From Fear to the Fight by Faith | Sunday, March 10, 2024

Amen. Thank you very much, Anthony and the worship team. Good morning, Cross Connection! Welcome. You can be seated. We’re so glad you are here.

Before we get into the Scriptures this morning, I want to thank those of you who have signed up to help us as we prepare to add a third service just three weeks from today. On March 31st, which is Resurrection Sunday, we will have new service times: 7:30, 9:00, and 11:00 a.m. I’m sure all of you are going to come to the 7:30 service. It’s going to be bright and early and awesome, because I’m sure you all are morning people, especially after you lost an hour of sleep last night. That was fun, huh? But you’re here, and we’re glad that you are.

We’ve had quite a few people sign up to serve at the new service, and I want to thank you for doing that. If you have not signed up yet, we have a great opportunity for you to plug in and serve. There are so many different ways that you can connect with a service team here at Cross Connection Church. It is a great way to connect and to get to know one another.

I’ve been amazed over the last six to eight months. There’s not a week that goes by that I don’t see a whole bunch of new people coming to the church. It’s awesome to see that! It means many of you are using invite cards and inviting people to come to church, so thank you for doing that as well. God is doing a great work not just here at Cross Connection, but throughout our county. We certainly need God to do a new and fresh work in our country and here in our area.

With that, would you take out your Bibles? If you don’t have a Bible this morning, you can raise your hand, and one of our ushers will bring you one. We study through the Scriptures here at Cross Connection Church, and we are in the Old Testament Book of Judges. The Old Testament is the first two-thirds of your Bible. Judges is the seventh book of your Bible, and we’re in Judges chapter 6 this morning.

I don’t know about you, but I love Pixar movies. How many of you know what Pixar movies are? Pixar is kind of a modern media marvel. They came out in 1995 with their breakout hit, which is their number one biggest selling video movie ever: Toy Story. They have amazingly been able to crack the code over the years of making sequels that aren’t terrible. So many times, their sequels are as good, if not better, than the movie that they are following. Toy Story has now had four installments, and they’re coming out with Toy Story number 5 in 2026. It’s pretty amazing! Some of my favorite movies are from Pixar.

Incredibles, Monsters, Inc., Wall-E, Up, and lots of different great movies have captivated audiences. The movie that came after Toy Story, which was released in 1998, is called A Bug's Life. Does anybody remember A Bug's Life? It's about a colony of ants. This colony of ants, through the spring and summer, is always harvesting food for the winter rainy season. Then, right before the winter rainy season, an evil gang of grasshoppers, led by Hopper, shows up and steals their food.

This is exactly the story of Judges chapter 6. In Judges chapter 6, we see this exact thing happening. Look at Judges chapter 6, verse 1. It says, "Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord." If you've been with us over the last six weeks or so, you knew that was coming because that is the basic storyline of the Book of Judges.

The children of Israel, during this period of their history, lived about 3,400 years ago, after they had come into the Promised Land, a generation or so after they had come out of their bondage in Egypt and wandered in the wilderness. Now, after they had been in the Promised Land for a century or more, every single time they followed the Lord, it was because they had a good leader who was guiding them in obedience to God. However, soon after that leader would die, the children of Israel would quickly return to foolish idolatry and sinful practices, ultimately ending up under the bondage of the enemies that lived around them.

Throughout this book, there is a cycle—a sinful cycle—where the children of Israel would serve God as long as they had a good judge like Othniel, Ehud, or Deborah and Barak. But as soon as those judges would die, we read these words: "And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord." Later on in Judges chapter 17, we will see that everyone did what was right in their own eyes, and when they did what was right in their own eyes, they did evil in the sight of the Lord.

So, verse 1 of Judges chapter 6 says, "So the Lord delivered them into the hands of Midian for seven years." The hand of Midian prevailed against Israel, and because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made themselves dens, caves, and strongholds in the mountains. Whenever Israel had sown and planted their crops, the Midianites would...

The Amalekites and the people of the East would come against the children of Israel, encamping against them to destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza. They would leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor oxen, nor donkeys. They came with their livestock and their tents, as numerous as locusts. Their gang leader, Hopper, would come with them, along with their camels without number. They entered the land to destroy it, or consume it, which is what that word "destroy" means.

Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. As soon as the judge who was leading them previously—an individual named Deborah, along with another person named Barak—was gone, the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. They turned, or returned, to idolatry and immorality, and now the Midianites were harshly oppressing them.

It is interesting because the Midianites are a group of people with whom the children of Israel have a bit of history. In fact, Moses, their great leader who brought them out of Egypt and out of bondage, lived in the land of Midian for the 40 years leading up to their deliverance from Egypt. Not only was he living in the land of Midian, but he also married a Midianite woman named Zipporah, meaning that his father-in-law was a Midianite, specifically called the priest of Midian. He became a counselor to Moses and the children of Israel.

After the children of Israel came out of Egypt and crossed the Red Sea, they entered the land of Midian and went to Mount Sinai, which is in Midian. This means that God gave them the law there in Midian, so they knew these people pretty well. It is modern-day western Saudi Arabia.

Not only did they know the Midianites through Moses, but they also had relational connections with them. If you go very far back in Israel's history, back to Abraham, Father Abraham had many sons; many sons had Father Abraham, as you may remember from that song. After Abraham had Isaac, who became the father of the children of Israel, and after Abraham's wife Sarah, who bore Isaac, died, we are told in Genesis, I believe, chapter 25, that Abraham remarried. He married a woman named Keturah.

Had six or so sons, and one of the sons was Midian. The Midianites were relatives of the children of Israel back in their past; they knew these people quite well. They were distant relatives of Israel. Moses was married to a Midianite, and the children of Israel lived in Midian for a period of time. They received the law at Mount Sinai in Midian.

Now, a century and a half later, the Midianites, like locusts or grasshoppers, came up into the land of Israel. They encamped against Israel and consumed the produce that Israel would prepare throughout their times of sowing and reaping. They left no food for the children of Israel. It is the storyline of A Bug's Life here in this passage.

We read that Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites. At this point, I think it's worth considering for a moment what the Midianites might represent in our own lives. The Midianites were individuals that came into the lives of the children of Israel and consumed the fruitfulness and produce of their lives. What in your life today might be like that?

If you take some time to think about it, you may realize that there are some things in your life that can rob your time, sap your energy, or consume your resources. These things seem to come in and grip your focus. I'm sure some of you have something like this that might be doing just that.

There are many things besides that which come into our lives and seem to consume our time, attention, and resources, bringing us under bondage. There are a lot of ways in which we have Midianites that come into our lives and consume our energy.

Point number one, if you're taking notes this morning: the locusts of life are lying in wait to lay waste to our lives. If we're not on guard, if we're not careful, the chewing locusts, the swarming locusts, the crawling locusts, and the consuming locusts will come in and decimate our time, energy, resources, and attention. The Apostle Paul, in the New Testament book of Ephesians, calls us to pay attention. He says, "See then that you walk..."

Circumspect means having eyes wide open and ears attentive. We need to see that we walk circumspectly, understanding the times, for the days are evil. In another English translation, I think it might be the New International Version, it says to make the most of every opportunity. God desires that you and I would be redeeming the times.

I have had many conversations over the years, and I think many people would agree that in those conversations, I find that people believe we are living in evil days and difficult times. Paul, in Ephesians, says, "See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, for the days are evil." However, there are things that can come in and sap our energy and take away our attention, so we need to be on guard.

The children of Israel were not on guard, and the Midianites came and impoverished them for seven years. Every single year, they came up and stole their fruitfulness until the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. In Judges chapter 6, it came to pass that when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord because of the Midianites, the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel. You might want to highlight or underline those words: "the Lord sent a prophet." They are important because this is the first time in the Old Testament, in the Scriptures, where we see that God sent a prophet to the children of Israel.

If you ever take a class on how to study the Bible, known as hermeneutics, which is biblical interpretation, one of the principles they will teach you is called the principle of first mention. This means that when you come to a concept, idea, or something in the Scriptures, you should try to trace back to where it originates, where it starts. Many times, that will give you a clue about that thing appearing later on in the Scriptures.

As you read through the New Testament, you will see all kinds of different prophets in the Old Testament, such as Elisha, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Obadiah, and Zephaniah. These names are littered throughout the Scriptures, representing the prophets of Israel. Many times, when people think of the prophets of Israel, they think of individuals who came and predicted far future events, telling people about things that were going to come. It is rare that you walk through the checkout line at Vons without seeing some tabloid piece claiming "these seven biblical prophecies."

Doesn't want you to know. Right when people think about Isaiah, they think about Ezekiel, they think about Daniel. They think about someone predicting far future events, someone who had dreams and visions, and maybe went into trances or something, and predicted these far future events.

But sometimes it's helpful to go back and understand when the prophets first appeared. Now, the word "prophet" has shown up prior to this, but this is the very first time that it says the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel. The word "prophet" means spokesman or speaker, and the circumstances under which this prophet came to Israel are very important for us to comprehend and understand.

You see, about 150 years prior to this, when Moses was giving his final message to the children of Israel, which is the entire book of Deuteronomy, he said in Deuteronomy 18:15, "The Lord shall raise up unto you a prophet like unto me; him shall you hear." In a sense, Moses was like this individual here, this unnamed prophet. He was a speaker and spokesman on behalf of God.

Moses said to the children of Israel, "When you come into the promised land, if you depart from the Lord and you turn away from being obedient to His commands, the Lord shall raise up unto you a prophet like unto me; him you should listen to."

And here's the first time in the Hebrew Scriptures that the Lord sends a prophet to Israel. What are the circumstances? Israel is under the thumb of an oppressing people. The Midianites are coming and consuming all of their goods. They have turned away from God, they've rebelled, and they've turned to idols and to immorality. It is under those circumstances that the prophet shows up.

You see, many times we think of the prophets as those who are coming and predicting far future events, but more often than not, the prophets would come in these very same circumstances to a people who had departed from God, who were no longer faithful to God. They would come for a very clear purpose: to call the people back to faith and faithfulness to God.

The primary role of the prophet was not to predict far future events, although some of them did, and some of those far future events may still yet be fulfilled. But the primary purpose and calling of the prophet was to guide the people back to their relationship with God.

A prophet was to come and call an unfaithful people back to faithfulness to God. The Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel, and he said to them, in verse 8 of Judges chapter 6, "Thus says the Lord God of Israel: I brought you up from the land of Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage. I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you. I drove them out before you and I gave you their land. I said to you, 'I am the Lord your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.' But you have not obeyed my voice."

God's spokesman, a speaker on behalf of God, is not named. The children of Israel cried out to the Lord, and God sent a spokesman to speak to them. What does he speak to the children of Israel? He speaks to them the words of Deuteronomy. If you've been with us over the last several years here at Cross Connection Church, we've been studying through the Old Testament. We started with the Book of Deuteronomy, then went through the Book of Joshua, and now we are in the Book of Judges.

We began with the Book of Deuteronomy and not the Book of Genesis because I wanted to find a book in the Old Testament that serves as a key to unlock the rest of the story of Israel leading up to the time of Jesus and the New Testament. Deuteronomy is that key. Why? Because all of the history of Israel and all the prophets of Israel look back to the Book of Deuteronomy. It was in Deuteronomy that the children of Israel were preparing to come into the Promised Land to be God's people, and He would be their God so that they might be a light to the world and bring the blessing of God to the rest of the world, which ultimately is the Messiah.

As they were preparing to enter the Promised Land, God spoke through His spokesman, Moses, to prepare them. In the Book of Deuteronomy, He lays out exactly how He will relate to them during their time in the land as His people. He says, "If you will take heed to my word and if you will obey my voice, then you will be blessed. But if you rebel and turn away from my word, then you will be cursed." We call this the Deuteronomic principle. I've talked about it a number of times here at Cross Connection Church, and it really becomes the key to understanding how the events unfold with the children of Israel and why the prophets begin to come to them.

What you really begin to discover when you study the Old Testament is that the Old Testament...

Prophets were not necessarily these amazing individuals who predicted far future events. Much more so, they were experts in the book of Deuteronomy. That's exactly what this unnamed prophet was. He comes to the children of Israel and speaks to them the words of Deuteronomy, like Deuteronomy Chapter 5, Verse 6, where God said through the spokesman Moses, "I am the Lord your God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me."

Can you see how similar the words of this unnamed prophet in Judges Chapter 6 are to the words that Moses had spoken in Deuteronomy 5:6 and 7? "I am the Lord your God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me." This prophet is not coming to predict far future events to the children of Israel; instead, he is coming to remind them of something they already knew.

In Deuteronomy 11, Verse 26, God, through the spokesman Moses, said, "Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today, and the curse if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord, but you turn aside from the way in which I commanded you today to go after other gods which you have not known."

This unnamed prophet in Judges Chapter 6 comes and simply rehearses or speaks to the children of Israel the words of the prophet Moses, the words of Deuteronomy. The prophets of Israel, more than anything else, were students and experts in Deuteronomy.

In Deuteronomy 6:10, Moses had said to the children of Israel, "So it shall be when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to you." Verse 12 continues, "Then beware lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. You shall fear the Lord your God and serve Him. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the people all around you, for the Lord your God is a jealous God among you, lest the anger of the Lord be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth."

You see, the book of Deuteronomy and the words that God spoke through the spokesman, the prophet Moses, which are now rehearsed again by this unnamed prophet in Judges Chapter 6, reveal to us that the world that we...

The world we live in is an ordered and orderly creation of God. The principle of cause and effect is very clear in the cosmos in which we live; God made it that way. The creation of God is ordered and orderly, and this is true from a scientific perspective. Isaac Newton, the father of physics, understood this. He was not only a physicist; he was also a theologian. He understood cause and effect not only scientifically but also practically and theologically. God, the great Creator, created this world in an ordered and orderly fashion. Therefore, we know what the effects of many causes will be. We are able to see them play out in the scientific laboratory, but we also see this in our lives.

There are very clear effects. There is a principle, as we find it in the New Testament, known as the principle of sowing and reaping. We know that if you plant a certain kind of seed, from that seed you will get a certain kind of plant and a certain kind of fruit. We understand the principle of sowing and reaping, but we recognize that it does not only apply to planting seeds. This principle also applies practically to our lives. Paul, in the New Testament book of Galatians, states that if you sow to the flesh, you will of the flesh reap corruption. However, if you sow to the Spirit, you will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.

In the New Testament, it is called the principle of sowing and reaping, while in the Old Testament, theologians refer to it as the Deuteronomic principle. It is a very simple conditional statement: if this, then that. If you will obey the voice of your God, go back and read Deuteronomy chapter 28. If you will do all of these things which Moses outlines in detail, then you will be blessed. But if you do not do these things, if instead you rebel, then you will experience the curse of the law.

Here are the children of Israel, experiencing the Midianites oppressing them. Why are they experiencing the Midianites' oppression? Is it just because the Midianites were a bunch of big brutes and mean? No, it is because the children of Israel had departed in their faith and faithfulness to the Lord. Therefore, the Midianites come in like grasshoppers and consume the land.

Point number two, if you're taking notes this morning: God has made clear how the world He created operates.

God has given us minds to reason and rationally comprehend the way this world works, and we would do well to observe and live accordingly. We all know that there are many times when people, of course, nobody in this room included, do not observe accordingly. Far too frequently, people fail to realize the simple principles of cause and effect. Maybe you've had someone say to you before, tears streaming down their face, "I just don't understand why this is happening to me." In your mind, you're thinking, "Well, I kind of know how this happened to you, because if this, then that."

You don't have to be a theologian to understand this. You don't need a degree in science to comprehend it; it's very clearly identifiable. God has given us minds to rationally understand and comprehend it, but we must not only recognize it; we must live accordingly. Thus says the God of Israel, as spoken by an unnamed prophet to the children of Israel: "I brought you up from the land of Egypt. I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians. I said to you, 'I am the Lord your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites,' but you have not obeyed my voice."

In Deuteronomy 11:26, it states that there is a blessing if you obey the commandments and a curse if you do not obey. Most of the predictions of the prophets in the Old Testament were simple cause-and-effect predictions, which I would refer to as conditional predictions. When you read the great 66 chapters of the book of Isaiah, which I have taught probably a half a dozen times in a Bible college setting, or the book of Jeremiah, or Ezekiel, you will find that many of the things Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel say to the children of Israel are conditional predictions.

They would say, "If you continue to do this thing, this is what is going to happen. But if you will repent and turn to the Lord, then this is what He will bring: blessings in obedience." The prophet came and spoke this to the children of Israel in Judges as they cried out to the Lord because of the Midianites. Now, look at verse 11; this is also interesting.

Chapter 6: 11

Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terbin tree, which is in Ofra, which belonged to Joash the Beite. While his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press in order to hide it from the Midianites, apparently it was the wheat harvest, which happens between May and June. Gideon, the son of Joash, is there in this town in the northern part of Israel, what we know today as the northern part of what's called the Jezreel Valley.

We are told that he is threshing wheat in a wine press. Now, probably not too many farmers are here today, but I'm sure you basically understand that when we harvest wheat today, we have these great big harvesters that go through. Not only do they harvest the wheat, but they also go through the whole process of breaking up the wheat and the chaff, separating the wheat from the chaff. Then the wheat goes into these big trucks that carry it to the grain silos. It's all automated; it's all amazing. It's phenomenal.

That's not how they did it 3,400 years ago. Back then, they would go out into their wheat fields with a sickle and cut down big bunches of the grain. They would take it to a rock foundation area and drag something heavy over the top of the wheat husks, separating them. Then they would take the wheat and the chaff and throw it up into the air, a process called winnowing. They would throw it up into the air, and the wind would carry away the lighter chaff while the grain would fall to the ground.

To do that, you need an elevated place, kind of a higher place where you can get some wind. Gideon is not in that kind of place; he is in a low-lying area in a wine press, threshing wheat. He is in the wrong place for this. Why is he there? Because he is hiding from the Midianites. They had built dens and taken caves to hide all of their grain and their fruitfulness. Now here he is, winnowing and threshing wheat in a wine press in order to hide it from the Midianites.

I can only imagine he is in a place of utter frustration. He is probably covered in sweat, with wheat husks stuck to his face, angrily throwing it up and trying to separate the wheat with no wind. What are you going to do? Angry and frustrated, maybe the words of...

The Prophet's words were still ringing in Gideon's ears: "Remember what God did for us, how He brought us out from under the hand of the Egyptians." The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, "The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor."

Imagine for a moment that you are Gideon, hiding from the Midianites and threshing wheat in a winepress in the heat of May or June, which is very similar to the weather where he was at that point in time. He was angry and frustrated, and the words of that Prophet were echoing in his mind. Now, this stranger says to him, "The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor." How would you respond? Probably like Gideon.

Gideon said to him, "Oh my Lord, if the Lord is with us, then why has this happened to us? Where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about? Did not the Lord bring us up from the land of Egypt?" Isn't that exactly what the prophet just spoke? I imagine that Gideon heard that message from the prophet: "Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?" But now, he felt that the Lord had forsaken them and delivered them into the hands of the Midianites.

The angel of the Lord appeared to him. It's an interesting title that has caused Bible scholars, teachers, and commentators to wonder about this curious individual. It doesn't say "an angel of the Lord"; it says "the angel of the Lord." As you go through the story, when we get down to verse 14 and verse 16, it says, "The Lord spoke to Gideon." This angel of the Lord is special. This messenger—what the word "angel" means—has a unique role because when he speaks, he speaks on behalf of or as the Lord.

In verse 14, the Lord turned to Gideon and said, and in verse 16, the Lord said to Gideon. There is something very special about this angel. What is so special about this angel? I suggest to you that this is very likely what we call a Christophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus in the Old Testament. You may ask, "How is that even possible? This is way before Jesus was born in Bethlehem." You are right, but we know from the Scriptures that Jesus is the one who was, and is, and is to come. Amen. We know that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. So, if you see God in...

The Scriptures reveal that Christ existed before He was born in Bethlehem. He is the one who was, and is, and is to come. Now, He shows up. Do we have precedent for Jesus showing up in circumstances like this? We do. If you go back, and if you were with us about a year ago, we were in Joshua chapter 5. The children of Israel were about to come against a great city called Jericho. Joshua, their leader, went out around Jericho to survey the land and figure out how they were going to attack this city.

As he was there, he came upon a man in battle array, clothed for war. This man announced himself to Joshua as the commander of the army of the Lord. When he did this, Joshua took the sandals from his feet and bowed down, worshiping him. That was probably Jesus. Here again, the angel of the Lord, the messenger of the Lord, the one who speaks as the Lord, shows up. He says to this frustrated, fearful Israelite, "The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor."

I don't think Gideon felt much like a mighty man of valor at that moment. I wonder if the words of the angel of the Lord sounded to Gideon like mocking words, as he found himself in a pitiful situation. Gideon was frustrated with the futility of his work, feeling as though he was not accomplishing anything. Have you ever been there? Oh my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has this happened to us? Where are all His miracles? The Lord has forsaken us.

Have you ever felt like Gideon, where it seems God is distant and powerless? Yet, at this very moment, as Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress, the Lord was sitting a short way away. This serves as an important reminder to us today. Point number three, if you're taking notes: God is often closer than we realize and is ready to hear and respond.

Now, He doesn't always respond in the way we might expect. Verse 14 states that the Lord turned to Gideon and said, "Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the..."

The hand of the Midianites, have I not sent you? God says, "You, Gideon, are a mighty man of valor, and I am with you. I am calling and sending you to go and deliver your people from the hand of the Midianites." How would you respond in that situation? Well, maybe like Gideon.

In verse 15, he said to Him, "Oh my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house." How did Gideon respond? Probably like you would: "God, you got the wrong guy." I know I've certainly thought that before when I had a sense that the Lord was setting an open door before me. I had a sense that God was directing my steps in a certain direction, and in my mind, I thought, "You have got the wrong guy."

He says to the Lord, "I'm from this nothing of a tribe. I am the least in my father's house." Which, you know, maybe he was. But God's choosing is not like our choosing. As I shared just a couple of weeks ago, the Lord chooses the foolish, the weak, the base, and the despised to accomplish His mighty acts. Why? When Paul wrote that in 1 Corinthians, he said so that no flesh will glory in His presence. Ultimately, God gets the greatest glory.

You see, God chooses as He chooses because through us—the weak, the base, the foolish, the despised—He gets great glory when He accomplishes great feats. He wants to glorify Himself in you. What does that mean? It means He wants to show Himself mighty in your life so that people say, "That wasn't really from them, was it?" And then you say, "No, it had nothing to do with me; it had everything to do with the Lord."

That's what's going to happen in the story of Gideon. We're not going to get through all of it today because it's several chapters, so we'll get to it as we go. But that's what we're going to see in this passage. God chooses this guy who's threshing wheat in a wine press, probably frustrated and angry, because God wanted to receive the greatest glory through his life. Gideon did not see himself as having what it took. He did not believe that he was the right man for the job, and you might not think that you are either.

The right person for whatever task it is that the Lord is setting before you might not be someone you believe you can be. You may see yourself as weak, but look at God's response in verse 16. The Lord said to Gideon, "Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man."

Gideon was a hesitant and reluctant leader, and perhaps you can identify with that. He was in good company because Moses was also a hesitant and reluctant leader, as was Joshua. If you were with us last week, you would remember that Barak was a hesitant and reluctant leader too. When you get to the Prophet Jeremiah, you find another hesitant and reluctant leader. In the New Testament, we are introduced to Timothy, who was fearful and hesitant as well. God calls these hesitant and reluctant individuals and assures them, "Surely I will be with you."

That is the key. When we see the task or the trouble in front of us in light of our own abilities, strengths, or strategies, we often feel like grasshoppers. We perceive ourselves as very small, believing we will be destroyed and consumed by our own strength, strategy, or capacity. The New Testament tells us that apart from Him, we can do nothing. However, we can do all things through Him who gives us strength. The Lord said, "I will be with you; you are a mighty man of valor."

That is how God viewed Gideon, even though he did not see himself that way. God declared this when Gideon was in a pitiful condition, with wheat husks stuck to his sweaty face, threshing wheat in a winepress. God said, "You are a mighty man of valor." This encourages me because I believe that God sees the end and not the beginning. He sees what He can do by His strength and power in the life of an individual who is yielded to Him.

Of course, I think Gideon's response to the Lord in this circumstance is probably very much like my own response. God said, "Listen, I am going to deliver the Midianites into your hand, and you will defeat them as one man." That sounds far-fetched and absurd. What would you say if God made such a promise?

Going to find out in the later chapters, it's like 150,000 men I'm going to deliver into your hands as one. Just you alone. You'd say, "I'm going to need some proof."

Point number four, if you're taking notes: God is abundantly gracious and faithful even when my faith is lacking. So, Gideon says to the angel of the Lord in verse 17, "If I have now found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you who talks with me."

Okay, listen. God, I think there's something special about you. You are standing in front of me, this angel of the Lord, this messenger. I think there's something special about you. You just told me to go do something absolutely insane and absurd. I'm going to need some help here. I need a sign. Can anybody here identify with Gideon? How many of you have ever heard the phrase "putting a fleece before the Lord"? That comes from this.

Gideon says, "If I have found favor in your sight, then you need to show me a sign that you are really the messenger of God. Do not depart from here, I pray, until I come and I will bring you an offering. I'm going to set it before you." And he said, "I will wait until you come back."

So, Gideon went and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread. He took an ephah of flour and meat, put it in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot. He brought it to him who was sitting under the oak tree and presented it to him. The angel of God said to him in verse 20, "Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock and pour out the broth." He did so.

Then the angel of the Lord put the end of his staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire rose out of the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread, and the angel of the Lord departed out of his

Gideon received the offering, and when he saw the fire come up from the rock and consume the sacrifice, the man who was standing there was now gone. In verse 22, Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. His first inclination was one of fear, and he exclaimed, "Oh no, alas, O Lord God! I've seen the angel of the Lord face to face."

What was this all about? Gideon understood, going back to his studies of the Torah, that God had said in Exodus 34, "You cannot see my face and live." Now he was concerned that he had seen the Lord and was going to die. The Lord said to him in verse 23, "Peace be with you. Shalom be with you. Do not fear; you shall not die."

So Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it "The Lord is Peace," or Yahweh Shalom. This was a good word to remember to this day. At the time this was written, it was still there in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

It came to pass after he had been threshing wheat in the winepress and after his conversation with the angel of the Lord, who said, "Listen, you're going to go and deliver the children of Israel from the Midianites." After he offered this offering and built an altar, he went home that night. The Lord spoke to him and gave him a word.

In verse 25, it came to pass that same night the Lord said to him, "Gideon!" He replied, "Yeah, I'm here. I have a task for you. Take your father's young bull." He knew exactly what this was; there was a young bull, the second bull of seven years. This was a set-apart, consecrated bull, probably one that Gideon's father, Joash, was raising to offer as a sacrifice, but not to God.

"Take this bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has." Gideon's father was an idol worshipper. "Tear down the altar of Baal that your father has and cut down the wooden image that is beside it." This was not just an altar to Baal, but probably a wooden image to Asherah, the two chief deities of the surrounding people who lived around the children of Israel.

"Build an altar to the Lord your God, Gideon, on top of the rock in the proper arrangement, and take that second bull, the one your dad has been saving for that offering in his idol."

Worship and offer it as a burnt sacrifice on the wood of the image which you shall cut down. Cut down the image of Asherah and use that to stoke the fires. So Gideon took ten men from among his servants and did as the Lord said to him. Because he feared his father's household and the men of his city too much, he did it by night and not by day.

Gideon was a fearful, reluctant, hesitant follower of God, but he still obeyed. That's the key. You might be a reluctant follower, but you can still obey. He obeyed by night and not by day because he was afraid of what other people might think and what they might do. However, he still obeyed. Notice that God didn't say, "Listen, I want you to do it right out in the open, right in the daytime." He simply said, "I just want you to do this." God didn't get upset at him for doing it by night.

He said, "Listen, if you want to deliver your people from the Midianites, here's the first thing that needs to happen: you need to take care of what's happening in your own household." This is an important principle. We see idol worship and the immorality of our time all around us, and we think someone needs to do something. The first step is probably going to happen in your own home.

God says to Gideon, "Before I can deliver you, your household, your tribe, and your nation, you first need to move forward in faithful obedience." God desires to bring deliverance. He desired to deliver the children of Israel from the Midianites, and He desires that you and I would live and walk in liberty and freedom from sin and death. He does not want His people to be oppressed, dominated, and ensnared by the metaphorical Midianites of our time.

But the first step towards liberty and freedom is removing the strongholds of idolatry and immorality that are in our own households. So Gideon, in verse 27, took ten men from among his servants and did as the Lord had said to him. However, because he feared his father's household and the men of the city too much to do it by day, he did it by night. When the men of the city arose early in the morning, there was the altar of Baal torn down and the wooden image that was beside it.

Gideon was cut down, and the second bowl that had been waiting to be offered as a sacrifice to these two things was being offered on an altar that had been built. They said to one another, "Who has done this thing?" When they inquired and asked, they said, "Gideon, the son of Joash, has done this thing."

Then the men of the city said to Joash, Gideon's father, "Bring out your son that he may die, because he has torn down the altar to Baal and because he has cut down the wooden image beside it." Sadly, sometimes the people around you don't respond in the right way to our repentance and our obedience. Sometimes people love their sin more than God. Sometimes even the people of God are far more devoted to idols than they are to the Lord.

But Joash, in verse 31, said to all who stood against him, "Would you plead for Baal, this false god? Are you going to plead for this Baal, this god who built the altar? Are you going to plead for this false god Baal? Would you save him? Let the one who would plead for him be put to death by mourning. If he is a god, if Baal is a god, let him plead for himself because his altar has been torn down."

Yes, it is true that sometimes the people in our lives do not respond in the right way to our faithfulness and our obedience. However, sometimes our faithful obedience and repentance is contagious. Therefore, on that day, he called Gideon Jerub-Baal, saying, "Let Baal plead against him because he has torn down his altar."

Then all the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the people of the East gathered together. They crossed over and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel. The locusts are coming; you can hear the wing of the hopper and his gang approaching. They are coming to take away the food that the children of Israel have harvested and now put aside.

But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon. When did the Spirit of the Lord come upon Gideon? After two things: one, after he had stepped forward in faithful obedience and repentance, and two, when the trouble arose. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and then he blew the shofar, the trumpet, and the Abiezrites gathered to him from his own town. He sent messengers to the tribes of Manasseh, who gathered behind him, and also messengers to the tribes of Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they all came to meet him. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon.

After he had turned in repentance and faith towards God, the trouble arose. The eyes of the Lord looked to and fro throughout the whole land to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are loyal to Him.

Point number five: God looks for and longs for willing vessels to which He can pour out His power and strength. I’m convinced that that’s what the Lord is looking for today—hearts that are loyal to Him. Even if those vessels are reluctant or hesitant, God doesn’t always need bold and unwavering faith. He can use weak and struggling faith as well. Jesus said that just the faith of a mustard seed can accomplish some of the greatest things. It is not the greatness or the strength of your faith; it is the greatness and the strength of whom you trust. It is the greatness and the strength of the one in whom you put your faith, not the greatness of your own faith.

Listen, we are living in troubling times. We may not have Hophni and Phinehas and the Midianites coming in and stealing away all the produce, but there are a lot of things stealing away many aspects of our lives in our culture. Maybe, like Gideon, you find yourself day in and day out laboring with sweat, toil, and frustration, wondering why all this is happening. The Lord says, "I want to use you. You’re a mighty man or woman of valor, and I can use you for great purposes as I place My Spirit upon you."

Now, you may say, "Well, I’m going to need a sign." We will see that next week when we continue on in the story. Gideon is going to need a sign, and he’s going to need a lot more signs along the way. Why? Because God is going to make it very clear that it’s not going to be by your strategy or your strength that the Midianites are going to be destroyed. He’s going to make it so impossible for Gideon to win with what he has that it will look like there’s no possible way this is going to work. That’s when God shows up.

Maybe we are at just the right time in our culture, in our day. I kind of think we are, and would to God that He would show up. But first, He says to His people, judgment must begin at the house of the Lord.

Lord, maybe there's something consuming your attention or your resources that needs to be cut down, destroyed, purged out, and burned away so that God can pour forth His Spirit, His might, and His power to bring about victory and liberty once again. Amen.

Would you stand with me as we close in prayer? Father God, I pray that you would move in and through us. We are, in so many ways, insufficient and weak, despised and base, and foolish. But, Lord, it's not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as being of ourselves. Our sufficiency comes from You. You are the one who enables us by Your Spirit, by Your power, and by Your word at work in us.

I pray, Holy Spirit, that You would work in us, Your people. Fill us to overflowing. Remove anything in our lives. Identify first anything in our lives that is distracting or consuming our attention or stealing away our joy or our resources. Help us to see what that is, that we might give it over to You, that You might remove it and purge it so that we can be fully filled in every respect and way by Your Spirit, empowered by You.

Would You pour out upon Your church and empower us, we pray. For we ask this in Jesus' name, and all those that agreed said, Amen. Amen.