Our True Hero
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Introduction
Introduction
If I were out looking for a hero I think I would have started in the Coliseum, or in the military barracks…But God chose different route…
A well
Not a small boy who was playing stuck in a well...
But a man doing his work of threshing wheat
No this was a full grown man who chose to go to the bottom of this well
But this well…really a whinepress
But I use well because it was set up similary where it was dug out from the ground...
Normally when one “threshes wheat” in that day they would
1st beat the heads of the cut stalks
Discarding the straw
They do it
then they would toss it all up in teh air and the wind would blow away the the chaff
while the heavier kernels of grain fell on the floor.
But instead....
he was doing this process under ground, out of sight
Because if the Midianites, those who were oppressing the Israelites, saw him doing it the traditional way they would come in and steal it away...
So there he is…at the bottom of the well…fearfully preparing the wheat...
And the “angel of the Lord” comes to him and says
“The Lord is with you....Mighty warrior”
“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.”
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?”
“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.”
The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
This is the one God would use to stop the power of the Midianites...
The one who doubts God’s goodness because of pain…
The one who mocks God’s “wonders in the past” why not now?
The one that later will demand of God to show him a sign after a sign
Transition
I think I’ve shocked some friends of mine in the past when I told them that the story of Gideon…
who’s name literally means “hacker”---so the first biblical hacker...
is one of my favorite stories.
Because there are great stories of leaders and courageous heros like Joseph or Nehemiah…But Gideon...
But...
A cowardly farmer who God had lead a group of 300 guys who drank water like dogs to defeat the Medianites…And it’s because of this phrase from God right before he thinned down Gideon’s army to only 300...
The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’
You see the story is not about really about the hero Gideon but about the true hero…The true conquerer…the true basis for our courage....
Sermon series Review
Sermon series Review
We have been going through this series the last few weeks we’ve called “stronger”
My heart through this was to challenge us all together to consider our lives as journey’s that will have high’s and lows…
and how we ought to keep our eye on the goal....
That we ought to train and prepare ourselves for those seasons...
But i want to end this series reminding us that our courage to
Stand firm in trials
Push on beyond today
To work toward holiness…goodness…kindness...
Comes from our True Hero.... God
Please turn with me to Romans chapter 8:31-39 page 772
Please turn with me to Romans chapter 8:31-39 page 772
“In response to these things....” (when we peer back)
When Gideon originally
Those truths layed out throughout the book of Romans...
That we are hopeless if we think we can be good enough for God
But that instead of God at a distance demanding things of us....
He does it…he pursues us....
He sends his son to earth and he dies on our behalf...
We then live a new life because of the work and the power of God!
vs.23 In response to the fact that we are all children of God
not by birth but by adoption...
That is one who makes a payment for another to have a new life....
For God that was His one and only son...
One who has pursued us
vs.28 In response that we are
called according to His purpose
How does this work?
Well he gives us an argument...
If God is for for us...
This is not a question “if he is” perhaps he is...
But more like “since he is” for us (children of God)
Our Hero Is On Our Side
Our Hero Is On Our Side
You ever get that feeling that trying to live a life that is aligned with God
You have many thing against you?
There is always a voice to tell you it’s ok…Do it anyway
Entertainmen
Your
There always seems to be a pull away from an eternal perspective...
Always a message to say “the journey is too hard…get off now”
or maybe
“you’ve fallen too hard…you’re not going to be able to rise back up and continue on”
But Paul reminds us…If God is for us…If God is on our team rooting us on....
Who can be against us....
What pressure could stand up against the power of God?
What temptation things it can rule over God?
If God could call a cowardly farmer out, with 300 men to defeat a large army…I think he can give us the tools when temptation and fear and those things that stand in opposition to God
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
Notice what he says “we will not be TEMPTED” beyond what we can endure...
But he will always provide another way...
When we are tempted there is always an escape. There is always another option
The computer screen calls to you
Our Hero Provides The Way To Continue On
Our Hero Provides The Way To Continue On
We oftentimes want our faith to be one dimensional...
That is we get on the narrow path and that means that it will go a specific way
But when we realize that the same Journey takes us through
The mountains of awe and joy
&
For a
The woods of fear and despair
The valleys of death
The Lord is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?
But no matter where we find ourselves we have the hope that we are not alone…and that our enemies:
of pain
of loss
of insecurity
of fear
stand no chance to God
The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?
Prove it?
stealing away loved ones
Prove it?
putting things in our way so we bang out shins
He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all-How will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things”
How do we know God will see us through to the end?
How do we know that He will be right with us as we continue through this journey?
But the
He didn’t give up his son for nothing...
He gave him up and is now interceding for us!
Our Hero Fights In Our Place
Our Hero Fights In Our Place
When you are told...
When you are told...
You’re not good enough for God...
It is in that place that Jesus stands in our place
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.
Jesus as our lawyer...
But he fights not with an argument like “they’re worthy…trust me”
But he fights with an argument that he’s aready won
The atoning sacrifice of sin
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
Isaiah
we are given healing through Him!
So we are strong....not because we are strong but because he is strong
Our Hero Loves Us
Our Hero Loves Us
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.