Ordinary man / Extraordinary God

When I was in school, I was an ordinary student (not a super star, not a super athlete, not super smart, not super popular…)

Transition - My guess is that many of you here this morning probably felt like me growing up - just an ordinary person, living an ordinary life, doing ordinary things. (NOW I SAID ORDINARY; NOT ORNERY) In fact, many of you here this morning probably feel like that in your current life - it’s just ordinary. Man, when I look at social media everyone else’s life is extraordinary and mine isn’t. There are not a lot of extraordinary things associated with my life.

I think sometimes we even view certain people as extraordinary. Now don’t get me wrong. There are some talented people in this world. But i’m talking super-human, out of this world, impossible made possible - kind of people. Professional athletes, media figures, political people, movie stars, etc.

You know what!?!?! There’s nothing wrong with ordinary. There’s nothing wrong with what some may characterize as “Boring” lives. I don’t know that there’s a whole lot exciting going on at the Wilson home throughout the week and even on the weekends…And that’s ok!

In fact, as you crack open the pages of the Bible and read story after story - what you will find is ordinary people. People just like you and me. People just like the person sitting to your left and right. People who didn’t have it all figured out. People who made their fair share of bad decisions. People who at one point or another wasn’t living a God-honoring life. People like - Noah, Abraham, Moses, Rahab, David, Jonah, Matthew, Saul.

In fact, as you crack open the pages of the Bible and read story after story - what you will find are ordinary people. People just like you and me. People just like the person sitting to your left and right.

But today we focus in on a guy in the Bible who you may have never heard of before - not because he was a insignificant, but because we find this one verse explaining how God used him.

Acts 4:13

But the context leading up to our single verse is too good to pass up...

At the end of the book of Joshua we find the nation of Israel being led into the promised land to inherit all the land that they were promised. God is very clear with His people that they are to carefully obey all that was written in the Book of the Law of Moses - don’t deviate from it. In fact, don’t associate with the nations that remain - don’t allow your sons & daughters to marry with these pagan nations. For if you do they will become like snares & traps for you. And for goodness sakes don’t allow yourselves to be swept away worshiping other Gods. “Hold fast to the Lord your God!”

And so what do we find in the early pages of the book of Judges? A new generation grew up not knowing the Lord or understanding what great lengths with which He had gone on their behalf. And so the nation of Israel forgot God and did really bad stuff that God didn’t want them to do, so God handed them over the their enemies. They began to seek & cry out to God and so He raised up for them a deliverer (Othniel) - one who could help lead them out of bondage (physical & spiritual).

Things go well for about 40 years and Othniel dies, and again the Israelites fall back into bad habits. God again gives them over to their enemies and it’s a number of years before they begin to cry out again for a deliverer. Again, our faithful God raises up another deliverer - Ehud. For all of you leftys, he happened to be left-handed (you’ll have to read his accounts to find out why).

God’s people again chose to do the opposite of what God hoped they would do and they were handed over to their enemies.

Ehud becomes Israel’s 2nd judge & this is where it gets interesting...

See the pattern? Anybody been there? Well that gets us to our verse this morning...

Judges 3:31 NLT

After Ehud, Shamgar son of Anath rescued Israel. He once killed 600 Philistines with an ox goad.

New Living Translation Chapter 3

After Ehud, Shamgar son of Anath rescued Israel. He once killed 600 Philistines with an ox goad.

After Ehud, Shamgar son of Anath rescued Israel. He once killed 600 Philistines...

Shamgar son of Anath

Rescued Israel

600 Philistines - Could have set a trap and created a rock slide off of a cliff; Maybe he sunk a ship with 600 Philistines on it; Maybe he poisoned their Cheerios at breakfast time; Maybe he locked them in a building and set fire to it...

No…He killed 600 Philistines with an ox goad. My guess is many of you haven’t gotten a clue about what an ox goad is - me neither!

ox goad - 8 feet pointed instrument (spear, javelin, or stick) unconventional weapon of choice; one end it was sharp to help guide the oxen while the other end had a small iron paddle for removing dirt & roots which would stick to the plough when working

Ordinary people / Extraordinary God!

What are you afraid of? What is holding you back? What has you defeated? What have you not let go of? What have you not forgiven yourself of? What are you choosing to use as an excuse? We have a tendency to live in fear instead of living in victory.

We tend to tell ourselves that we’re not qualified

Not enough education, knowledge, or wisdom

Not enough experience or hours under our belt

What’s your “Not enough?”

Or we can say “What if...”

What if I fail; What if I don’t do it right; what if people laugh; what if I get rejected; What if it’s not as comfortable as I like it:

What’s your “What if?”

Or we say “I can’t because...”

There are other people more equipped

I may get criticized

It might get ugly

We can be people defined by “Not Enough”, “What If”, “I Can’t Because”!

We can tell ourselves that the ox goad in our possession isn’t good enough...

We can tell ourselves what we have isn’t good enough, or we could be content with what we have; we can be confident in what we have; we can be complete in what we have - and use it for God’s glory.

Or... we could be content with what we have; we can be confident in what we have; we can be complete in what we have - and use it for God’s glory.

We can tell ourselves that I’m not qualified, or we can realize that we can use what have & what we know to be on mission.

The Church needs filled with Shamgars

We need more Shamgars in the church.

We need a spirit of Shamgar running through our veins

We need the confidence...

We need the courage...

We need the boldness...

New Living Translation Chapter 4

The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.

So this morning... as we have the privilege of participating in communion, I’d like you to read with me the following verse out of Acts...

Acts 4:13 NLT

The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.

We are ordinary people with ordinary tools

We have

But in the hands of an extraordinary God we can accomplish more than we could ever dream of. So may we come to the Table this morning with this in mine...

We come ordinary… But as we join our lives with His… As we align our desires, motives, & passions with His… As we surrender everything we have for His purpose… Something extraordinary happens that only He can do!

“Life Groups are a group of people growing spiritually while doing life together.” It’s our desire that everyone be a part of a Life Group. We believe it’s a perfect environment where relationships flourish, where we get discipled & disciple others, & where we partner together with others to grow the Kingdom.

You don’t want to miss next week because you’re going to hear, in even greater detail, our vision and mission for New Hope Life Groups.