Untitled Sermon

Intro

Kingdom Builders, Family Gathering, Nov 17th

Intro to the story

We are walking through Judges and seeing the cycle of sin and how easy it is for people to fall under the bondage of sin. “Everyone did what was right in their own eyes”

What happens when people fall into this cycle of sin is they create a world they are comfortable with and when someone challenges them, their response is “DON’T JUDGE ME”

Instead of God and scripture being the standard, it turns into personal preference. People begin to look a lot more like the culture around them than Jesus.

If you fit the cultural mode then something is wrong. If you are never disagreeing with the culture at large then you have bought too much into it.

Judges shows us what it looks like when people assimilate too much to the culture at large. They worship and serve the creature rather than the creator.

They are more infatuated with Netflix and Hulu than they are with their Bible. (Oh shoot, I’m not even into my first point yet and I’m steppin on toes.

The Nature of Fear

Who were the Midianites? (Description in Jdg 6:3-4)

They were oppressors.

They were like locusts.

They would devour their food and steal their animals.

Gideon in the winepress

They would economically choke out the Israelites and make it impossible to live.

The Midianites were the people in Numbers who tried to cast a spell on Israel and destroy them.

This created fear in the people.

They could not be overcome, they could not be stopped. The people felt powerless.

Fear drives you to live a life you weren’t meant to live.

But it can put you in the place where God can finally get ahold of you.

Gideon in the winepress

Judges 6:11 ESV

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.

Judges 6:

Gideon is hiding his supplies in hopes of the midianites not noticing it.

Gideon in the pit

A wine press is located in a pit or cave but you wouldn’t prepare wheat this way. You would throw it up in the air to have the wind separate the wheat from the chaff.

Judges 6:12 ESV

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

Judges

Even though Gideon isn’t acting like it God gives him a title he doesn’t deserve.

Gideon wasn’t a man of Valor. he was hiding in the cave from the Midianites!

God calls him up and out!

If you are stuck in the cycle, sometimes you stay stuck because you can’t see outside your cave.

If you want to break the cycle in your life then you have to start seeing yourself for what God has made you to be. You have to see yourself as what God WILL do with you.

Gideon was not a man of valor, YET God calls him up and out for what he will do.

This isn’t self help, this isn’t saying “Micah you are the man, you can it!” “Be the best you now”

This isn’t self-help, this is godly expectation!

Gideon hasn’t earned this title. Gideon hasn’t done anything of notice that would cause God to give him this title.

God wants the cycle to stop in Gideons life, so he calls him up and out.

If you can’t see beyond your own problems then you will never move beyond them.

God loves doing things that only God can do.

Gideon asks for a sign

Gideons faith wasn’t always constant.

Judges 6:14-

Gideon will have several lapses over the next chapters.

Everyone knows that grandma or grandpa that is always believing, they are never without hope, when you have issues or problems you know you can go to them, why? Because they are steday in any storm.

THAT’S NOT GIDEON!!!

Gideon is going to test God with a simple fleece.

Test #1 - Dew on the fleece, but dry on the ground = then God is with me.

Test #2 - Dry fleece, Dew on the ground

God proves to Gideon he is with him by passing the test. God passes by doing something only God can do.

God is setting Gideon up for a test that is so much bigger than fleece on the ground.

God uses the obedience of the Simple to solve complex problems

This is the widdling down of the numbers

32,000 men

Whoever wants to go home can leave.

Whoever is fearful and trembling.

10,000 men

Still too many.

300 men

Judges 7:5–7 ESV

So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “Every one who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, every one who kneels down to drink.” And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was 300 men, but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “With the 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go every man to his home.”

Judges 7:5-

There was a certain type of people who would’ve done the crazy.

They would’ve driven my wife crazy.

“The success of this church has been the obedience from the simple.” (Rodney Quote)

We are not a cool kid movement, we lap water like a dog, and we fight with pots and pans kind of movement.

God uses simple obedience to solve complex problems.

God uses the faithful to overcome the faithless.

God’s Promise to us is “I will be with you.”

JD Greaer says the antidote for fear is trust.

This whole story starts with God calling Gideon and when Gideon flutters is fear, God assures him, “I will be with you.”

Game day

Gideon meets his men for battle. The guys are amped up. They are preparing for what looks like the biggest upset in team history. Everyone put their lucky underwear and face paint and came ready to play.

Gideon shows up, not with swords and spears, but torches, pots and trumpets.

Gideons going old school. Remember Jericho and how they marched around the walls and blew the trumpets!

Imagine how you would feel.

Youre getting ready for your spec op mission and then instead of getting rifles you get water noodles. They don’t even give you a stick you can turn into a spear, they give you a pool noodle!

Gideon gives them the weapons and simply tells them to follow my lead.

Gideon and his men separate into 3 groups and surround the camp.

They smash their pots revealing their torches and blow the trumpets, all while shouting.

The enemy is perplexed and thrown into a fury and they start killing each other and immediately retreat.

Gideon chases them, calling out the nation to come and fight.

Judges 7:25 ESV

And they captured the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb. Then they pursued Midian, and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon across the Jordan.

Zeeb was killed at the winepress.

Imagine being Gideon, you just led this massive military victory, you have routed your enemies and you hear the two leaders were killed.

Zeeb was killed at the winepress.

You ask where and you hear in response, “At the winepress over there”

The Winepress was the place Gideon hid in fear, not knowing how the cycle was going to end.

The winepress represented the lowest place of Gideons life and, now after seeing a great victory,

Your deepest failure can turn to God’s greatest victory.

How do we get out of our cycle?

x We overcome fear, not with bravery, we overcome fear with trust. `

It starts with trusting in God, knowing how he is with you.

It’s understanding that he has called you out and up.

But it’s more than that.

But it’s more than that.

You have to understand that Jesus went to humanities greatest failure. He went to my greatest failure and took it head on.

He went to a people who worshipped every god but Him.

We lived in rebellion of God, we set up for ourselves sacred temples of football, money, power, success.

And when God came on the scene in the person of Jesus Christ we saw him and killed him.

Jesus went to the cross and bore our sins, he took our shame and failure upon himself and died with it there.

Jesus went to the winepress and conquered our sin, he conquered our fear.