The Person that God Can use

I. Introduction

A. Gideon was a man with rock solid faith.

i) He was not always that valliant man of faith

ii) His life was changed by his faith

iii) His people were changed by his faith

B. Gideon was an unlikely hero

II. God uses ordinary people

A. Gideon was not a great man from a great powerful family

i) Judges 6:11 “Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites.”

B. Gideon was working the farm when God called him

C. Gideon was the least likely candidate to deliver Israel

i) Gideon was the youngest and weakest from a poor family

ii) 1 Corinthians 1:26 “For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.”

iii) 1 Corinthians 1:27 “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;”

iv. God used Rahab the harlot

Gideon the poor farmer, David the shepherd boy that became the King, 12 ordinary jewish men to spread the gospel to all the world.

a. In February 1837 in Massacheuchetts a boy was born sixth in his family he finished school with a fifth grade education, he went to work in his uncles shoe store in Boston just to stay out of trouble, he was saved in that shoe store, he moved to Chicago and began to sell Jesus like shoes. This boy was named Dwight lyman Moody D.L. He became active in the ymca and later started a sunday school that in 1864 became Illinios street church (Moody Church). It has been estimated that he preached the gospel to over 100 million people.

III. God uses offered people

A. Gideon was confronted by the Lord

i) Judges 6:12

Judges 6:12 NKJV

And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!”

B. Gideon was cleansed by the Lord

i) Judges 6:14–16 “Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?” So he said to Him, “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” And the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.””

C. Gideon was consecrated to the Lord

i) Judges 6:22–25“Now Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the Lord. So Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face.” Then the Lord said to him, “Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die.” So Gideon built an altar there to the Lord, and called it The-Lord-Is-Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. Now it came to pass the same night that the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the wooden image that is beside it;”

IV. God uses obedient people

A. Gideon faithfully obeyed

B. Gideon fearlessly obeyed