Gideon -- Enemies and Fleece

Tell story through the conquest… Joshua to Gideon.

Highlight the size of the Midianites and the smallness of Gideon.

The story of

The Angel.

The Call

Judges 6:14 ESV

14 And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?”

The Excuses

Judges 6:15 ESV

15 And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”

The Promise

Judges 6:15-

Judges 6:16 ESV

16 And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”

The meal.

The consumption.

The disappearance.

The Peace of God

The Peace that is normal — even if but for a moment — on the backside of an encounter with God.

And Gideon’s Peace didn’t last long...

Judges 6:25–27 ESV

25 That night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it 26 and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.” 27 So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night.

He destroys the local gods...

The people of the town wake up the next morning, see what he has done, and they want to kill him.

True to God’s promise, Gideon survives as the Amalekites and Midianites cross the Jordan and are ready to pounce on the Israelites.

Judges 6:34–35 ESV

34 But the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon, and he sounded the trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called out to follow him. 35 And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and they too were called out to follow him. And he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they went up to meet them.

Idols we have...

And I haven’t even talked about addictions, fears, secrets,

When our idols all come down, we are left with the doubts of our faith and the God we love.

Judges 6:36–40 ESV

36 Then Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, 37 behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.” 38 And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. 39 Then Gideon said to God, “Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.” 40 And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.

Not a sign of Gideon’s failure… an exchange of building substance and knowledge into Gideon’s faith...

Peter says it this way “Lord, you alone have the words of life… where else shall we go?”