God of Men

Questions

Is the bottom line clear? Men of God need to know the God of Men

2. WHAT'S MY OPENING LINE? - How many of you would liek to be known as a great man. Accomplishing great things.

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2. WHAT'S MY OPENING LINE? - What was your dream growing up hoping to be in a man?

3. Introduction - You can be a great man but to be a great man of God you need to know the God of Men.

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4. WHAT'S MY MAIN POINT? Men of God need to know the God of Men

5. WHY DOES IT MATTER? You cannot be a man and accomplish great things without God - you want to be a great husband - need God.

Judges 6:11–32 ESV

11 Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” 13 And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 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?” 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.” 16 And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” 17 And he said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. 18 Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.” 19 So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them. 20 And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” And he did so. 21 Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. 22 Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” 23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” 24 Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites. 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. 28 When the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built. 29 And they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And after they had searched and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.” 30 Then the men of the town said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it.” 31 But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal? Or will you save him? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been broken down.” 32 Therefore on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he broke down his altar.

5. WHY DOES IT MATTER?

6. Where is the power in the text - When the angel says the Lord is with you oh mighty man of Valor

7. How am I moving toward application? - In the same way God used an ordinary man like Gideon - he can use an ordinary ac man, drummer man, IT man. All they need to do is have that encounter with God. Seek him out. Ask him to use you. 3 types of people. Some who never had an encounter. Some who had but fell away. Some who want to be used in a greater way.

8. What’s my main to do? - Ask God to be with you and use an ordinary person like you in an extraordinary way that people will see the awesomeness of your God.

9. Why does it matter? - The only way you can be a great man of God is because of God

10. How am I closing? - God is looking for men who will stand up for him. God is looking for men who will fight for him. God is looking for men who will make a difference in this world. However in order for God to find such men - Men of God need to have an encounter with the God of Men.

Introduction

Imagining ourselves being someone great just like Calvin in Calvin and Hobbes

He learns it’s a lot easier to be the hero of your own story than it is to be a hero in real life.

But heroes aren’t just born. They are moulded and shaped and God often uses the most unlikely of materials as He shapes the lives of the men and women who will emerge as heroes of the faith. Today in our Scripture passage we are going to see the moulding of one such unlikely hero. So I’ll ask you to turn with me to the book of Judges. Judges chapter 6, beginning in verse 11. We’re going to see what happens when Men of God, come face to face, with the God of Men

Firstly we will see that

GOD uses Ordinary Men to do Extra Ordinary Things

Judges 6:11–13 ESV

11 Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” 13 And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

Now when you think of Gideon this probably isn’t the passage of Scripture that comes to mind, is it? When we think of Gideon we think of him, and his 300 men, carrying their torches and trumpets into battle against a vastly superior enemy force and emerging victorious. That’s the story that we’re familiar with. But I want you to understand that before that story could ever come to be, Gideon had to first live out these moments that we’re reading about right now. And the man we see here bears little resemblance to the hero he is one day going to be.

Gideon was just an ordinary man doing ordinary things.

he was currently beating out some wheat to hide it from the Midianites

At this point in time Israel was under a lot of stress

Lord had handed them over to the Midianites for 7 years cause they were disobedient to him

they would hide in the hills and caves

the Midianites were destoying all their crops and taking all their animals such as goats, sheep, cattles and donkeys

Israel were reduced to starvaation

They cried out for help

This is what was happening

Israel needed a hero - A man who can save them from their enemies

They were looking for a Superman, an Iron Man, A Hulk an Avenger someone to come and save them

The Angel of the Lord saw a potential person and his name was Gideon

Just an ordinary man

Illustration

Society tells us we must be bigger, better, faster and stronger to find success.

All through Scripture, God uses those which society would never choose. Consider the following:

God used Moses who was shy, fearful, and afraid to speak. He qualified to lead a million from slavery.

God used David. The youngest shepherd became the giant killer and greatest king of Israel.God chose a tiny and insignificant nation called Israel to bring about the Messiah.

The disciples were uneducated fisherman and tax collectors. No book would describe this group at the recipe for building an effective team.

They were ordinary jars of clay. According to God, this qualified them. By Paul’s definition, a true minister spoke not from his success but from the Spirit inside.

Billy Graham was a farm boy from the mountains of North Carolina, Descriptions have him with a big nose and being rather funny looking. This jar of clay, filled with the power of God had preached to millions while meeting with leaders and presidents around the world. He is man Christians and unbelievers alike respect.

God takes highly unlikely people, takes them into highly unlikely places, gives them a highly unlikely strategy and gives them a highly unlikely outcome - Christine Caine

Application

Today the world is in dire need of heroes - in dire need of men who will make a difference in their communities

The world is looking for a Gideon

The world is looking to you to be that Gideon

God will use an ordinary man like you but firstly Men of God need to have an encounter with the God of Men.

When we have an encounter with God , we have the power to do great things like Gideon

God wants to use ordinary people like yourself to make a difference in this land of Trinidad and Tobago .

God sees you differently than you see yourself

Judges 6:12 ESV

12 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.”

Gideon saw himself as just an ordinary person.

Not as a mighty man of Valor.

He was just an ordinary man like the rest of us doing what needs to be done on a daily basis to make ends meet.

just beating out wheat in a winepress.

How do you see yourself?

Would you be shocked if God called you Mighty Man of Valor.

You see we see what is on the outside and what everyone sees. God sees your potential.

God sees what you could become.

Man looks at the outside - God sees the heart.

God chose him.

God did not choose Gideon because he was mighty. God chose him because he saw that he could become mighty.

God sees us differently than how we see ourselves.

When the World looks at Alvin - they see a short man who probably cant reach high things and knows a little about AC

They see Sanjay an ordinary drinks man

And that’s how many of us including myself see ourselves at times

We are ordinary - God sees us as extraordinary

Let us not forget that it is God who created us - so he will know what we are capable of

God as creator knows us better than we know ourselves.

No one knows what a FORD vehicle is capable of doing better than FORD themselves

They created that vehicle

Same thing with you and God

Contrast how the world sees you with how you see yourself and how God sees you

Illustration

God used David. A skinny lad.

Moses who could’t talk

Noah who was a drunkard etc

My experience with Finu crusade - how I saw myself

being asked to be the youth coordinator

getting all the youths in the churches involved in the event

planning a big youth program with the different churches

being in charge of a motorcade to promote the crusade.

I saw myself as incapable

Application

When you think of yourself as a man of God - how do you see yourself

What are your thoughts about yourself ?

is it mostly positive or mostly negative

Maybe you say I cant do them preaching thing, or reading scripture thing - I could only do manual labor .

Some of you sitting right here may have a call of God on your life that you think is impossible for you to fulfill. Just like me in that crusade.

God will not call you to do something you are incapable of doing

however in order for these things to take place Men of God need to have an encounter with the God of Men.

God on your side will make the difference in your life

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?”

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.”

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.”

We might consider Gideon a hero of the faith but it’s not because of who Gideon was. It’s because of who God was to Gideon

But men, know this: you cannot be sent of God until you have first met with God. We need to get with Him and we need to get right with Him.

Talk about what Gideon had to do. The stand he had to make.

We need to make a stand as men.

And look what happens. When Men of God, turn to the God of Men, and take a stand for Him, when they begin to get right with God, other men, who have dreamed big things for God will get on board and will follow them.

Brothers, never underestimate what God can do through even just one man who has their heart set on living for Him!

Conclusion

But the most manly thing a man can do is not to act, or to make music, or to play games. It’s not to break horses, or fix a piece of machinery. It’s to stand for the Lord when the world turns away.