Gideon

August 11th 2024

Series: Holy Spirit in the Old Testament

Sermon Title: Gideon

Topic: Journey to help us learn who the Holy Spirit was, is, and will always be and how the Holy Spirit is active in our lives today.

Key Passages: Judges 6-7

Topic: Holy Spirit, Deliverance, Gideon

Sermon Blurb: In today’s message, we will see how the Holy Spirit can even work through people who are underdogs!

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Sermon:

Hello Family Church!

Family Moment –

Start with something personal from your family life recently to help people get to know you.

Celebrate salvation / re-dedications / baptisms last week.

Those of you newer to Family Church, we are SUPER happy you are with us today!

Today, we are jumping back into our series on the Holy Spirit.

We took a pause for the month of July and preached through characters of the Bible.

Then last weekend we FAMILY DAY!!!! Celebrate the great things from Family Day!!!

In this part of the Holy Spirit series we are looking at the evidences of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament.

We are in a series taking a DEEP dive into who the Holy Spirit was, is, and will always be.

PAUSE

We are in the process of reading the Old Testament and examining how the Holy Spirit was active there.

We have already examined the role of the Holy Spirit in the first five books of the Bible, and today, we continue in book of Judges.

The book of Judges also contains over 1/3 of ALL the references to the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament historical books.

You can see those locations in your notes and on the screens for further reading.

Holy Spirit in Judges: Judges 3:10, 6:34, 11:29, 13:25, 14:6, 14:19, 15:14

Today, we will focus on Judges 6 which has an amazing story where the Holy Spirit shows up!

PAUSE

Grab your Bible and open it up to

Judges 6

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PAUSE

Let me just give a little background, and then we will jump into the Bible.

During the period of Judges, there was no King in Israel.

This, in turn, led to the appointment of Judges to guide them through particularly turbulent periods.

There is a cycle in the book of Judges that we will see over and over as we walk through this book.

You can see that cycle in your notes and on the screen.

The Cycle of Judges: · Abandonment of God: Israel turns away from God, leading to moral decay and idol worship. · Oppression: Enemies oppress Israel. · Cry for Deliverance: Israel cries out to God. · God Raises Judges: God appoints judges to deliver them.

Leave that on the screen and I want you to think about your life.

Does that pattern describe your relationship with God?

I know SO MANY PEOPLE….

That they walk away from God…

Their life goes into a spiral the wrong direction…so they blame God for that…

Life gets harder and harder…. Right oppression….

Then I have seen so many people cry out to God AFTER walking away from Him…

And crying out can be yelling at God.

Being mad at God…

Or ask God for help…

BUT….

God usually waits until the anger turns to recognition of what we did and asking Him for help with what we CHOSE to walk into…

Then God delivers us…

Just like he did with the Israelite people in the book of Judges…

PAUSE

Today, we are going to look at a person in the Bible who did not want to lead…

Who did NOT think he was good enough…

Who was SCARED because what God was asking seemed impossible.

And I am excited about this sermon because I think a lot of us will be able to relate to Gideon.

I know God is calling people in this church to do some BIG things,

some CRAZY things,

some of you are scared to follow where God is leading!

And it is my hope that as we see other people just like us overcome their fears…… we will all step out in faith in a greater measure.

Here is the point I hope you see today:

God doesn’t call the qualified; God calls the unqualified.

Repeat

If you study the Bible you will see that God consistently raises up leaders who we would NEVER assume could become leaders!

Let me list some of the struggles some of our Biblical heroes had:

- Moses stuttered, questioned God's judgment, and committed murder.

- King David was considered too young, undervalued by his father, and had an affair. - Jacob was a liar.  - Elijah & Jeremiah were depressed & suicidal. - Noah got drunk. - Job went through bankruptcy. - Gideon was fearful.

I could go on and on with that list.

But here is the reality….

The question isn’t, can God use broken people to do big things because we know that He does….

The question is, when will you stop running from God?

None of those people were perfect.

They were just ordinary people used by God for an extraordinary purpose.

We are all ordinary, and God can use us too!

Being used by God for His Kingdom is not about being flawless.

It's about being willing and surrendering our hearts and our agendas to Him.

PAUSE

Today we will walk through a story in the Bible about a guy named Gideon.

I love the story of Gideon because he was someone who started out as a nobody and became a hero….

Like so many people in the Bible….

Let’s start reading….

Judges 6

The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites.

2 Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds.

3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country.

4 They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys.

5 They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it.

Look in your Bibles….at verse 1…….why did all this happen?

What does it say?

Because God’s people did evil in God’s eye.

Throughout the Bible, you will see that evil in people's hearts always causes all these bad things to happen.

If people then, and for that matter today, would live pure lives….we would not have to go through so much pain and we could truly live in FREEDOM!

Let’s keep reading…..Verse 6

6 Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.

Stop there…..

This verse makes me think about us and our modern lives.

In America we have such extraordinary lives in comparison to the rest of the world.

And like this verse…..sadly, I think it will take us becoming impoverished before we will see revival as well…..

I don’t know how else America could be turned right side up again outside of losing everything……and it might not be far off…..

I mean, let’s just be totally objective and look at the way our nation is heading.

The Constitution, which has worked great for hundreds of years, is being tossed aside in so many ways now…..

And let me say one last thing that ties to what is said right here… they cried out to Jesus because they were SOOO poor….

Let me encourage those of you who believe socialism is the best future for our country…. study literally ANY country in human history that turned to socialism and then try to find one where the people prospered and the people LOVED it!!!

Because you will not find one.

If you are not aware…Israel, India, and the UK all turned to socialism after WWII, and it did NOT work.

Study Argentina, which was at one time the 10th wealthiest nation in the WORLD….and when you study it, you will find even when we had the great depression, the USA never really affected Argentina!

BUT you will find in 1943 a group ran on the “promise” of higher wages for workers and better social security and such ideals….and won the election!!!

And if you study the aftermath, you will find this once 10th wealthiest nation crashed hard, and now there is mass starvation, and now it is not the 10th richest nation but is NOW the 875 in the world!

PAUSE

That is not a political statement; it is saying that the Bible teaches us to learn from our past so that we do not make the same mistakes.

PAUSE

Drop down to verse 11…

11 The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites.

Hold up here…..

Gideon is threshing wheat in the winepress.

Here is a winepress picture.

Now let me explain how this worked….people walked around in this area and smashed grapes so the juice ran down into that lower hole to be collected…

Gideon is NOT making wine, though….he is threshing wheat….and threshing wheat NEVER happens in a wine press…..

So, what is he here for????

PAUSE

Well, it is because the Midianites were taking all their stuff….

So, he is threshing the wheat in hiding rather than on an elevated threshing floor to keep anyone from seeing him.

Threshing wheat normally takes place in a large, open space like this wheat picture.

It takes place out in an area where the wind can carry away chaff, which does not happen as quickly when you’re hiding down in a hole!

PAUSE

Now, let’s add more depth to this and draw it to our lives today.

What do people do when they’re afraid?

Come on work with me today!

What do people do when they are afraid?

They do things they’re not supposed to do!

They operate based on fear first!

They do NOT operate rationally.

They do things they would NEVER have done before but they do now only because of fear…

When people are afraid, they throw logic out the window.

They believe things they never would normally.

They allow things they never would have allowed before they got scared….

PAUSE

Gideon is scared….so he is threshing wheat in a winepress.

Winepresses are for crushing grapes.

Threshing floors are for threshing wheat.

But Gideon is so afraid that he’s doing things he’s not supposed to do!

Gideon will now have to work much harder and longer, but he does not care because he is afraid…..

PAUSE

God never wanted it to be this way.

Gideon is not supposed to be afraid of the Midianites!

God’s people are supposed to drive them out!!

But his fear has taken hold of him……..

Maybe you can relate to that.

Maybe you have been there before.

If we are honest, a lot of us were there in 2020….

Some of us are so afraid that we are doing things we would NEVER had done before 2020!

It is easy when we are caught up in FEAR to do things that make sense to us…..

But to someone looking from outside our situation...it makes no sense.

PAUSE

Look at the question in your notes…..

Are there things in your life that have taken hold of you, things that God never intended for you to be afraid of?

You’re afraid you’re never going to get out of debt.

I'm afraid you’re never going to make a sports team.

Afraid you will never have friends.

Afraid you’re never going to find a good job.

Are you afraid you’re never going to get pregnant?

Are you afraid you’re never going to get married?

Are you afraid your company is never going to recover?

Are you afraid of the direction our nation and world are heading?

PAUSE

If you’re afraid…….then you can learn something from Gideon.

PAUSE

If you were to walk up to Gideon at this moment, you would see a scared little man trying not to draw attention to himself.

But listen to how the angel of the Lord addresses Gideon:

12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

Hold up….what? What did the angel call him?

MIGHTY WARRIOR!!!!!

We would look on Gideon and see a fearful man, trembling in a winepress.

We would see a man in hiding!

A man overcome with fear because of the reality of life around him!

But God looks at Gideon and sees a mighty warrior!!!

God sees a fearless man!

Because God sees what is really inside of us…….not what this world has reduced us into being.

Let me say that again….write this down…..

When God looks at us, He sees who He created us to be, not what the world has reduced us into being.

Repeat

And I can say this with confidence…..

There are people listening to this message who I know think VERY little of themselves…… I know some of you think you’re worthless. You think you will never measure up to your dad.

You think you’re ugly.

You think you’re not good enough.

You think you’re not talented enough.

You think you’re never as good as the people you compare yourself to…….

GET EXCITED!!!!

And if that is you today, I want you to see what happens in the life of Gideon….because that is where he was, and wait and see what God does through him!

Because God could do the same thing in you today!!!!

Please, please, please, if you have a LOW self-image or are living in a state of constant fear….hang with me….

But let’s start with how Gideon responds to this angel.

Verse 13

13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?

Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’

But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

Gideon says…..ummmmmm….. excuse me……BUT….did you see the BUT in your Bible?????

This is a big butt and I cannot lie about it…

No…no one caught that I worked it in so well….

Gideon says….your wrong….angel…..because look at us….God has clearly abandoned us…this is God’s fault I am here.

It is ALL God’s fault.

And he says NO I am not a mighty warrior for God. I do NOT accept what God sees in me!

And the angel of God says…Verse 14

14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

Stop there and go back and circle YOU in this passage.

He is saying YOU….in just the strength God has already given YOU…..YOU can do this!

God does not even have to do a miracle!!! Because he created YOU, Gideon, to do this!

Gideon you were created for this moment he says!!!!

And Gideon says:

15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

Gideon looks at his pedigree and says, you clearly have the wrong guy!

He says ummm….Ya….I am from the weakest family….and am the runt of the litter…..

You got the wrong family!!! And the wrong guy!

He says I am more like Frodo Baggins…..

He says I am the size of Lady Gaga….

I can’t hurt anyone.

PAUSE

SMILE BIG…..

Can’t you just see God smiling….like….You've been down this road with many people before you….including with the dude Moses that you, Gideon, mentioned earlier in this conversation…..

God has been in this SAME place with so many people!

Maybe you have said the same thing to God.

God you cannot use someone like me.

After all I have done wrong God will never work through me.

After all my doubts I will never see God do anything amazing.

You might think God doesn’t even like you after all your have done…..

So God says through this angel….verse 16:

16 The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”

Wow… significant promise and Gideon responds with….

17 Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me.

18 Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.”

You’re going to see Gideon testing God quite often….…because he is so reluctant to lead….

Gideon fails to see himself as God sees him.

(GRAB REAL MIRRIOR)

When Gideon looks in the mirror, he sees something insignificant.

He looks in the mirror and sees what people say about him

He looks in the mirror and sees what happened to him in his past

He looks in the mirror and sees a person who is not good enough…..

PAUSE

Just like many of us do….. we look in the mirror and criticize who is looking back at us….

We look in that mirror and say, “You will never be skinny enough.”

We look in the mirror and say, “You will never be as successful as your dad…brother…friends…neighbors…”

We look in the mirror and just like Gideon….

We fail to see the most important thing….

God is on our side!!!!

And God on our side means Gideon doesn’t need to cower in the winepress!!!

With the presence of God, Gideon can become a mighty warrior.

God is offering His presence to Gideon for His purposes. Which is the same thing God is offering all of you today!

Write this down….this is powerful!!!!

God is offering His presence to me to help me carry out His purposes.

Repeat

PAUSE

If you ask Gideon, “What’s wrong with the world?” he has an answer.

“The Midianites…..and that God has abandoned us.”

Just like if I asked the room today…what is wrong with the world today….

You all would have your PERSONAL opinion on what is wrong…

Just like Gideon had an opinion…

If you ask Gideon, “What are you doing to rectify the situation?” his response is,

What, little old me? Nothing.

I can do nothing because I am nothing.

I’m an insignificant man from an insignificant tribe.

I can’t solve this problem.

It’s too big for me.

Do you hear yourself yet?

“What’s wrong with our nation?” What would you say?

Now what are you doing about it?

Not not what are you posting on Facebook….

Not what are you complaining about with all your friends….

What are you ACTUALLY doing to bring change?

PAUSE

God didn’t call Gideon because he’s was the strongest or the most heroic person from the STRONGEST family…...

God called Gideon precisely because he wasn’t any of those things!!!!

Don’t miss that.

God called Gideon….because Gideon was so unlikely….

Because the only explanation can be God working through Gideon!!!!

PAUSE

This weak, afraid, little man threshing his wheat in secret is going to become the leader of one of the greatest underdog stories the world has ever seen.

Let’s see this truth come to life!!!

And the Lord said, “I will wait until you return.”

19 Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah of flour he made bread without yeast.

Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.

20 The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so.

21 Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand.

Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the Lord disappeared.

22 When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!”

23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”

24 So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

25 That same night the Lord said to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old.

Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.

26 Then build a proper kind of altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering.”

Hold up!!! Did you hear what God just said to do?

Go TEAR DOWN your FATHER’S altar to false Gods!

Destroy the idols in your town and burn them up…… God is calling a guy who’s Dad leads the worship of IDOLS to be the leader…… stop and think about that…….

PAUSE

How many of you would be leery if you found out my Dad was the leader of two local cults?

Come on let’s be real….who would be leery of me leading this church if my dad was a leader of 2 cults?

We all would….but that is who GOD is calling to lead in this story…..and worry not my dad does not lead a cult…..

Hear me……YOU are NOT held back, or defined, by the sins of your parents….

God doesn’t call you to live up to the image your parents have of you….

Verse 27….

27 So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.

He is still a scared man……

28 In the morning when the people of the town got up, there was Baal’s altar, demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar!

29 They asked each other, “Who did this?”

When they carefully investigated, they were told, “Gideon son of Joash did it.”

30 The people of the town demanded of Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”

And I love his dad’s response…..

31 But Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him, “Are you going to plead Baal’s cause? Are you trying to save him?

Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning!

If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar.”

32 So because Gideon broke down Baal’s altar, they gave him the name Jerub-Baal that day, saying, “Let Baal contend with him.”

The dad….shockingly used common sense….and said if what we are doing is true and right….our god will respond….if it is wrong….well then we will know!

Verse 33…..

33 Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel.

And here is where the Holy Spirit shows up!

34 Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him.

Here...yet again the Holy Spirit is helping someone lead!!!!

I need to land this plane….so let me pharaphrase what comes next and you can read it all later!

In Judges 7…Gideon is ready to lead the army into battle!

And God says…nope too many men….

And God whittles his army down by 22,000 men!!

Then God says….you still have too many men Gideon…

And whittles it down to 300 men to fight another army!!!

And once fearful Gideon does what would be SO HARD TO DO!!!

He trusts God and follows God! Even when it DID NOT make sense he FOLLOWED GOD!!!

Gideon led and finally did as God called him to do….

And God took care of the details……

God caused the enemy to attack one another….

Abd the rest of chapter 7 is Gideon calling out the Israelites to purse the Midianites and take their lands and they do.

PAUSE

I need to wrap things up before all the teachers in Kids ministry get mad at me for being so long-winded!!!

Stop and think about what is going on here…..

You see, Gideon is a lot like us.

He has moments of incredible faith sandwiched around moments of doubt and fear.

Does that sound familiar?

PAUSE

God says, “There’s one little part missing from your equation. You forgot to factor in that I’m on your side.”

God….makes the impossible…..POSSIBLE!!!

God might be calling you to a place where the chaff of your fear and doubt is separated from the wheat of your faith.

Let me share your life application with you today….

For those of you who are new, or newer, to Family Church.

We end our messages with a Life Application.

It is simply something to help you go home and process this message with someone else.

Something to help you continue to ponder how you can apply today's message to your life.

So here is what I want you all to spend some time processing and talking with someone about.

Life Application: Will you walk out onto the threshing floor today? Or will you continue to hide in your winepress, locked in fear, refusing the call God has placed on your life? What area of your life do you need to go to WAR with to reclaim God’s place in it? As a result of today’s message, I will _________________________.

Will you today…..take up your mirror……and do what Gideon did….

Will you take up your mirror today that shows you all false things this world has defined you as….

Will you take those past hurts that you are still allowing to define you…..

And will you SHATTER IT…… and see inside the person God defines you as….. (GET A REAL MIRRIOR for each service and shatter it)

Because behind the mirror is the FEARLESS person God made you to be!!! (Warrior pick)

PAUSE

Prayer:

Make sure to do salvation call!

Offering:

Thank you all for being here today!

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