Oh, victory in Jesus, my Savior forever. He saw
me and bought me with his redeeming blood. Victory
in Jesus, my Savior forever. Oh, victory in Jesus,
my Savior forever. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
you. What have you seen? What have you heard?
Where were you at in the Word this week? Maybe
you were praying and God said something to you,
or as you were walking along, you just looked
to the right, and God said, hey, pay attention
to that. I want to show you something. What do
you got? Start to cry. You know, crying to God,
tears are real. Last night, I felt so alone and
discouraged, but God just helped me through it.
I appreciate that God will toil with me through
it all. I don't listen or I do listen. He does.
And yesterday was really good. And also, I was
going to try to speak fast. But yesterday, my
son and my daughters and both sons, you know,
I'm just glad. Just a small influence in their
lives. I miss them greatly. Not just miss them,
but just want to be the man I can be. But I know
God's got them, and I just need to be what God
says me to be for them. I just want to say real
quick just how it all worked out. We were going
to go bowling, and we went to the dumbest things
that we do sometimes. They want us to go up the
escalators at the mall to get sporting goods.
So we went up there, and they were like, hey,
we should go up. They were looking at the golf
clubs. You guys want to do miniature golf instead
of bowling? So we did our cage drill, all these
things. And we went to this golf course, and
this one lady, she's an older grandma lady. And
none of this would have happened because we didn't
plan anything. We were just trusting God what
he wanted us to do. She talked to us and she
said, may you be washed in the blood of the Lamb
of Jesus. I've never heard that in my entire
life. Someone actually shared Jesus with me.
So I just boldly proclaimed right back to her
about, you know, we're in this together, sister.
And it was so cool. By the very end of the day,
my son said, we had a great day today. And I'm
glad he took me away from the tablet. Not because
of the tablet, because he was trusting in what
dad was going to do. And just like every day
puts an end to the church, what God wants to
do. I have a poem I want to share real quick.
And I got to tell you, like, none of this happens
by coincidence. Everything is God moving or God
removed. So I was told by some of the leaders
to help out arts and crafts and make sure we're
doing arts and crafts. So I'm not a very cool
person. You might think I am. You only met me
for five seconds. I like to run and I like to
hide. I like to adapt and blend in so no one
can tell where I'm at. Because I'm not used to
having anybody in my life. I'm not saying it
to break hearts. I'm just glad that God has a
hold of me and I have a real righteous relationship.
And I know that relationship because I've seeked
and trusted in him. And I've been through false
choices and false hope. I've got a truth as well.
The reason I share that is I reached out and
I said, I'm not going to say the names, but I
was like, hey, we're doing arts and crafts. You
know, that's what we're going to do today. And
just by saying that, someone else decided to
do arts and crafts. And we both wrote some poems.
And I just wanted to share what God put on my
heart. I give a title to it. I call it Christology
and Theology. Christology is basically the trinity
God himself has been before all, above all, ends
all. He's always there. History is in the Bible.
It's in every step of our lives. And theology,
if anybody knows high school or junior high,
college, it comes to the word, I believe, thesis.
When you write a thesis paper, you have to have
three, four major points, but you have to write
your paper explaining your points. And then you
have to have evidence to back it up so that they
can look at the evidence and see your claims
are true, or you just wrote a paper and just
tried to throw your opinion in. It can't even
be a statement, but there has to be proof to
your statement. And that's what theology is.
I looked it up. It's the nature of God, and it's
a study of religious beliefs. And, of course,
our theology is Christ alone. And so I just wanted
to share this poem that I wrote. It says, For
I am convinced, Romans chapter 8, the Scripture
or the Word is that for me. So I open up these
verses to ponder my curiosity. So at this moment
I will shut down my heart and use my brain. So
now I can examine where he tells his story, which
I like to call history, in a picture frame. Paul
knew the word, God's stories and all. So through
heroes and zeros, all by his name, we're able
to reveal, little by little, God's glorious fame.
Jensen and Joe, we'll hear about angels and demons,
and the book of Daniel about life and death.
So many adventures and warnings. No way to explain
it. We'll try to grasp. through his living word
in just a little breath. So my explanation is
clear and concise. Just look into Ryan without
a fuss. Through history, we remember, or through
history remembers us with his love and mercy,
how he carried us. Now I'll shut down my brain
and open my heart or soul. This is an explanation
through life of Christ and Christ Jesus' life
and his reconciliation to all who want to know
and behold. Through all life and peril, And not
throwing the king, Jesus, God himself, the best?
What is the points of risk and growth and failures
and strengths and enduring with Jesus till we
find true rest? You need the convincing, then
be convinced today. But without God's lead and
redemption, you can never find his way. Because
God is perfect and holy, no corruption in sight.
He only came from his heavenly clouds to earth.
resurrection and death because of his one and
only. No one could make him. He came to us through
God's one and only birth. And this is the end.
So what verses did I seek? For what I'm convinced,
that neither death nor life, neither angels nor
demons, neither the present nor the future, nor
any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything
else in all creation will separate you from the
love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The price he paid only through himself, the Lord
Jesus can you afford. The reason I say that is
Paul was convinced not just by seeing miracles
and supernatural, that he also knew the Word.
He was convinced wholeheartedly, not just by
what he seen, but what he was able to trust in
and what God gave him. And so I ask you, you
have said it before, what are you convinced about?
Amen. And that came out of Arts and Crafts on
Thursday. Had a great time there. Sometimes if
you block out the time. You can discipline yourself
and say, okay, I'm going to do something during
this period of time. You might not go thinking,
I'm going to paint a painting or make a drawing
or something. Tony came to help. I feel like
Al wants me to write a poem. Sean also wrote
an awesome poem. He's not here to read it for
us today. We'll catch him eventually. But he
also wrote an awesome poem on Thursday. Poetry
obviously is an art. And there were some really
awesome paintings. You get a chance to see some
of the art that's coming out of there. It's just
amazing. And so we'll be doing that again in
two weeks. But really the focus is on God and
on being God's people. Who else has a quick word?
Yes, sir. So in youth Bible study on Friday,
I was talking about what is the church and how
the church isn't just a building or a place.
It's the gathering of a body of believers. And
we can do that anywhere. We can go out anywhere
and we can be the church. That is one of the
greatest things that I've ever experienced as
a Christian. That kind of blew my mind because
I've always, before I became a Christian, I always
thought that the church was just some place.
And I think that's a pretty big misconception
that the world has is a church is just some building
that you go to. And it's not. It's more than
just the building. It's the people. It's the
gathering of believers. It's God's Holy Spirit
showing up. And one of the verses that I like
is Isaiah 43, 1. It says, But now, thus the Lord,
your creator, O Israel, do not fear, for I have
redeemed you. I have called you out by name.
You are mine. And what's cool is God calls us
out by name. He calls us personally to follow
him. But it's up to us to answer that call. And
that's what really, I think. struggles a lot
with me personally is there's things that I know
God wants me to do that I'm absolutely terrified
to do because it is so outside my comfort zone.
Like for instance, the first time I got the call
to preach, I was terrified in my core. Because
I'm not good at speaking in front of people.
But then I look back and some of the things I've
said, some of the things that God's used me for,
and I'm like, you know, this is truly a gift
from God. This is not me. I couldn't do this
on my own. And then one of the great examples
that I gave my youth group, because we're going
to be doing some changes in the youth group,
that I really honestly feel God is going to do
amazing things with it. And one of the examples
I gave them was God is going to equip you to
do what he has you to do. and he wants you to
be a mouthpiece for him and he wants you to speak
for him. Look what he did with Moses. Moses was
complaining to God that he didn't want to go
out and he didn't want to do anything. He couldn't
do it because he wasn't good at talking. And
God gave him Aaron. God said, here, I will give
you someone who can talk for you. And that's
what I think God has done. He does with us all
the time. He puts people in our lives so that
we can be better equipped to do the things that
he has us do. a lot of extensive intellectual
debates with friends the last week or two weeks
and one of the topics was independence in a relationship
and It is very important for me in my marriage
and even in my other relationships, my sibling
relationships, parental, whatever the case may
be, that we're meant to be united together. Marriage
more specifically, because when you become married,
you become one with God. And independence doesn't
necessarily exist in that marriage. And in relationships,
you're meant to be able to lean on the people
around you and in your life. And her argument
was, you know, she enjoys being independent and
she likes being her own person. And it was a
real eye opener that the way the world works
is they think they have to do everything themselves
and leaning on other people is bad. As a church,
we are a family meant to rely on one another,
and specifically our devotional about marriage
yesterday was not only relying on one another
and being there for one another and communicating
every aspect, every decision you make should
be one decision together as a whole, and also
when you make a mistake or you turn against the
person that you were supposed to be with, if
you're with your sister and you get in an argument,
if you're with your parents and you're disagreeing,
whatever that case may be, you come to a resolution,
but then you pray after. It was our specific
devotional was. If you get into a disagreement
with your husband and you're at a controversy,
you come to an agreement and you say, I'm sorry,
I apologize, whatever the case may be. But the
strength in that is the prayer after, asking
God to turn over this sin or whatever this disagreement
was and pray that you can have this on mind for
future conversations. And when you pray together
about that, you're handing over this issue to
God, you're resolving it right then and there,
you're letting it go. It's no longer anything
that can be brought up again. And it specifically
for our marriage work wonders, but it's just,
it works like that as a church, as a body. If
one person falls off, we don't shame, we don't
judge. We come together, we fix the issue, and
then we pray about it together after. And then
we hand it over to God and we move on. I don't
want to take up too much time in the middle of
working on this project. So for one of my classes,
I had to write a choral hymn. And I chose Psalms
18, verse 49. And it says, if I had the music,
I would sing it. I'm not far, but I don't have
it. So I'll read you the verse. It says, therefore,
I will praise you, Yahweh, among the nations.
I will sing about your name. And it only had
to be one verse. And I'm in the middle of writing
the chords right now for it. But Arda and I were
talking about this. I had to kind of find a chord
that was unstable. And I know this isn't going
to make sense for a lot of people, so I'll try
my best to explain it. But an unstable chord
is a chord that's kind of crunchy and isn't pleasing
exactly, but it's a strong chord. And it kind
of makes you, like, hear more when you hear it
because it has a lot of notes in its chord. And
it's very dissonant. I felt like in this, I couldn't
find a good place to put a crunchy chord that
kind of made you cringe a little bit. So Arne
and I were talking, and one of the most powerful
words in this, I think, is Yahweh. And I decided
that I was going to put this crunchy chord on
the word Yahweh to kind of emphasize that it's
powerful. So I'm going to put a powerful chord
on the word Yahweh because I think that's probably
the most important word of this. And words like...
We're also trying to use context to write ascending
and descending notes. So on words like praise
and sing and your name, I'm writing notes that
ascend because it kind of makes sense. That's
amazing. Wow. Thank you for letting us in on
that. That's kind of like behind -the -scenes
stuff. It's just something a little shorter now.
So we've had a rough week. So yesterday we wanted
to work on ourselves. Going crazy. I got a flat
tire. Just all kinds of weird. I don't know.
What are we going to do next? I don't know. Situation.
And then there was this little boy, a rollercoaster
bike. He shared with Kelly that he was very much
happy. He was a happy little boy. I don't know.
How can you feel that way? And he shared with
Kelly, hey, do you have a promise? And she was
like, yeah, I got one. And he was like, just
grab your promise and pray to God. and just the
thought of that in that moment like when it doesn't
make sense we've seen small children really be
used by god it could have been an angel what
a great what a great time Remember, Perry won't
tell it today because we're out of time, but
there's a story about a park bench. I think you
have about a man who was drunk off his butt and
said some powerful things. And so it doesn't
matter. God can speak through humans. And that
is just a phenomenal story. And you'll be holding
on to that one for a while. That's awesome. All
right, well, let's pray together. And then we'll
worship the God who's doing all this. And I bet
there's a lot more we could talk about. God is
amazing. He is at work and we are grateful. Even
in the midst of, I know there are people in this
room who are facing some very real trials and
really real difficulties. And even in the midst
of that, God is so good. And we cling to him.
Father in heaven, we do cling to you. We choose
to praise your holy name. We choose to lift up
our prayers to the God of heaven who can do something
about the situation that we're in. Thank you,
Lord. You have earned your place. You didn't
have to. It was yours, you deserved it, you owned
it, and yet you earned it. So we praise you for
it. Ask your blessings upon the tithes and offerings.
Ask your blessing upon our remaining worship,
that somehow we would find it in ourselves to
give you your proper place. Help us, Lord. In
Jesus' name, amen. One single drop of rain. Your
salty tear became the ocean. We've been working
through the book of Judges, and we are amidst
the story of Gideon. To this point, what we have
seen, and Gideon is really a turning point in
this book, so I just want to make sure that we're
clear where we're at. To this point, what we
have seen is a number of saviors arise for the
Israelites. The book of Judges could well have
been called the book of saviors, although I think
that might have done a little distaste to Jesus,
because he is the one and only true savior. The
judges who come, not all of them even judged.
But what they did do is they delivered the people
of Israel. When God's people were wicked and
in their sin and doing the wrong thing, they
suffered terribly. They were downcast. They were
oppressed. They were weak and small in their
own eyes and then cried out for assistance from
God. And God rendered that assistance. And this
time he renders it in the form of Gideon. Gideon
will. Despite his own weaknesses, his doubt,
his lack of trust of God, his wanting to check
God at every turn, he will lead God's people
to a great victory over the Midianites. As we
read from Judges chapter 7 today, I want you
to look just for a second at the sermon title.
It is You Don't Know Small. In 1709, that's a
long time ago, over 300 years ago, there was
an incident. A playwright named John Dennis invented
a new thunder machine. for his play. It would
make the sound of thunder in the theater, and
it was very realistic compared to the thunder
you hear in the sky. Previously, all the thunder
was made by like buckling copper plates or that
kind of thing, usually by hand, and it really
didn't sound all that much like thunder, but
the people who were watching the play knew that
it was supposed to be thunder. He was fed up
with that, and he invented a machine that made
thunder that sounded like thunder. His play Appius
in Virginia was staged at London's Drury Lane
Theatre, which is a pretty famous place, but
the play quickly failed and closed after only
a few performances. Not very many people were
showing up to see the play. After his play's
failure, some nights later, Dennis attended a
performance of Shakespeare's Macbeth at the same
theatre. Macbeth has thunder in scenes one and
four. He was outraged to hear the sound of his
own thunder machine being used in the new production.
In the middle of the play in silence at a moment,
the opportune moment when everyone would hear
him, he stood up in the audience and he yelled,
they will not let my play run, but they will
steal my thunder. And that's where we got the
saying, stealing my thunder. As we look at the
text today, I want you to understand that I almost
wrote three or four sermons out of this text
today. There's a lot in there. I've preached
out of the text two times in my history. One
of them I remember vividly. It was over on Main
Street, and I cut out, out of white poster board,
the number 300, pretty big, put it on the wall.
And at the end of the message, during the invitation,
I asked anyone who was present who wanted to,
and the message was essentially that you can
be part of God's 300. You can dedicate yourself
to God's service, and you can overcome your own
weaknesses, your own barriers. And let God choose
you. And I ask people to come forward and sign
their name on the 300 if they were making that
commitment to do so. And almost everybody in
the room, not everybody, but almost everybody
in the room came forward and they signed their
name on that 300. Since then, there have been
those who signed their name on that 300. Some
of them are still with us in this room today.
You remember doing that. Some have come and gone.
They were serving the Lord and they walked away
from the Lord or walked away from our church
and went somewhere else and then are nowhere
now. Some have come and gone and are back again
today. Pretty neat that God does that. That's
a sermon I could have preached again. It's a
completely biblical sermon that you could allow
yourself to be chosen by God, to be part of the
300, to do the amazing thing, the crazy thing,
it's really what we're talking about, that God
would want you to do. And I could have preached
it again today. And we'll see a couple of others
as we go through the text today. And I'll try
to point them out to you. But there's one in
particular that ties into something that we studied
a few weeks back. And so I'll point that out
to you as we go through. And I honestly think
that God, in his subtlety, in his generosity,
in his kindness toward us, lets us see that thing
now. And I kind of think maybe Gideon didn't
see it from the way he responded. So if you grab
your Bibles and give me a little amen or hoot
or holler or something as we go to Judges chapter
7. Thank you. This is God's word. We will read
the first seven verses of Judges chapter 7. Now
therefore come, proclaim in the hearing of the
people, saying, whoever is afraid and trembling,
let him return and depart from Mount Gilead.
So 22 ,000 people returned, but 10 ,000 remained.
So there's a couple things I want you to see
before I go any further in the text. This is
that one first stepping off point to a whole
sermon of itself. And it is this. As much as
Israel thought they were small, when the Holy
Spirit settled on Gideon and he blew that trumpet
and the word spread throughout the land, 32 ,000
men gathered to fight by his side against the
Midianites. That is not a small number. And it's
very much not a small number in a day when word
doesn't travel by telegraph or telegram or even
letters in the mail, right? The draft wasn't
in place. It was the trumpet blows and the messengers
go out and people just kept flocking in and they
brought whatever they could use as weaponry and
32 ,000 men had come. I submit to you that Israel
is not all that small if they can. in very short
order, within a week, call up 32 ,000 men to
fight the Midianites. It also says to me that
probably this could have been done before. Before
they lost so many people to the Midianites in
past seasons, which happened over and over again,
men, women, and children, especially the elderly
and the weak who couldn't flee into the mountains,
things like that. They all died to the rush of
the Midianites in past seasons. Imagine what
the size of this army might have been if they
had called it up five years prior. Israel was
not weak. Israel was not small, but that's how
they were seeing themselves. But notice God says,
you're too many. You're too many for me to use
you to save the people from the people of Midian,
because then they might say, look what we did.
So God says, all of those who are in fear and
trembling, and let's be super realistic, okay?
If you're one of 32 ,000 men who are calling
up against fighting the Midianites, and no one
has successfully fought the Midianites in recent
history, And their camels and their soldiers
reach as far as the eye can see. They cover the
shore and beyond, all the way to the mountains,
into the valleys and the hills. Everywhere you
look are Midianite and other eastern tribe warriors.
I'd be shaking in my boots. Let's be realistic.
Wouldn't we all be afraid? I mean, courage is
not not having fear, right? Courage is overcoming
your fear. And so here it is, he is saying, let's
be very clear about this, he is saying, if you
are here today because you are courageous, that
is to say you are overcoming your fear, if you
are here today because you are courageous, you
can go. You hear me? If you are here today because
you are courageous, you can go. Now don't we
love courage? I think it was Aristotle who said,
courage is the supreme of all. Human traits.
Because without courage, everything else is useless
and worthless. It all falls away. Courage is,
as is now traveling around the internet, courage
is doing the right thing when it doesn't make
any sense. When in all human understanding, you
go, well, this is the right thing, and I'm going
to do it because it's the right thing, because
it's what God wants me to do, even though...
It doesn't seem to make any sense. And it may
not get me the outcome that I'm looking for.
I might die in the process, but it's the right
thing. That's courage. And he said, if you're
afraid today, and even if you're overcoming your
fear, and you're here out of courage overcoming
your fear, you can go. And when he said that,
22 ,000 men left. I want you to hear today and
understand that it just might be that God is
going to wait to do the miraculous thing that
he wants to do. Until the people that are only
here because they're overcoming their fears leave.
If you're just courageous, as good as that is,
God may not do the amazing thing that he's going
to do until you're gone. So 10 ,000 remained.
That's a pretty good reduction. And, you know,
10 ,000 is definitely not enough to win this
battle. Mathematically, they were so outmatched,
there's no way they could win. But if you'll
remember, a similar thing happened with Deborah
and Barak, where they took a force similar to
what they've now wheeled this one down to, and
they went out and they fought. And first they
thought, well, we'll fight in the mountains where
the chariots can't get to us, right? And then
he said, no, go fight them in the plains. And
they went and fought them in the plains. And
then they won a great victory because God flooded
the plain and the chariots got bound down. And
there was no way they could have won that victory
if God didn't intervene. And then Barak and Deborah
sung a great song. And as part of that song,
it was all about praising God. And as part of
that song, they sung, Oh, the people that came
out to fight. Oh, how the leaders came to war.
And they gave credit to God for the people coming
out to fight. But the bottom line is, after that
happened, the Israelites went back into wickedness.
So we need something more. We need something
a little more extreme than just dismissing all
the courageous people who are overcoming their
fear to do what it is that God has called them
to do. And then God's showing up and doing something.
We need something a little more than that. And
so they're down to 10 ,000 men, but God is not
done. In verse four, then it says, then the Lord
said to Gideon, the people are still too many.
Remember, they are too many because if they win
the victory, then they might take the credit
for the victory or say, look at what we accomplished.
Then the Lord said to Gideon, the people are
still too many. Bring them down to the water
and I will test them for you there. Now, this
should be good, right? Give us some qualifying
character of a man of God who can be part of
the 300. These were men, by the way, but it applies
to women as well, right? Who can be part of the
300. And as he gives us this test, we apply the
test to ourselves, right? We can say, this test
that God is giving us, we'll be able to determine
whether or not we can qualify ourselves to be
part of the 300. So it sounds like it's going
to be pretty good. It's not going to go like
you think. If you know the story already, you
know what I mean. God says, I will test them
for you there. Therefore it shall be that he
of whom I say to you, this one shall go with
you, he shall go with you. But everyone of whom
I say to you, this one shall not go with you,
he shall not go with you. So he brought the people
down to the water, and the Lord said to Gideon,
you shall separate everyone who laps the water
with his tongue as a dog laps, as well as everyone
who kneels to drink. Now the number of those
who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth,
in other words, so they cupped the water, they
took it up and they drank it, Like that, as opposed
to down to the water like that. The ones who
lapped from their cupped hands was 300 men. But
all the rest of the people kneeled down to drink.
And the Lord said to Gideon, I will deliver you
with the 300 men who lapped and will give the
Midianites into your hands. So let all the other
people go, each man to his home. So the 300 men.
took the people's provisions and their trumpets
into their hands, and Gideon sent all the other
men of Israel each to his tent, but retained
the 300 men. And the camp of Midian was below
him in the valley. That was verse 8. So that
sets the scene for next week. So first of all,
what I want you to see is that there is a direct
correlation between what God is doing here and
what God has already said in the book of Judges.
While Gideon is a transition point, and after
this, The judges aren't great. I mean, they're
great, and they do great, and they serve God,
but we're going to get Samson, who repeatedly
dismisses his vows to God and sins against God
and eventually dies just getting his strength
back just enough to destroy the Philistines after
he is taken by them for giving up his strength
to his prostitute wife, for lack of a better
way of saying it. Jephthah, who would make promises
to God that he never should have made to sacrifice
his own daughter, which was a thing that they
do, but not a thing that Israelites do, not a
thing that God's people do, and so on. So we
got judges who are coming after this who are
not going to be the greatest of character, right?
But to this point, the judges have been pretty
good, and Gideon maybe is the best of all of
them, although we see that he responded with
a lot of doubt and a lot of questioning of God,
but he should be past that now. This is after
the fleece incident that we looked at last week.
He should be done questioning God. We'll see
that even in these next verses, he still reserves
for himself some doubt or some question. But
we're not going to read those today. The bottom
line is this. God is showing us a greater narrative,
a history about himself. In chapter 6, verse
6, so back a little ways in the story of Gideon.
If you want, you can flip back to the left. It
says, So Israel was brought very low because
of Midian, and the sons of Israel cried out to
the Lord. And the word there, very low, is dal
-lal. Dal -lal in the Hebrew. You don't have
to remember that. It's kind of easy to remember
because it's like a baby doll, dal -lal. And
it means shrunken down, oppressed, having very
little left, impoverished, right? In finances,
in weaponry, in warriors, in any kind of prosperity.
And the Israelites were like that now because
of the continued coming of the Midianites. But
we now know, sometime later, Gideon will blow
a trumpet and 32 ,000 of them will come up to
fight. So they're not so impoverished, right?
It's not impossible for them to mount an army
of pretty considerable size. So what was God
actually saying there? Then in 6 .15, just a
little further in the story, in 6 .15, the verse
says, This is Gideon responding to God at his
call. And he said to him, O Lord, How shall I
deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least
in Manasseh. So we'll stop there for one second.
We'll read the rest of the verse in a second.
And that word there, the least in Manasseh, his
family was a small part of a small tribe, and
we talked about that. And so the word there is
dal. It is poor, weak, or thin. So Gideon was
saying to God, how can I be called to do this,
God? My family is about worthless. Compared to
many other great families are having great things
where I don't have much. I'm not much, right?
And he goes on to say then, he says, my family
is the least in Manasseh. And he goes on to say,
and I am the youngest in my father's house. And
that word there, where he says it's translated
the youngest, is to Saul year. And it means small,
insignificant, weak, least, or youngest. Now,
in 7 .2, we see God say, And the Lord said to
Gideon, The people who are with you are too many
for me to give Midian into your hands, lest Israel
become boastful, saying, Mine own power has delivered
me. And the word there translated boastful is
pa 'ar, which means to glorify oneself. Are you
seeing this? So what had happened was Israel
had become a people that they thought they were
small. They thought they were insignificant.
We saw it. It's been building up throughout the
book of Judges. Now, let's stop for a second
and take a long look at how they got to be a
people that thought they were small. What were
they doing? They were living in wickedness. They
had surrendered their course to sinful behavior,
to things that God would not have them to do.
They had taken into their houses the foreign
gods. They had taken the wives of people that
they were not supposed to marry, or husbands
from peoples that they were not supposed to marry.
They were doing things that God would not have
them to do. And while they were doing things
that God would not have them to do, what did
they think of themselves? They thought, we're
small and weak. I submit to you that there are
two possibilities there that come to mind right
away. The first one is, they were small and weak,
and so they thought they were grasping onto that
which would make them better or more significant.
They thought by taking the false gods, by doing
the things that they could do, That they would
somehow be better than the small and weak self
that they thought that they actually were. They
had low self -esteem, if you will. Low national
esteem. Low family esteem. They thought they
were low. They thought they were small. And so
one possibility is that they were taking unto
themselves these false gods, false methods of
worship, and wicked behaviors, sinful behaviors,
to make out of them something. They thought,
well, this makes me something. That's one possibility.
The other possibility, and I submit to you, they're
not mutually exclusive, and I'll show you how
in a second, is that in taking unto themselves
those wicked and sinful behaviors, they were
actually making themselves small and insignificant.
And this is what happens. This is why I say it's
not mutually exclusive. Because as you strike
out and take the things that you think will make
you okay in the moment, actually what you do
is in your own mind, you shrink yourself even
more. You fall farther and farther from the image
that God has for you, from the creation that
you were meant to be, from the born -again believer
that you can be, from the spiritual gifts and
spiritual disciplines and the word of God and
the prophecy of God and the prophecies of God
about you. You fall further and further from
that by taking to yourself things that are not
of God. And that's what was happening. When I
look at the book of Judges, I see a spiral of
sin. Basically, what happened is every time a
judge would come, they would, after the judge
comes, they sort of repent, they sort of come
back to God, start doing the things that God
would have them do. And during the judge's lifetime,
they pretty much stay faithful. But then when
the judge dies off or is gone, they spiral back
down into sin. And as we work our way throughout
this book, what we have seen, what pastors all
over the world have preached, what I have preached,
is how this sin spiral is a very real thing.
You repent, you turn back to God, then you slowly
degrade down into sin and you go deeper than
you went before. Then you repent, you turn back
to God, you slowly degrade down into sin, and
you go still deeper than you went before. Looking
for meaning in things that are meaningless. It's
a very real thing that people do. They repent
and turn back to God because it turned out to
be meaningless still. I went that far, but still
meaningless. No matter how far I went, still
meaningless. Okay, I repent and turn back to
God. And ultimately, they start to drift off
and sin again against God, and they go to still
further depths, and what do they find? Meaninglessness.
Right? So that's a message out of the book of
Judges. And it's a real message. It's not something
that you can't preach or teach. It's true. It's
the way it works. But I submit to you that the
underlying message actually that God is teaching
us here as we go a little deeper today is about
self -worth in the sense that they thought they
were meaningless and worthless. And so they got
into doing things that were meaningless and worthless.
And now, as God shows up again with a deliverer
who will be Gideon, as Gideon shows up, and they're
going to be delivered from their suffering and
go into another period of time of judges, right?
Another period of time of Gideon kind of reigning,
if you will, and they will be right for a while.
That's what's about to happen. And God is basically
saying this. He says, you don't know small. You
think you were small and groping around for whatever
will make you feel a little bit better. You don't
know small. You think you were hurting, like
this is really bad. Like, oh, this is terrible
what I was going through. You don't know small.
You don't. You've never been there. You're still
breathing. You're still walking, talking, doing
things. You don't know small. Small is dead in
trespasses and sins. Where literally nothing
you can do will ever be right. Even if it's right.
You tell the truth. You're honest. You give.
You serve. Whatever. It'll all be as filthy rags.
Small is trapped. Trapped. away from the grace
of God, trapped away from God's goodness, trapped
away from God's prophecies and promises and his
word. Small is about the descent. It is about
direction. It is about getting off the highway
of holiness and not heading toward God, but heading
toward manness or womanness or fleshness or lusts
and desires. Getting into those things that seem
small sometimes at first, but drifting away from
God's idea of your life. That is small. That's
what God says is small. So God says, I'm not
going to do this because if I do this today through
32 ,000 warriors, if I do this, then here's what
you're going to do. You're going to say of yourself,
I'm not small, which was true all along. You've
never been small. You were created in the image
of God. You are God's people. I brought your
families out of Egypt myself. I sent rocks falling
from heaven to destroy armies. I buried chariots
in mud. I buried the army of Pharaoh under the
sea. The list goes on. You were never small.
You don't know small. You don't even know what
it is. Clearly, because you thought you were
small. Now Gideon comes and in 32 ,000 words
he says, well, you're going to say, well, I'm
not small. You get up tomorrow morning and you
do a good thing, you're going to say, I'm not
small. You get up tomorrow morning, you tell
the truth when you could have lied. You share,
give, and be kind when you could have been stingy
or selfish. You bad mouth somebody when you could
have built them up. you're going to say to yourself,
I'm not small. It doesn't matter if your choice
is terrible or your choice is good. When your
choice is terrible and you get the results you
think you want, you say, I'm not small. When
your choice is good and you don't get the results
you want, you say, I'm small. See, we're confused.
We don't know small. And God is trying to teach
us there is a small. There is a small that you
can know. A small that God knows. A small that
God wants to reveal to us that will get the results
that we ultimately want. God says, this group
is not small enough. They think they're small.
They think their families are small. The people
are small. They think their army is small. They
think they're individually small. They're afraid,
shaking in their boots. But notice then that
the real failing is not in the size of the army
at all, but in the hearts of men who after victory
would want themselves. God's stated desire as
we go through this whole episode of Gideon's
life and really the life of Israel, and I submit
to you it's our life too. God's stated desire
was to save the Israelites. They had cried out,
begging God, save us, save us. So he said he'd
save them. And he told Gideon he'd save them.
And he repeatedly proved to Gideon that he was
going to use Gideon to do it. But God wanted
to save them in just such a way that they cannot
say that they did it themselves. Hear me now,
as simple as this is. If you are a Christian
because you say you are a Christian, if you are
a Christian because you say you chose God, chose
Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, if you
are a Christian because you say, I prayed a prayer,
I believed, and I am a Christian because I prayed
a prayer and I believed, that's not true. That
is not how salvation takes place. You believe,
you pray, that's called faith. And then by grace,
Through that faith, the God of the universe saves
your soul because his son paid for your soul.
God's stated desire was that he would save them
in such a way that they cannot say that they
did it themselves because if you say you did
it yourself, I don't care what words you use
to say that, but if you say you did it yourself,
it has never been done. Salvation is in no other
name. God is a saving God. But God is also a
sorting God. This is the blessing of it. God
will take care of all the sorting. You have no
sorting to do. In your lifetime, when it comes
to saved or not saved, believe, not believe,
righteous, not righteous, right, not right, you
have no sorting to do. You do what's right. You
be right by God. And when you see somebody else
and you think maybe they're not, then you go
and you ask them. And you say, hey, it looks
to me like this is going on or whatever. And
you ask them, are they right by God? Is this
sin or not? And if they say it's not, but the
Word says it is, then you take the next step.
You go to Matthew 18, accountability. You take
the next step. You bring a brother or two, or
a sister or two, or whatever. Let them sort it
out with you. Ultimately, go in front of the
church. Those last things, you can only do if
they're part of your church, if they're part
of your kingdom group. If you're a part of the
called -out assembly of God, that's what accountability
is for. That being said, you don't sort. Let's
say it comes down to, you realize it. let's say
it comes down to Matthew 18, we go the whole
way. We bring this person in front of the church.
This has happened in our church, by the way.
The whole way, come in front of the church and
say, well, you know, I talked to them with so
-and -so. We all talked together and they think
what they're doing is not sin or they said they're
going to just keep on doing it even though they
admit that it is sin. So we think that they shouldn't
be a member of the church anymore. And the church
votes to remove them from membership. The Bible
says you treat them as a tax collector or a sinner.
Did the Bible just say to you not to treat them
as if they're saved or that you now know that
they're not saved? No, but you know that they're
living as if they were a tax collector or a sinner.
So in other words, that is sin. They're living
in sin. But that doesn't mean they're not saved.
It's not our job. When the Bible says, judge
not lest you be just, it's not talking about
sin. Judge not lest you be judged. It's talking
about salvation. You don't judge other people's
salvation. That's not your job. You're not the
sorter. God's the sorter. If anything, you're
the shuffler. Bring them all in. Let's take every
single one who proclaims to be a Christian and
we'll look at the word together. We'll figure
out whether we really are saved. We'll let some
people who already thought they were saved for
decades actually gets saved by the name of the
risen Savior. This is no joke. Maybe they think
they're small. And the best they can do is to
save themselves by professing the name of Jesus
or by praying something or by telling people
that they believe. They think they're saving
themselves and making themselves a little bigger
by doing that. But when they figure out that
it's Jesus who saves and Jesus who makes small
and Jesus who makes big, that can change. God
is a saving God and a sorting God. He saves all
who will truly come to Him. If they really come
to Him looking for salvation, He saves. Even
people who have, get this, even people who have
never heard the name of Jesus. I understand there
is only one name given among heaven by which
we must be saved. But that Muslim woman who was
running from the tsunami and she prayed to the
Christian God because she knew the Muslim God
wasn't going to do anything for her and she thought
maybe the Christian God would and she said, God,
if you'll save me, I'll serve you for the rest
of my life. And God spoke back into her heart
and said, run to the Christian church, even though
it was on lower ground. She ran to that church,
even though it was on lower ground. And that
church didn't flood, but the mosque flooded and
everybody died. And she was spared because she
ran to that Christian church building. And then
she's serving, I think she may have gone to be
with the Lord now, but she served her whole life
because God saved her through the name of Jesus,
which she had heard, but that's not how she came
to him. She didn't, somebody ABCs the salvation.
She cried out for salvation to the living God
and the living God spared her. And she said,
okay, I'll serve you all my life. Has that happened
to you? Has the God of heaven spared you? If
so, you are not small and it is not a small decision
to take unto yourself wicked or evil things.
God is writing a history that will serve them
as a people and serve us as a people. Remember
last week we learned that when faced with an
impactful moment, a moment at which God is about
to call you to do something amazing or really
going to ask you to stretch yourself or whatever,
that in the offing of that moment, God wants
you to know his mind and to do this through the
presence of the living Christ and the spiritual
disciplines that he ordered. God has to get the
credit. He has to get the credit here, not because
he's a glory hound, but because men need salvation.
And anyone who comes to Israel to be part of
Israel, but doesn't come to God, will still burn
in hell for eternity. God is the author of salvation
here. And only God. He is a jealous God. Not
in jealousy like men have jealousy, but in desiring
that people may gain access to salvation that
Christ paid for. God's investments must be used
for that purpose, not for the temporal betterment
of man. God doesn't give you money so you can
save it up or buy yourself nicer things. He gives
you money so that you can walk in the kingdom
of God by whatever means He chooses for you to
use it. And if He tells you to put it in the
bank, then put it in the bank. And if He tells
you to invest it in kingdom work, then invest
it in kingdom work. Jesus didn't die to pay your
electric bill or heal your body or your broken
heart. He died to save souls and take up residence
in people who were formerly dead in their trespasses
and sins. He died as the ultimate testimony of
victory available only through God. And it was
not done in a corner or out of sight or behind
a veil. It was publicly done. It has been known
the world over. Jesus died to steal the weapon
that is death out of the hand of the devil, according
to Hebrews 2. Revelation 1. Jesus now has the
keys to life and death and he wants to share
them with you, church. And if you want them,
you can have them. And if you have them, you
don't dare put them away or set them aside. You've
got to use them for what they were meant. Notice
that as they go into this battle, as Gideon leads
them out, these 300, the nation has not repented
of their sins. A village over, Up in the mountains,
still a high place, still a firstborn child being
burnt in the fire in the hopes that Molech will
save them from the Midianites. Still temple prostitutes
all night long with different men in the hopes
that their crops will be sufficient, they can
survive into another season. Israel had not repented
of their sins. Wickedness was still in their
midst. Notice also that in the 32 ,000 men, people
were not sent home by standards that could have
applied fairly to anyone. 22 ,000 men went home
because they were afraid. You know what kind
of man you've got to be to not be afraid to fight
an army that's 20 times your size, even when
there's 32 ,000 of you? Nuts. Crazy. They weren't
saying, oh, well, God's going to do this. It's
going to be awesome. We're all going to stand
here, and they're just going to bounce off of
us. They were going, we're all going to die.
Three -quarters of us are going to die. God's
going to win the victory. He's going to free
our nation. But three -quarters of us are going
to die. That's not scary. Yes, that's scary.
You've got to be nuts not to be scared under
those circumstances. So 10 ,000 guys remained
who were basically nuts. And of the 10 ,000 guys
who were basically crazy, they probably were
like, these are guys who were in debt so high
over the top of their head that they were like,
I may as well just die. You ever see that movie
Armageddon? The one guy gets a loan from a loan
shark and he goes up to defeat the meteorite
that's going to hit the earth or pass by the
earth. And he wants to die. The whole time he's
trying to get killed because he knows if he comes
back to Earth, he's going to have to face the
debts. It's like that. Some of these guys had
so much debt that they're like, I just need to
die in this battle. At least I can do something
good on my way out. Some of them were probably
like multiple personality disorder and thought
they were Gideon. We're talking about crazy people
that were not afraid of an army 20 times their
size that had already decimated their nation
for time and time and time again. They thought
they were small. They did not think they could
win. But they were hopeful that they might if
sufficient price was paid. They were not afraid
of death. And then the decision from Gideon's
point of view appeared to be made by who drank
water in a certain way. Now, a lot of pastors
preach a whole sermon right here. Because, you
know... If you're a guy who cups his hands in
the water and lifts something like that, you
can see around what's going on. Whereas if you're
a guy who puts their hand on the ground and lifts
it from the stream, during that time, you've
given up your ability to see around you, right?
And say, oh, you're a whole sermon. You can go
online right now and get one. Not by me, but
somebody. And it wouldn't necessarily be unbiblical
to do that, to start there, as long as you back
it up scripturally. And they're saying, these
guys, the reason they were chosen is because
they're more alert. I mean, listen, okay. We've
pretty well already figured out that the 300
guys versus the 300 ,000 Midianites and their
friends, it doesn't matter if they can see around
them or not. It doesn't matter if they're the
most alert. It doesn't matter if they're the
best warriors. So to say that if you're the person
who's smart, cunning, wise, recognizes authority,
whatever this means, whatever that is, that ain't
the reason they were chosen. They were chosen
because they were 300. They were chosen because
God said, take them and don't take the others.
But again, from Gideon's point of view, all he
saw was these are the 300 that drank a certain
way. There's a sermon there, but be careful because
you can slide into going, well, they were chosen
on their merit. They were chosen because of their
alertness. They were chosen because of their
dependability or because they were woodsmen or
because they were warriors profound or something
like that. It doesn't matter. They could be the
best warriors who ever lived. And if God doesn't
intervene, they can't win against 101 odds. They
can't do it. That brings us to our conclusion.
And it's a doozy. Apparent faithfulness in life
can come with certain trappings. Men who are
in their church, they're serving. I went down
to Atlanta. I went to a big church while I was
in Atlanta. Some of us went to a conference.
Some of us, Tim might have been there. So it
was a few of us that went. Big conference. We
sat down in about like the 32nd row out of 200
rows. So we were pretty close to the front. And
at the beginning of the service, they announced
to the congregation, it was election time, all
of the politicians who were in attendance that
day. See, sometimes faithfulness can come with
certain trappings. People recognize you. People
give to you things. They're more likely to take
care of you. They're going to bend over backwards
for you. When we work hard and succeed at something
no one else has done or maybe could do, and that's
what was on the line here. Gideon was about to
do something that nobody else could do. When
we work hard at something like that and then
succeed and we get the credit, the promotion,
the paycheck, the degree, the raise, the praise,
the audience that will listen to us, platform,
and we can sell our next book, whatever it is,
We deny access by those people who are giving
us credit to first -hand knowledge of the living
God unless we give credit where credit is due.
When you get it right, you've got to say, you've
got to admit, you've got to appeal to anyone
who will listen. Yeah, I got it right, but I
could not have done this if it were not for the
living God. Say, but other people get degrees.
Other people get raises. Other people get praises.
Other people get audiences. Other people get
blessings. Other people look good. Sure. And
if they don't give credit to the living God but
claim to be a Christian, then understand that
they are standing in the way of God getting the
glory, which means God getting the presented
salvation. God can save them. But God won't have
a chance to save them just because you got a
degree, just because you got a reward, just because
you did well somehow. God is not going to have
a chance to save them just because of that. But
if they will look to you and you will point to
Him, then there's a chance. And that's what God
was saying. We cannot deny access by those people
who are giving credit to us to a first -hand
knowledge of the living God. We cannot do it.
In John 4, Jesus is talking and He says, that
God is looking for worshipers in spirit and truth.
It would be good enough to worship God in spirit,
I think, if the Holy Spirit comes in you, worship
Him, that would be great. You need to worship
Him in truth. It's really got to be about God.
It'd be great to worship God in truth, that it's
really about Him. But if the Holy Spirit isn't
in it, it's really not going to be anything anyway.
You need God to show up and inhabit you so you
can be the kind of person that not only has a
relationship, alive, walking in Christ, but also
makes it available to your loved ones. In John
15, 5, Jesus is speaking, he says, I am the vine,
ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and
I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.
That means you produce a lot. You bring Christians
in, you produce a lot through the Holy Spirit,
you do kingdom work, right? And then he says,
for, because, without me, ye can do nothing.
Let me be really super clear. Without God, you
wouldn't be allowed to take another breath. You
can't prepare another meal. You can't. Give of
your money or keep your money. You can't work
at your job, clock in or don't. God is the one
who has authored creation and keeps it going
to this point in time. He must get the credit.
Philippians 4 .13, a verse that we all like to
quote, right? I can do all things. That's my
daughter's favorite verse. She's 11. This is
my favorite verse. She's got a couple of others
that she really likes now, but she really likes
this one. In fact, it's the key verse for our
kids group. Their motto is, we are mighty, right?
And it says, I can do all things through Christ
who strengthens me. Do you know what the all
things that he's talking about in Philippians
4 is? It's not all good things. It's not all
good things. Some are bad things. Suffer, struggle,
fight, work, sweat, bleed. I can do all things.
It is to be content no matter what you are going
through. Because he gives you strength. But let's
flip that around for one second. Let's realize
that if that's true, I can do all things through
Christ who gives me strength. Then what things
can you do outside Christ who gives you strength?
And the answer is nothing. And so when you take
that strength that Christ has given you, we take
that strength that he has given you and you go
after the wicked. You go after evil things. You
do what you should not do. You'll feel small.
And then you'll seek it even more. Trying to
get control. You'll go to church, going through
the motions. You'll go to worship, going through
the motions. You'll sing a little hour maybe
for a while. The problem being dealt with here
is that God's chosen people, when in wickedness,
will make their own way, when possible, just
the same as anyone else. Everyone wants to make
their own way. Everyone's just trying to do the
best they can. And so when we, as God's people,
choose the wrong way, we will still try to do
as good as we can. And then people will look
at us and they will count our apparent successes
for glory. But a rich man who fails to know the
mind of Christ will die the second death and
be separated from God for eternity. You'd better
be poor if making you rich would make you go
to hell. You'd better be lonely if giving you
many relationships would take you to hell. Don't
steal God's thunder. Go and do amazing and great
things and change the world for the better. Cast
out demons and evil spirits. Bring about healings.
Exercise your spiritual gift. Exercise the spiritual
disciplines. Preach the word. Evangelize. Witness.
Tell what you have seen and heard. Do all these
things in season and out because we know the
terror of the Lord. But don't steal God's thunder.
Remember I told you at the beginning that when
the gentleman, Dennis, John Dennis, invented
the thunder, for his play, which didn't last
long. And then they stole his thunder and used
it for Macbeth. Those two scenes in Macbeth,
they are the scenes where the witches are on
the stage. The witches are on the stage, and
the thunder in Macbeth is meant to say that the
witches, for one, had some control over creation.
They could control the weather. God controls
the weather. The thunder was meant to announce
that the The evil, the wickedness that takes
place in that play was being fostered by evil
spirits and demons as brought about by the witches
in Act 1 and Act 4. And that's not entirely untrue.
But God creates the thunder. God gives the victory.
Get used to saying this. God gave me the victory.
When you're suffering, when you're hurting, when
you're down and out, when you've got next to
nothing, say, God... is giving me the victory.
I will have victory in this situation. Blessed
God should have to make you small so that you
can find salvation yourself. So that others can
find salvation through you. The paralyzed man
had to be paralyzed to cry out to Jesus. The
blind man was blind to cry out to Jesus. The
dead man couldn't even cry out to Jesus, but
his loved ones did it for him. The widow who
was broke put in the two mites and put in more
than all those other guys. Because she did it
in her desperation. Do you need to go to being
truly desperate to eventually have a real relationship
with Jesus? If that's what it takes, then that's
where he'll take you. He wants to save your soul.
He wants to unleash you to do amazing things.
He will not do it through any strength or capability,
which you will then use to vaunt yourself and
put yourself up and say, see, I am big. But if
you will say instead, God is big. God is big.
And if you say you're small, then say you are
small in comparison to God, not in comparison
to other men. If you have accepted Jesus Christ
as Lord and Savior, you are big. At this point
in time, I'll ask the praise team to come forward
and lead us in our closing hymn. If you are here
today and you have thought of yourself as small
or unable to give yourself excuses why you can't
do what it is that God has called you to, I'm
asking you today to repent of that sinful thought.
And instead say, okay, God, do in me what you
want to do, whatever that is. Maybe you're here
today saying, I realize now, listen, I have truly
accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.
My Lord means he held me up to do what I do.
My Savior means he paid the price for my sins.
If you would do that today, then you do it now.
It's not a special phrase you've got to say.
You don't have to be super intelligent. In fact,
Jesus said that tax collectors and poor martyrs
will come and sit down in front in the kingdom
of God before you. He was talking to very wise,
very knowledgeable Bible scholars. He said that
tax collectors and poor martyrs will come and
sit down in the kingdom of God before you. If
you're in this room and you understand just enough
to say, I have not accepted Jesus Christ as my
Lord and Savior in earnest, and you're willing,
then do that right now where you're seated. And
you say, I need to follow Jesus in all my life,
in all my heart. I need to put away this wickedness,
this evil. Then you do that right now. I realize
when I do these things that I'm not supposed
to do, they make me feel small. And the further
down that road that I go, the more meaningless
things I encounter. I know I need to come back
to God. Stop thinking of myself as small or unable.
Think of myself as God's age capable. You don't
have to be crazy. This isn't even a crazy thing.
You should be a little afraid because God's going
to need you to do something amazing. If you say,
okay, God, use me to do that, whatever that is,
then he comes. Would you stand with me and sing
this hymn? and then respond however you feel
led to the Lord.