christ now you know uh you could show up you could be a silent partner you don't even have to say anything you just have to just tag along and and and watch and learn and and just look that's the best way to grow as a christian because you bring forth fruit god will purge you you bring forth more fruit it's great and so uh god doesn't use perfect people he just uses people that are humble people that are have faith in him and people who when they doubt and fear they act in spite of their doubt and fear they they still move forward for the lord let's probably have a word of prayer father we thank you so much for our church lord thank you for all the people who all the people who go out soul winning on a weekly basis lord and lord those that have never gone so winning i pray that they would overcome some of those doubts and fears and just get out there and try it just get out there get their feet wet and be a silent partner lord help us all to be faithful and lord when we when we fear and doubt help us to do the right thing in spite of our fears and doubts and lord help none of god forbid that any of us would ever become arrogant or prideful or haughty lord help us all to stay humble and not to get all full of ourselves or puffed up lord help us be humble so that you can exalt us and and use it in a great way without it going to our head and if we can stay humble then the sky's the limit for how high you can lift us up and and how greatly you can use us as long as we will stay humble and in jesus name we pray amen all right we're going to sing one more song before we go song number 15 lead me to calvary song 15 15 lead me to calvary me me i love me show to me now lead me to calvary to share thine agony all right we're dismissed thanks for being here tonight those who were just out solmonying the finished maps please thank you