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You You You You You You You Well good morning everyone welcome to Mountain Baptist Church take your songbooks and turn to song 434 Song 434 We're singing some more Christmas songs today, hallelujah If you would stand we'll sing let's see Oh little town of Bethlehem song 434 Oh little town of Bethlehem How still we see thee lie? Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the Silent stars go by Yet in thy dark streets shineth the Everlasting light The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight For Christ is born of men Merry and gathered all above while mortal sleep the angels keep their watch of wandering love Oh Morning stars to gather Proclaim the holy birth And Jesus sing to God the king and peace to men on earth How silently how silently The wondrous gift is give So God Imparts to human hearts the blessings of his hand No ear may hear his coming But in this world of sin Where meek souls will receive him still the dear Christ enters in Oh Holy child of Bethlehem He sent to us we pray Cast out our sin and enter and be born in us today We hear the Christmas angels The great glad tidings tell Oh come to us Abide with us our Lord Emmanuel Let's pray Heavenly Father Lord again We just want to thank you God For this beautiful Cold morning that you've given us to meet in your house and to hear your word preached I pray Lord now that you would just be with all those that are sick and feeling under the weather I pray Lord that you would just heal them quickly Lord and Especially the children the small babies Lord I pray Lord that you would just bless them and now Lord I pray Lord the Lord that you bless here be with our pastor a film with your power and spirit for it's in Jesus name We ask all but Amen. All right, you may be seated and turn in to song 413 Song 413 in your song books We'll sing stand up stand up for Jesus song 413 Stand up stand up for Jesus Ye soldiers of the cross Lift high his royal banner It must not suffer loss From victory on to victory His army shall he lead till every foe is Vanquish and Christ is Lord indeed Stand up stand up for Jesus The trumpet call obey Forth to the mighty Conflict and this is glorious day He that our men now serve him against unnumbered foes Let courage rise with Danger and strength to strength oppose Stand up stand up for Jesus Stand in his strength alone The arm of flesh will fail you he dare not trust your own But on the gospel armor And watching on to prayer Where duty calls or danger be never wanting there Amen so Oakland Mountain Baptist Church on the Sunday morning As you can tell there's definitely a lot of people missing We have a lot of people who's sick very much my whole house is an infirmary infirmary right now As far as I know I'm not sick. So but But if you don't want to shake my hand, I completely understand But just being prayer for all those that aren't feeling well obviously tis the season for this, but it's still not fun So as far as church announcements here everything should be normal today And so we should have our afternoon service at 4 p.m. And and also our soul winning time at 1 p.m. And so so being your places to go out soul winning today And then the regional times are on there just be on the whatsapp to see when People are meeting up on those times. I know with Thanksgiving and all that stuff that stuff kind of gets all over the place so just kind of be on the whatsapp when it comes to You know what days people are meeting up and what time and all that so Also, just being prayer. It's hunting season. So we obviously want to pray that no one gets shot You know no one gets injured as we're out there trying to get Bambi's dad so Always, you know good to be praying for you know safety out there in the woods, so As far as upcoming events we have the men's prayer meeting this coming Friday Soul winning event the soul winning marathon that's going to be on the 26th. So that's this coming Saturday and so I know brother Jim brother at Matt or leading that one up and so We have a video up that's kind of explaining details as well as far as where everybody's meeting up at and everything. So Definitely be in prayer for that marathon right there and then the next Saturday After that is gonna be the women's prayer meeting and then on the 10th of December we're gonna have a Christmas party fellowship And there's a sign-up sheet in the back there as far as if you want to bring anything as far as main course Desserts, whatever just let us know and it'll kind of let us know who's coming to but then we'll fill on the What we need after that. So and then we're gonna do an Exchange gift exchange like we did last year. It's kind of like that white elephant gift exchange. So Did we have did we have a dollar amount like max on the on that last year 50 he's having I don't think it was that Well, we're not gonna make it I Was it like five dollars or something like that or or did we even have an amount on it? I can't remember Anyway, I mean I guess you can do what you want to do as far as that goes but So we don't want for the kids do we did one for the kids and then one for the adults, right? So we'll do both when it comes to that So it's separate exchanges so that the kids can fight each other and then the adults can fight each other on That but yes, that's coming up in December and Chapter memory for the month. We're still in November so we have versus the learning in chapter 2 and then 1st John 5 7 a memory verse for Today for there are three to bear record in heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one and so this is pertinent because I'm gonna be dealing with the doctrinal statement of the Trinity this afternoon, so But if you don't I already have that verse memorized that's the The best Trinity verse in the Bible in my opinion, but and then our birthdays So we have some birthdays coming up this week. So we have Bella's how old are you gonna be Bella? Good night Yeah 14 so Bella is gonna be 14. We have brother Aaron's birthday. How are you? How old are you gonna be brother? 32 He's still young but Aaron's birthday's coming up and then Asa Aces coming up too. So and then Juliette we'll have to get her when she gets back in and then Elijah so two Fords And so how old Elijah? Four Nice 25th that's actually my younger brother's birthday too. So he's not he's a little older than four though, but I must have missed something He doesn't does he act like four maybe but no he's not here to defend himself so But we'll sing happy birthday to all these and Before we do our last song and then And then on the pregnancy list there being prayer for my wife. She's also not feeling well Of course, a lot of our kids aren't feeling well all that stuff. So but add pregnancy on top of that so This is being prayer for all those that aren't feeling well but being prayer for my wife with the pregnancy and the baby and all that and everything goes well and But All got four announcements the offering boxes in the back there if you want to give a tie they're offering the mother baby rooms for the mothers and babies only Where they he's gonna come and sing one more song Before that do that the birthdays and then brother brother What is your name now? This is starting off good brother Anthony's gonna be reading. What are you reading this morning? judges judges chapter 7 What am I preaching on? All right, take care of our song books and turn to song 379 Song 379 will sing bringing in the sheaves But before we do that, we need to sing happy birthday to a slew of people all right, so Bella 14 Aaron 32 Asa 1 and Juliette's not here Elijah 4. All right, y'all stand up Yeah, Bella knew she says she's not getting out of this Alright guys, awesome. Awesome. Say happy birthday to y'all ready. Here we go Happy birthday to you Happy birthday to you Happy birthday God bless you Happy birthday to you We got ace over here just smiling away. We got Elijah. He's like this. He's like, I'm not dealing with this This is a sham, all right So we'll sing song 379 Sowing in the morning Sowing seeds of kindness sewing in the noontide and the dewey eve waiting for the harvest and the time of reaping We shall come rejoicing bringing in the sheaves bringing in the sheaves Bringing in the sheaves. We shall come rejoicing bringing in the sheaves bringing in the sheaves Bringing in the sheaves. We shall come rejoicing bringing in the sheaves Sewing in the sunshine sewing in the shadows Fearing neither clouds nor winter's chilly breeze by and by the harvest and And we shall come rejoicing bringing in the sheaves bringing in the sheaves Bringing in the sheaves. We shall come rejoicing bringing in the sheaves bringing in the sheaves Bringing in the sheaves. We shall come rejoicing bringing in the sheaves Going forth with weeping sewing for the master though the law sustained our spirit often creeps When our weeping's over he will bid us welcome. We shall come rejoicing bringing in the sheaves bringing in the sheaves Bringing in the sheaves. We shall come rejoicing bringing in the sheaves bringing in the sheaves Bringing in the sheaves. We shall come rejoicing bringing in the sheaves Alright take your Bibles and turn to judges chapter number seven Judges chapter number seven We'll have brother Anthony come and read that for us Judges Chapter 7 Bobarese, then Jeroboel who is Gideon and all the people that were with him rose up early and pitched beside the well of Herod So that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them by the hill of Mora in the valley and the Lord Said unto Gideon the people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands Lest Israel fought themselves against me saying mine own hand hath to save me Now therefore go to proclaim in the ears of the people saying who whosoever is fearful and afraid let him return and depart early from the Mount Gilead and their returned of the people twenty and two thousand and they remained ten thousand and The Lord said unto Gideon the people are yet too many bring them down unto the water and I will try them for thee there And it shall be that of whom I say unto thee this shall go with thee the same shall go with thee and of whomsoever I say unto thee this shall not go with thee the same shall not go So he brought the people down unto the water and the Lord said unto Gideon everyone that lappeth of the water with his tongue as A dog lappeth him shalt bow set by himself Likewise everyone that boweth down upon his knees to drink And a number of them that lapped putting their hand to their mouth were three hundred men but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water and The Lord said unto Gideon by the three hundred men that have that Lapped will I save you and deliver the Midianites into thine hand and let all the other people go every man unto his place So the people took vittles in their hand and the trumpet and their trumpets and he sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent and retained those three hundred men and the host of Midianite the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley and It came to pass the same night that the Lord said unto him arise get thee down unto the host for I have delivered it into thy hand but if thou fear to go down go thou will go thou with furrow thy servant down to the host and Thou shalt hear what they say and afterwards shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host Then when he down with furrow his servant Unto the host onto the outside of the armed men that were in the host and The Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude and their camels Were without number as the sand by the seaside for multitude and when Gideon was come behold There was a man that told him told a dream unto his fellow and said behold I dreamed a dream and lo a cake of barley bread Tumbled into the host of Midian and came unto a tent and smote it that it fell and overturned it that the tent lay long and His fellow answered and said this is nothing else Save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash a man of Israel for into his hand into his hand hath God delivered Midian and all the hosts and It was so when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and the interpretation thereof that he worshipped and returned into the host of Israel and said arise for the Lord hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian And he divided the 300 men into three companies and he put a trumpet in every man's hand With empty pitchers and lamps within the pitchers and he said unto them look on me and do likewise and behold when I come To that to the outside of the camp it shall be that as I do so shall ye do When I blow with a trumpet and I I and all That are with me then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and say the sword of the Lord and of Gideon so Gideon and the hundred men that were with him came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch and They had but newly set the watch and they blew the trumpets and break the pitchers that were in their hands and the three companies blew the trumpets and break the pitchers and held the lamps in their left hands and the trumpets in the right hands with to blow with all and they cried the sword of the Lord and of Gideon and they stood every man in his place round about the camp and all the hosts ran and cried and fled and The 300 blew the trumpets and the Lord set every man's sword against his fellow even throughout all the hosts and the hosts fled to Beth Shittah in Syria Syria and to the border of Abel May Hola unto Tabith and the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of Naphtali and of Asher and out of Asher and and out of all Manasseh and pursued after the Midianites and Gideon sent messengers Throughout all Mount Ephraim Saying come down against the Midianites and take before them the waters unto Beth Bara and Jordan then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together and took the waters unto Beth Bara and Jordan and they took two princes of the Midianites Orib and Zeb and they slew Orib Orib upon the rock Orib and Zeb they slew at the winepress of Zeb and Pursued Midian and brought the heads of Orib and Zeb to Gideon on the other side Jordan. Let's pray dear Lord Thank you for your word And thank you for this morning where we can Gather again and hear your word preach a preach of you the pastor Rob sin film with your Holy Spirit Help us all learn this morning. Do you say my pray? Man, so you're there in judges chapter 7 and I'm gonna be preaching on Gideon and his 300 Gideon and his 300 and this is If you think about the book of Judges this is one of those main stories you think of Gideon and you think of Samson But this is a major story in the Bible and I actually don't think I've done a whole sermon I was looking up to see if I've done a whole sermon on Gideon and I don't think I have so but We're gonna start in chapter 6 actually go back to chapter 6 in verse 11 and you'll see Where this kind of started because in chapter 7 you see where they end up defeating the Midianites But there's a lot of good things we can learn from this But if you understand the book of Judges What's going on in the book of Judges is the fact that? God will give them a good judge that will basically you know Roll over them and then they'll the Israelites will be at peace for a certain amount of time that judge dies and then Basically, they go off and they start doing wickedness and then God puts them in the bondage And there they'll be like the Philistines in this case, there's the the Midianites and then there'll be a judge that will rise up and So you'll see that kind of going back and forth back and forth back and forth in the book of Judges where they're in captivity Or when they're thriving and it's always because they they stop serving the Lord then they go back into captivity but in this case, they basically do evil on the side of the Lord the Israelites do and the Midianites are basically ruling over them if you will But in verse 11 here of judges chapter 6 It says and there came an angel of the Lord and sat under an oak which was an opera and for that pertained unto Joash the Abi-Ezrai and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress to hide it from the Midianites So you can imagine what he's doing here is that he's he's threshing wheat but he's hiding in front of the Midianites so they don't take it right and You know, they're basically under their authority now and verse 12 there Says an angel of the Lord appeared unto him and said unto him the Lord is with thee thou mighty man of valor So Gideon is just over here threshing wheat, you know He's not it's not like he's already in a position of power if you will But he's just trying to you know, thresh wheat try to keep it, you know Hide it from the Midianites so they can keep it for themselves, you know and Basically the Lord the angel Lord appears unto him and basically says the Lord is with thee and then in verse 13 there Notice what it states here that that the Lord's gonna tell Gideon that by him by Gideon. He's going to deliver Israel from the Midianites Okay, and so basically it's just kind of this story where? This guy is just kind of trying to live trying to survive and then the Lord comes to him and basically says hey You're a mighty man of valor. I'm with you and you're gonna take out you're gonna you know The Midianites are gonna be delivered into your hand and you're gonna be the ones gonna be You know the judge if you will now judge and sometimes we'll talk about he brought them saviors okay, and Basically Gideon is kind of like a savior to the country if you will and same thing with Samson and just the other judges in The book of Judges but in verse 13 here says and Gideon said unto him. Oh 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 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 oh my lord wherewithal shall I save Israel behold my family is poor in Manasseh 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 then he's gonna do something basically to Kind of get a sign that hey, this is that this is an angel of the Lord This is legit and all that but notice who Gideon is He's in a poor family in Manasseh Okay, so he's not in this like Nobility, you know this family of nobility where they have a lot of money. He's in this poor family and Within his father's house. He's the least Okay, and you can kind of see how this relates to date, you know think of David, right? David was the the youngest of his brothers and he was you know just a poor shepherd boy if you will and Gideon kind of has the same background and the whole premise of this story with Gideon is the fact that God is able to deliver with few or many and actually a lot of times he'd rather he Wants to deliver with those that it's it's it's for sure true that it couldn't have been done by them Okay, so you have this poor guy It's not to say that he is a mighty man of valor valor same with David, right? David was a poor shepherd, but he also killed a lion and a bear with it with his own hands, right? So, I mean, it's not that he was weak or anything like that And I don't think Gideon was weak at the same time. He was just this poor guy He was the least in his family and this poor family in Manasseh and he's probably just thinking like who am I like how the world am I gonna do this and So you can understand where he's coming from but this is who God likes to deal with Okay, and a lot of times these are the men and these are the men and women if you will that are in poor families That aren't Basically, well-recognized people that end up having the right heart because if you remember David was a man after God's own heart and I don't think it's by accident his Situation that probably caused him to have that type of heart. Okay that that that humility that humbleness That's going to basically trust in and rely on the Lord because obviously Gideon's not like yeah Let's do this, right? He's not thinking like yeah, I can do this. I mean the whole time he's basically in this story He's like I need a sign to say that this is gonna happen Like he needs assurance along the way and God gives him this the assurance as he goes So he's a guy that doesn't he knows that by his own physical abilities. It's not happening and so But the the thing that he does though before he goes into this battle is he cleans house. Okay, so He kind of asked the question he asked the question, you know, like you forsaken us, you know, like, you know Where is you know, like where's this Lord? You know, basically we've heard about all these miracles that you did and when you brought the children You know us out of Egypt and what you have to understand is that at this point we're talking like a long time after they came out of out of Israel not like crazy but Maybe like hundred years 200 years or something like that to where they're coming out They've already come out of Israel out of Egypt and all that and he's basically saying like we've heard of all this stuff But why is this why are we in this state that we're in? But then it comes down to the fact that they're in the state because they're their own wickedness So before they go into battle and win this battle, they have to clean house Okay, so if you're gonna if you want to do great things for God, you have to clean house You have to get out the wickedness. And so the thing that he does is he breaks down the altar of Baal Okay, and his grove and notice what it says here in verse 24 It says then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord and called it Jehovah shalom unto this day is it yet an offra of the Abiez rights 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. So what you understand is that his father has this altar under Baal and God is telling him you need to you need a cat. You need to throw it down All right, you need to destroy this thing and and build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock in the order in the ordered place and Take the second bullock and offer a burn 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 in the men of the city that he could not do it by day That he did it by night. So basically he did this like in the dark of night and You can understand it's his father's you know altar 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. So he destroys this altar and You kind of wonder, you know, like what's his dad gonna think about this and in the end his dad has his back so you can imagine you could almost wonder like was his dad just kind of like going along to get along because it kind of seems That way because he didn't seem that attached to this altar. Okay, and You know when you're dealing with the altar of Baal you're dealing with the gods of the land, right? Like Balaam, Baal. It's just kind of a generic name for a false god Right, and there's different names that are mentioned of false gods. But really when you deal with Baal, you're dealing with the devil, right? Baal's above Beelzebub in the New Testament as it says and Now notice he gets a name because he does this Gideon gets this name and his father really get kind of gives him this name And so in verse 29 here says and they said one to another Who had done this thing and when they inquired and asked they said Gideon the son of Joash had done this thing Then the men of the city said of Joash bring out thy son that that he may die Because he had cast down the altar of Baal and because he had cut down the grove that was by it So they're basically telling his dad They're like you need to bring out your son so that we can put him to death because they cut down He could you know cast down this altar cut the grove and what does Joash say? So it says 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 he is yet While it is yet mourning if he be a god let him plead for himself because one hath cast down his altar Therefore on that day. He called him Jerab Baal saying let Baal plead against him Because he had thrown down his altar. So he's really kind of putting it back on them if he's really a god then let Baal take care of this situation and So he kind of shoves it in their face, you know If you want him to die then let if Baal's a god if this is a true god here that you're worshipping then let him plead for himself and Which is hilarious because we know that He's not a god right and obviously Gideon is doing the service of God So even though Baal is a devil right and they're obviously worshipping devils If you're on God's side, then the devil is gonna have to move out of the way and they're not gonna touch you so and remember greater heat is in you than heat is in the world and So he gets his name Jerab Baal So when you're reading after this, you'll kind of see Jerab Baal being mentioned That's Gideon, but he got this name from throwing down the altar of Baal So the first thing that you know, they get the story here is that Gideon's kind of coming from just threshing the wheat he's just trying to survive with this Midianite controlled area that he's in right and This angel Lord comes to him and basically calls him a mighty man of valor and says that hey by you Israel is gonna be delivered from the Midianites And he's kind of like how's this gonna happen what's going on right and then God tells him you need to go break down this altar Basically clean house get rid of this wickedness that's in your land and That's the thing that we need to understand if we're gonna do great things for God We really need to come out from among them and be separate now obviously that has nothing to do with getting saved or going to heaven like cleaning up your life and and Following the Lord, but if you want to do great things for God Then you need to clean up your life and follow the Lord, right? There's a reason why you do it and You know You can get people saved and you know get saved and and and not really be doing necessarily Exactly what you should be doing and you still got a lot of sin in your life And you can still get people say because the Word of God is powerful the Gospels powerful and all that But if you want to get if you want to be a bear much fruit You want your fruit to remain you want to do great greater works Then the Christians that are in this world, then you really have to sanctify yourself and be holy for he is holy and You know get the idols out of your life and you're saying I don't have like some Buddha that I'm bowing down and worshiping to But there's other things in your life that are could be idol idolatry remember covetousness Is idolatry? Okay, so that is something that American can hold on to Grasp on to really quick right is the fact of covetousness and especially in this season of Christmas where? It's turned into a lot of commercialization and the fact that we need all this stuff, right? And it's not possessions aren't inherently wrong But it's when you're just desiring all this stuff and you're just like I must have all this I must have that You know, that's that's where it gets into covetousness which turns into idolatry Okay, and this is a time where really? Thanksgiving should be kind of this this precursor to where you're coming in being Thankful for what you have and if you're thankful for what you have You know, then it should really tone down like what you know all this stuff I want Right and really if you think about it, it's always it's always interesting, you know, like when uh, Like my parents will ask me, you know, like what do you want for Christmas or someone will ask me? What do you want for Christmas? I'm like, I mean, I Don't know. It's like there's I got everything right? there's always things that you can get above and beyond but I mean I have everything that I need right above and beyond what I need and You know, if it's my dad asked me, of course, I'm gonna say a gun or something like that. I mean, but that's different You can't have enough that okay when I'm talking about coverage just an idolatry it's not guns. I'm just kidding So guns and ammo I mean listen, you know, where do you live in perilous times? That stuff's needed. Okay, but All joking aside, you know The idea there is is that really we need to be thankful for what we have and get that You know clean out that covetousness Clean out that idolatry that would be in our lives and and really just focus on the Lord Okay, and that could be anything from other things can be idols or you know Alters that you're kind of going to when it comes to and I don't know if anybody in our church is really big sports fanatics But sports can be that way You know to the point where sports Can keep you from coming to church because what what's on Sunday NFL? You know that and listen We have a lot of kids in our church and there's a where what what's the day that most kids sports events happen on? Sunday Right, and I and I have I have friends co-workers that that you know Do a lot of stuff with their kids and do sports stuffs and it's always on Sunday, you know And it's other days of the week, too And I'm just like there's just no way I'm like if my son wants to play baseball. It's not happening if it's on Sunday and it just is what it is, but Those type of things you got to think about as far as like keeping you know God first and what you're doing and kind of get getting it into a real-world Application because I don't think anybody here has an altar of Baal at their house that they need to get rid of But you know never know You'd be like pastor that really hurt this morning. Yeah, I had this altar of Baal The first question I'd be like, what does it look like? You know, because I don't you know, it's so generic anyway Go going back to judges chapter 6 there It talks about the this army that's being brought Against the Israelites. Okay. Now I you know, it doesn't really To me, it doesn't really tell me exactly why they're coming against them It could be because they heard about you know Gideon destroying this altar and kind of like rebelling against the order if you will But in verse 33 it says then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and children of the east were gathered together And went over and pitched in the valley of Jezreel but the Spirit of 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 beat them. So basically there's these armies that are coming against them So it's not just the Midianites as the Amalekites as well And these children of the east. Okay, so all these people are being gathered against them and the Spirit of Lord comes upon Gideon and basically He's gathering all the the men that he can from Asher, Zebulun Naphtali, Manasseh and just a lot of those those ones that are in the northern portion there of Israel go to verse 36 there because Basically he's gathering all these people together and Gideon really wants a sign remember Gideon is like You know, he doesn't think he can do this and he can't do this without the Lord, but he's constantly needing assurance He I didn't read the passage but in chapter 6 He needed it He needed a kind of assurance that this was truly an angel of the Lord, right? And he had to do this sacrifice and all this stuff was done to basically okay This is truly an angel Lord, then he's gathering together You know all these men because this whole host is coming against him and he needs a sign to basically state that Hey that we're gonna we're gonna win this battle, right and verse 36 here is this the sign of this fleece So it's kind of interesting. It's kind of random, right? if you imagine like Like what would you choose like if you said I need a sign let me tell you and And then you're just like I need this fleece to be wet, you know, you're not to be wet It's kind of this random thing But in verse 36 here says and Gideon said unto unto God if thou wilt save Israel by mine hand as thou has said behold I will put a fleece of wool in the floor and if the dew be on the fleece only and it be dry upon all the earth beside Then shall I know that thou Wilt save Israel by mine hand as thou has said and it was so for he arose up early on the morrow and and thrust The the fleece together and ringed the dew out of the fleece a bowl full of water Okay, and then Gideon said unto and Gideon said unto God let not that anger be hot against me and I will speak But this once let me prove I pray thee But this once This once with the fleece let it now be dry only by upon the fleece and upon all the ground Let there be do so You can imagine that he's probably thinking someone could have just taken a bucket with water just shoved it and thrown it on the fleece Why he's sleeping and then like well, that's why it's wet. Nothing else is right and then he's like Do it the opposite way, right? Basically that there's dew everywhere else But this is this is dry and it says in verse 40 and God did so that night For it was dry upon the fleece only and there was dew on all the ground. Okay random. I know it's kind of like, okay But basically God does it both ways to basically prove to him that That Israel is going to be saved by his hand and so I want you to Relate yourself to Gideon, okay Because you look at Gideon. He's a he's a great character in the Bible I mean the sword of the Lord and of Gideon, right? I mean, this is a valiant man that won this this this massive battle. Okay? But I want you to think about the fact that who he was to begin with, right? He was this poor guy in a poor family in the least of the poor family Doesn't mean he wasn't strong doesn't mean that he wasn't, you know valiant But where he was at in society was like way down on the totem pole, right? But the Lord chose him picked him and throughout this he's basically saying I need assurance I need assurance that this is even a message from the Lord then he's like I need assurance that we're gonna win this battle and Then they get to you know to where they're gathering together and I Skip the page bear with me. I was like, no, we're not that far But so they get together and The Lord is going to basically take they don't have a whole bunch of people people that gather together I mean 32,000 is not nothing But when you understand that it says that this multitude this this host is like the sand that's on the seaside And I mean you're talking innumerable like you can't count it So you probably heard of you know, King Leonidas the Greek King, right? the Spartan King that fought with his 300 Spartans against the Persians at Thermopylae, right and That's kind of a mainstream story about how they basically fought off these like millions of Persians, right? But before that you had Gideon in his 300 Now Leonidas and his 300 ended up all dying But Gideon and his 300 didn't okay, so this story is actually way more miraculous then then Leonidas and his 300 the Spartans, you know and the Greeks right so But look at chapter 7 verse 1 here, so let's see What happens here because there's basically we're gonna see that there's 32,000 doesn't say 33,000 I'll show you how you can figure out that it's 32,000 But basically he comes together. It says then Jerabail who is Gideon, right? So we kind of established the same person and the Bible is reiterating that It says and all the people that were with him rose up early and pitched beside the well of Herod Herod So that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them by the hill of Morre in the valley And the Lord said unto Gideon the people that are with thee are too many For me to give the Midianites into their hands Lest Israel vaunt themself against me Saying mine own hand has saved me so The reason that God is gonna dwindle down this to 300 is because he doesn't want them to think We actually did it on our own. We are just that good right and You can imagine Gideon's like we don't have enough as it is like what's going on But he's basically stating now you know, basically it's too many and I was gonna have you read Go to 1st. Samuel chapter 14 1st. Samuel chapter 14 verse 6 Because Jonathan says something That is very true when it comes to God is that it doesn't matter to the number Okay, you know God can save with 32,000 Okay but The idea is is that he wants to make it know like unmistakable. It has to be the Lord There's no way humanly possible that this was done just by 300 men, right in in verse 6 of first Samuel 14 and Jonathan said to the young man that bear his armor come and let us go over unto the garrison Of these uncircumcised it may be that the Lord will work for us for there is no Restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few so Listen, the Lord can win either way and the Lord, you know, he could if you had an army of a million Yeah, he can win that battle But the idea here is that the Lord wants to basically prove a point and and so that Israel doesn't think well We did this on our own Gideon just such a great leader and we're just that good of fighters that we won this battle So, what does he do here in verse in verse 3 it says now therefore go to proclaiming the ears of the people saying whosoever is fearful and afraid Let him return and depart early From Mount Gilead and their return of the people and their return of the people 20 and 2,000 and there remain 10,000 so here's how you figure out how many there were 22,000 left and 10,000 stayed So how many were there to begin with so you just add those two together? So it's 32,000, right? So you had 32,000 so more than two-thirds of them leave, okay and you have 10,000 there and I love you got to understand like There's not there's reasons why how he dwindles it down, right? Because he basically says if there's anybody faint if anybody's afraid That means two-thirds of them more than two-thirds of them were afraid or faint or something, right? But this goes into when you go to a battle. You don't want someone to be faint, right? You don't want someone to bring Basically the morale of the whole group down. I Mean if you're ready to go against this like this this this army You don't want someone there be like we're gonna die. We're gonna die. We're gonna die We're not gonna make it. You don't want that guy there, right? Even if you are gonna die You're not that's not how you want to go into the battle, right? You want to go into the battle be like we're gonna we're gonna kill them and if we die so be it But you need someone you need to have that attitude. Like let's go if we perish we perish Let's go and that's the attitude you want to have or you're going to die, right? I mean if you're if you're going into it like that, we're gonna die and then you're fearful and faint So you don't want those people in your group. Anyway, you know, I think about this when it comes to church And the type of church that we have, you know There's a lot of people that are afraid of persecution or first using arises then they're offended and they get out You know what? So be it So be it because we don't need a bunch of cowards and and faint Christians in our midst when we're trying to fight a battle That doesn't mean that I don't love them Right. It doesn't mean that I you know, I'm not saying they're not saved But here's the thing we're trying to fight You know against the world if you will when it comes to the wickedness of this world We don't need people here that are gonna try to bring us down and try to make us all afraid Right, and if you have someone that's next to you just constantly saying you should be scared about this You should be afraid about this. You should you should be trembling about this. Aren't you afraid about this pastor? Aren't you afraid that you're gonna do this? Aren't you afraid they're gonna do that? Well, if I had someone saying that to me every single second of the day, maybe I would be But you know what you really need to be like listen, this is nothing we got this and you have other people around you be like You see what these jokers said over here and you just have this attitude that hey, we're gonna take we're gonna win this battle And we have the Lord on our side and if God be force who can be against us That's what you need on your side when you're fighting a battle so if someone's gonna be afraid and let's say our church gets some great persecution that comes against us and There's people that are just like we can't handle it we're out I'd be like god bless you, you know, see you later I'm not gonna be like, please come in and you know, you can be scared here and and you can you know, no Listen, if you're afraid then go home and cower at home. We're gonna keep going and This is a lesson to be learned and that God when he's when he's getting an army that he's gonna do a great work with He's like I want everybody that's afraid to go home If you're faint you're afraid stay back and you know, that's one way to dwindle it down But then it says here in verse 4 you can imagine Gideon though. He'd be like we have 32,000 now. We only have 10, right? And it's like, you know, you think of what those pie charts right where you're like, it's like a third of it You're like that's all I got now is that piece right there was already small, right? But then the verse 4 it says in the Lord said unto Gideon the people are yet too many You know what still too many So it says the people are yet too many Bring them down unto the water and I will try them for thee weather or there and it shall be that of whom I say unto thee this shall go with thee the same shall go with thee and of whomsoever I say unto thee this shall not go with thee the same shall not go and Notice he doesn't tell Gideon how he's picking this. Okay. He just says let them go down and then I'll tell you How you're gonna distinguish who's staying who's going? Okay. He's ready. If you told Gideon he probably like hey guys Do it this way, right so he can get more people but so basically go down to the water and It says in verse 5 it says so he brought down the people onto the water and the Lord said unto getting Gideon everyone that Lapith of the water with his tongue as a dog lapith him shalt thou set by himself Likewise everyone that boweth down upon his knees to drink So basically you're setting these two of people apart people that lap it like a dog The other ones that bow down on her knees to drink it says in the number of them that laughed Putting their hand to their mouth. So it kind of explains what that means by the lap, you know, is that Putting their hands to their mouth were 300 men but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water and The Lord said unto Gideon by the 300 men that laughed Will I save you and deliver the many nights into thine hand and let all the other people go every man unto his place? Now you say well, what's the purpose behind how he picked it here? Well, think about this You need men that are ready to go, right? You want men that are vigilant You want men that are just ready to fight it any at a given moment think about how these men drank the water, right? The ones that went home what they do They got all the way down on their knees like this and got down and drank the water like Put their mouth to the water. Let me ask you a question if someone's coming at you you know The other people they basically took the water like this where they take it in their hand and then they take it to their mouth Notice how they're they're ready to go like if someone's coming at them they're they're watching and then they're ready to fight That's how I view it as far as like why God picked that group compared to the other I don't about you, but that's just When I'm reading this story I'm like that's how I drink water if I was getting there from the crowd as I would take it up here and then I Would I'm not gonna get on my knees and like put my face in the water, right? But so I'm like, I guess I'd be in the 300 if that was the case as long as I wasn't afraid you know in the first group, but but that's kind of the reasoning is that you need people that Not only aren't afraid because the other guys weren't afraid right the guys that went down into the water Kneel down they weren't afraid But it's not enough just to not be afraid. You also need to be vigilant sober and watching Right if you're not be sober Vigilant and so you can learn a lesson here as far as how God picked who would go into this battle But it also shows you how few there are That aren't afraid and that are sober and watching Notice that number I want you to look at that number and I didn't do the statistics on I didn't look at the percentages here we just know that out of think about that 32,000 and Let's say for sake of argument at 32,000 represents Christianity ever represent saved people, okay Because think about like Israel. There's more than 32,000 people in Israel, but It was only a remnant that were saved, right? There's only a small percentage of them that were actually safe So let's say 32,000 is the percentage of them that are saved how many of the saved are not afraid? Less than a third Right You know 33.33 Repeating of course percentage but less than that, right? So let's say 33% 33% of Christians are not afraid that means 67% are afraid afraid of persecution afraid of tribulation Afraid of getting their feelings hurt. I don't know, you know, whatever we put in there but out inside that 33% of Christians that are actually doing You know that aren't afraid that are that are not afraid of persecution that are actually vigilant sober and watching Right and think about that percentage there. Okay, if anybody wants to take 32,000 take 300 and divide by 32,000 Point zero zero nine, so point nine, but almost one percent Right, am I right? Okay So point nine percent, let's say let's round up the one one percent are Vigilant sober and not afraid There's millions of Christians in America Don't let that don't let the news and the media thing, you know, you go out So when you're like, oh, no one's a Christian anymore They're morons and they say that listen just by just by if you look at population a Quarter of the world's population at least claimed to be Christian if you count Catholics. Okay, but There the idea though that there's just like no one that's saved that's ridiculous, too There's millions of people that are saved in America right now But inside that million those millions of people that are saved how many are not afraid To stand up for the Word of God and then those that are not afraid How many are actually going to be vigilant sober and actually do it? It's a very small percentage and so this teaches me okay when it comes to God's Valiant army that's actually gonna do great things where he's gonna actually work and do great things through them Because he wasn't willing to do it with the 32,000 He wasn't willing to do it with the 10,000 but 300 that were vigilant sober and not afraid He was ready to do it And so what group do you want to be in? I At least say that you want to be in the 10,000, right? Who wants to be be like, yeah, I'm a Christian, but I'm a coward Like I don't think everybody wants to be in that group, right? But at least if you're in the 10,000 you can say you're not afraid but Take it a step further Be sober be vigilant Watch be awake, right? watching in prayer and Obviously keeping his Commandments doing his Commandments and and all that. Okay Now go to Judges chapter 7 verse 8 We see kind of the the multitude of his army, right? So now he's down to 300 And when you're down to that number you have to know that the only way you're winning this battle is if God does something And you could be afraid at this point but really what you should be thinking about I can't wait to see what God's gonna do When you think about how the world just Keeps trying to oppress the Word of God and trying to cancel anything that's out there whether it's in social media the internet or anything like that or even just Physically trying to shut you down Did you have to think? God's about to do something right God's gonna have to do something because he's not gonna let his word just get squelched So that means that when that type of stuff happens just wait for the miracles to happen wait for these Miraculous things that the Lord's gonna do to happen and we still serve the same Lord. I'm the Lord I change not Jesus Christ the same yesterday today and forever Know that the same type of miracles and stuff that he did back in the Old Testament Yea in the New Testament or within when Jesus was walking on the earth and in the Apostles that he can still do it today and So much the more when you see the day approaching when it comes to the end times and the perilous times that are to come That how much more is he gonna work in that time with his people that are gonna do great exploits? okay, so in Judges chapter 7 verse 8 here The people took vittles in their hand and their trumpets and He sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent and retained those 300 men and the host of Midian was beneath him In the valley and it came to pass the same night that the Lord said unto him arise Get thee down unto the host for I have delivered it into thine hand But if thou fear to go to go down go thou with Fuhrer thy servant down to the host Now shalt hear what they say and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host then when he then went he down with Fuhrer his servant unto the outside of that armed men that were in the host and the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of it of the east lay along in The valley like grasshoppers for multitude and their camels were without number as the sand by the seaside for multitude so They're like grasshoppers. I mean the multitude their camels were without number Okay among the people and so you have to understand that this is a mighty host and Even within that you have this 300 that are not afraid. They're not faint. They're sober. They're diligent But even at this point God is saying if you're afraid To Gideon right if you have fear to go down there Okay, then you can take Fuhrer thy servant with you he takes them with him So what does that mean that means he had a little bit of fear, right? And this also means that even in those times that we're going through maybe some great Persecution or tribulation that doesn't mean that we're not gonna have some humanistic fear that's gonna be there right? No one's perfect to just be like Not fearing at all in that whole situation. The question is do you cast out that fear? Because perfect love cast without fear because fear at torment right he that fear has not made perfect in love and Every day remember we die daily and every single day you have to basically cast out that fear It's not like you cast out like I'm good for the rest of my life. No more fear No on a constant basis. You have to be casting out that fear and even in this case notice how God understands that hey in these these cases someone may need someone there to help them with that and So Fuhrer goes down with him to the host versus our team there They're gonna get some more Affirmation, okay So remember, I mean Gideon gets affirmation because you know He gets basically affirmed that this was an angel that talked to him to begin with Then he gets affirmation with this fleece that he does that they're gonna win this battle But then even right before they go into this battle They're going down to see this host they're gonna get affirmation again, or they're gonna get confirmation that yes You're gonna win you're gonna this is gonna happen Is that someone gets a dream from the Lord that basically they're gonna win this battle and verse 13 is that when Gideon was come Behold there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow and said behold it I dreamed a dream and lo a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian and came unto the tent and smote it that it fell and overturned it that the tent lay alone And and his fellow answered and said this is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash a man of Israel For into his hand hath God delivered Midian and all the host and all the host and it was so when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and the interpretation thereof that he Worshiped and returned to the host of Israel and said arise for the Lord hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian so they go down into into this into the host and there's this man that has his dream about Basically what's gonna happen? and This dream is told to him like he hears about it, right? so this man is telling another man, but then basically that's being told to him and This dream is being told to him and and he's just like yeah, we got this Right, I mean even down at the host then he goes back to the host of Israel and he's just like we got this Okay, so notice how God will give you Basically more affirmation as you're going through Let's say a battle to just be like you got this you're gonna win you're gonna win and You know know that that happens and that We need that. Okay. So if you're going through tribulation, listen, we need the Bible We need we need God stating If God before us who could be against us constantly affirming that we're right Constantly affirming that we're on the right side that we're doing the right thing You need an affirmation that we're going the right direction. We're doing what we should be doing. We're gonna win this battle and That you're being constantly reminded and affirmed of that. Okay now when it comes to dreams, you know that God it talks about a number of chapter 12 that basically The the Lord states that he will show himself unto a prophet in a vision or in a dream But Moses he speaks face to face if you remember so that's a way that God will speak to people and dreams and envisions and So this is something that I believe the Lord gave this guy a dream. That was an accurate dream What was the point of the dream? Well part of the point of the dream could to set fear in the land of MIT, you know in this host Right that they're about to take out because you remember when they go into and when they go into a land He'll send like hornets or in other cases He'll basically make it look like they're they think that they see a whole pool of blood They think that the whole host was destroyed and it's just like mental games, right or it's like mentally they're defeated and Basically God's mentally defeating this this host because if you understand it's 300 against them So there has to be some kind of thing that happens to where they're gonna basically Implode on themselves and that's what happens is they end up basically Running into each other started destroying each other because they don't know what's going on They probably heard these dreams that were going on. They're like Gideon's coming after us We're gonna die, you know, like all this stuff is going in their minds. Whereas in Gideon's camp like we got this God's on our side Something miraculous is about to happen. Okay So Gideon's plan here in verse 16 so get Gideon judges chapter 7 not Gideon chapter 7 Verse 16 it says and he divided the 300 men into three companies and he put his trumpet and every man's hand With empty pitchers and lamps within the pitchers now Like I said, I haven't preached a whole sermon on Gideon and his 300 but this I definitely believe represents the wrath of God that's poured out on the world where you have the seven Trumpets and seven vials and How I believe they happen concurrently meaning that you had the first trumpet that's blown first vials poured out second trumpets blown Second vials pour it out. And when you look at what they're doing here They have in their right hand a trumpet in their left hand. They have these pitchers now these pitchers You know, they have a lamp inside of them and they're gonna break this and then there's a lamp that comes out so basically whatever's in the lamp comes out of Or I'm sorry, whatever's in the pitchers so you can think of the pitchers being like the vials obviously the trumpets are trumpets, but You can definitely see how that correlates but either way. Okay, just to understand what's going on here They all have a trumpet in their hand and they all have these pitchers in their hands and he said unto them look on me and do likewise and behold when I Come to the outside of the camp it shall be that as I do so shall ye do so They're basically all gonna do the same exact thing Right when I blow with a trumpet and all and I and all that are with me Then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and say the sword of the Lord and of Gideon so they're splitting up and They're surrounding this. They're gonna surround this camp right of this host If you remember they're down the host that they're going against is down in the valley. Okay, I Kind of want you to picture what's going on here, right? They're down in the valley They're up above Okay, so Gideon and his 300 up above they split up and into groups of a hundred, right? So they split up in three companies. It's three hundred of them Hundred, right? So there's a hundred over here hundred over here hundred over here And they're basically splitting up to where they're kind of on all sides of this camp or at least three sides of the camp there and They're gonna have these pitchers in their hands and they're gonna have these trumpets and basically when Gideon's camp his hundred that's with him. They start blowing with these trumpets Then everybody else then the other camps are blowing with their trumpets and then they start saying the sword of the Lord and of Gideon Okay, now remember what dream what was said in that dream that was down in the camp of the Midianites This is nothing but the sword of sword of Gideon right So you can imagine like they're all probably here in this dream that's going around That everybody's talking about of like there's the sword of Gideon the sword of Gideon sort of Gideon we're gonna be destroyed by the sword of Gideon and then they're gonna they're you know, they're basically gonna hear these trumpets sounding from all around them and They're gonna hear the sword of the Lord and of Gideon What do you think's gonna go through their head right? So in verse 19 here It says so Gideon and the hundred men that were with him came on to the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle Watch so we're talking a bit, you know, we're talking to Deep in the night, right? Or it's dark which makes sense, right? This would be the time to do it You're gonna try to make them think that there's this big host of army, you know How they know how many is behind them, right? They're in a valley, right? There could be a whole bunch up on top of that hill or be on that hill that they don't know about right? and it says It says and they had but newly set the watch. So basically if you think about it There's like basically just someone coming up to the post, right? And they blew the trumpets and break the pitchers that were in their hands and three companies blew the trumpets and break the pitchers and held the lamps in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands to blow with all and They cried the sword of the Lord and of Gideon. So what's going on here? Imagine this dark, right? middle of the night and They're split up on you know around this valley, right? What's in the pitchers a lamp? But until they break the lamp you don't see any light does that make sense Basically what's going on here is they blow the trumpets they break these pitchers and then all of a sudden there's these lamps that are shining So it's like there's nothing then all of a sudden there's like lamps all around them and they hear these trumpets blowing That makes sense. So you kind of get the picture of what's going on Then it says in verse 21 And they stood every man in his place Round about the camp and all the hosts ran and cried and fled Okay, so they're like what's going on? I mean think about you have 300 trumpets Now they don't know that there's only 300 men All the trumpets are just by 300 men right to them. It's just it's 300 trumpets and there's a whole host of army That's behind them, right? That they're just there to kind of sound the charge But no, that's the whole army they don't know that though so obviously in their mind they're like they're like running around They're fleeing verse 22. It says in the 300 blew the trumpets and the Lord set every man's sword against his fellow even throughout all the hosts and the hosts fled to Beth Shittah and Zareh and to the border of Abel, Mahola unto Tabath and the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of Naphtali and out of Asher and out of Manasseh and pursued after the Midianites So basically all the other men they did they start coming in after that, right? It's kind of like the floods of everybody in Israel. Just like all right, let's do this time to time to take him out and In verse In verse 24 there says and Gideon sent messengers throughout all Mount Ephraim Saying come down against the Midianites and take before them the war Take take before them the waters unto Beth Bara and Jordan then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together and took the waters of Beth Bara and Jordan and they took two princes of the Midianites Oreb and Zeb and they slew Oreb upon the rock of rock Oreb and Zeb they slew at the wine press of Zeb and Pursued Midian and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeb to Gideon on the other side Jordan so Not only does basically all this confusion that's going around but it says that the Lord knows that it says in in verse Verse 22 there that when he blew the trumpets the Lord said every man's sword against his fellow So the Lord is basically now They're literally killing each other Right, they're just fighting each other. They don't know who's the enemy who's a friend, right? It's just a whole bunch of collateral damage that's going on and then at this point they're fleeing and then all of Israel all the rest of them, you know, think about at least the The rest of the 30, I guess it's 31,700 you know that left or coming back at least right and They're going after them and then they kill these two princes and basically win the day Okay, and so you see how obviously There had to be some kind of strategic plan That God used here And so you see the intelligence of the plan you see, you know how this could work in real life, right? Understand it but in the end Even if the whole company was confused unless the Lord got in there and really set their swords against each other Eventually, they're gonna be like, all right, when are they coming down? You know, when are they gonna come take us out, right? It's kind of like all we're scared now, but You still got to have to take them out, right? You still have to like fight them and so with God coming in there and basically setting it each other on each other Then that just caused everything to fall apart So when you're thinking about Gideon and his 300 what you have to understand is that Gideon was just a poor guy That was just threshing wheat right, there's a poor guy just Doing you know just trying to survive right under this the captivity that he's in But he obviously was a valiant man at least a valiant man at heart, but I also believe even strength wise That God can use, you know, just some poor man that doesn't you know That's the least in his family to do great things for God I mean think about where he came from the where he's at where he where he's at at the end of this chapter, right? He's literally He's called Jerabail because he tore down the altar of Baal now he's like the sword of Lord and of Gideon You know You got the sword of Gideon and he's his great leader that won this battle with only 300 men And obviously the Lord was in that but you have to understand that where did he come from? Where is he at now and it all comes down to this that he trusted in the Lord now he needed help as he was going down down the line right and We all need to understand that We're gonna need God to Help us and cast out fear and give us Affirmation as we're going forward because none of us are perfect we still have the flesh that we have to deal with on a daily basis and You know what? Gideon is a great character but we can connect to that and I think that this is a great story that we should all know and Understand that God obviously works with those that are Weak those that are just small in number and when you think about our church We're like, well our church is just maybe average-sized church today Or it's a smaller church and maybe some people's eyes Yeah, but the things that are smaller church is doing as far as work wise You know out does most these mega well out does these mega churches because these mega churches just aren't doing anything Most of them aren't even safe But the idea there is that God can do he can say with few or many and it's not saying like having a big church Is bad because he can save with many as well but How much he works with those that are small those that are you know few in number? Gideon is a great story of that and you know also know this too is that the things that are impossible with men are possible with God and We need to remember that so that you know, we understand that Hey, it may seem impossible but not with God and remember this that all things are possible to him that believe it so it really comes down to Gideon had faith and remember in Hebrew chapter 11 you know time would You know fail me to tell a Gideon a Barak and Gideon is in Hebrew chapter 11 talking about faith and how he subdued kingdoms and you know that's the thing that you need to think about and You know if Hebrews 11 was going to be written like let's say it wasn't written yet wouldn't you like to be mentioned in there as being one that had faith and Being one of those guys that that would be mentioned in there be like wow, you know, I'm just some poor guy I'm like, I'm not I'm no one that's anything special in this world. Neither was Gideon Neither was David Neither was Moses Actually, neither was most the people that are in the Bible. They weren't anything special But they had faith and Because they actually believed in the Lord and weren't afraid and went through with what God told them to do Their names are forever written in the Hall of Faith and so think about that as far as like why you want people forward is because you know what if anything when we get to Heaven, I want to hear it. Well done now good and faithful servant, you know, and so let's end with a word prayer Thank you for these chapters and judges and the story of Gideon and Lord just pray that you'd help us to relate that to our lives and to have faith in you and Lord know that you can all things are possible with you and what we just pray to be with us We've got a soul winning pray to be with us that aren't feeling well Pray to give all those safety that will be hunting this week and what we love you in prayers in Jesus Christ name. Amen But they will come sing one more song and then we'll be dismissed All right, take your song books and turn the song four hundred and twelve Song four hundred and twelve in your song books. We'll sing onward Christian soldiers And if you would stand we'll sing song four hundred and twelve Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus, going on before, Christ the royal master, leads against the foe, Forward into battle, see his banner go, Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus