AN UNLIKELY HERO - PART 2

Christian Standard Bible (Chapter 7) - JUDGES 7:1-2

7 Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the troops who were with him, got up early and camped beside the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them, below the hill of Moreh, in the valley. 2 The LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many troops for me to hand the Midianites over to them, or else Israel might elevate themselves over me and say, ‘I saved myself.’

BIG IDEA: GOD USES US IN SPITE OF US!

HEROES ARE OFTEN FLAWED! WHY? BECAUSE WE’RE ALL FLAWED....

GIDEON:

DOUBTED THE PROMISES OF GOD: HE WAS UPSET WITH GOD, BECAUSE OF THE SEASONAL OPPRESSION OF HIS PEOPLE. HE KNEW THE PROMISES OF GOD, YET, HE HAD NOT WITNESSED WHAT HAD BEEN PROMISED…HE WAS AFRAID & FRUSTRATED!

DOUBTED HIS POTENTIAL W/GOD: NOT BELIEVING IN GOD’S ABILITY THROUGH HIM, AND THUS LIMITING (IN HIS OWN MIND) THE POTENTIAL FOR HIS IMPACT…

Christian Standard Bible (Chapter 6)

11 The angel of the LORD came, and he sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash, the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites. 12 Then the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said, “The LORD is with you, valiant warrior.”13 Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened? And where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about? They said, ‘Hasn’t the LORD brought us out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.”14 The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the grasp of Midian. I am sending you!”15 He said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Look, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s family.”16 “But I will be with you,” the LORD said to him. “You will strike Midian down as if it were one man.”

HOW DID GIDEON GO FROM DOUBTER TO BELIEVER?

Christian Standard Bible (Chapter 7)

GIDEON SPIES ON THE MIDIANITE CAMP9 That night the LORD said to him, “Get up and attack the camp, for I have handed it over to you. 10 But if you are afraid to attack the camp, go down with Purah your servant. 11 Listen to what they say, and then you will be encouraged to attack the camp.” So he went down with Purah his servant to the outpost of the troops who were in the camp.12 Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and all the people of the east had settled down in the valley like a swarm of locusts, and their camels were as innumerable as the sand on the seashore. 13 When Gideon arrived, there was a man telling his friend about a dream. He said, “Listen, I had a dream: a loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp, struck a tent, and it fell. The loaf turned the tent upside down so that it collapsed.”14 His friend answered, “This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has handed the entire Midianite camp over to him.”GIDEON ATTACKS THE MIDIANITES15 When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. He returned to Israel’s camp and said, “Get up, for the LORD has handed the Midianite camp over to you.” 16 Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies and gave each of the men a ram’s horn in one hand and an empty pitcher with a torch inside it in the other hand.17 “Watch me,” he said to them, “and do what I do. When I come to the outpost of the camp, do as I do. 18 When I and everyone with me blow our rams’ horns, you are also to blow your rams’ horns all around the camp. Then you will say, ‘For the LORD and for Gideon!’ ”

DEVELOPMENT OF A LEADER/HERO:

IT’S NOT ABOUT NUMBERS: REDUCED TROOPS SIGNIFICANTLY!

IT’S NOT ABOUT TECHNIQUE: SOUND AND THE PRESENCE OF GOD STRUCK FEAR IN THEIR ENEIES!

IT’S NOT ABOUT MIGHT: THEIR SMALL 300 TROOP ARMY (WITH GOD’S DIVINE INFLUENCE) DEFEATED THEIR ENEMIES!

GOD-SENT LEADERS MUST BELIEVE GOD’S WILL & WISDOM IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE VICTORY! TRUST: GOD’S WAYS GO AGAINST THE WORLD’S WAYS!

IT’S ABOUT SURRENDER: GIVE UP DOUBTS AND DISBELIEF!

IT’S ABOUT SUBMISSION: GIVE IN TO GOD’S DIRECTIVES, DESPITE OUR VISUAL!

IT’S ABOUT SUBSTANCE: FAITH IS THE SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR! WE MUST BELIEVE THAT GOD’S WAY WINS!!!