I mentioned a few weeks ago that I sometimes,
a lot of times, just don't really feel qualified
to be a minister, to be the guy that preaches
to people that are searching for answers or searching
for wisdom and guidance. I don't really feel
qualified to do that sometimes, a lot of times.
But in that message, I tried to reassure you
and myself. That even though we sometimes don't
feel qualified, now God will qualify us to do
what he chooses us or chooses for us to do or
calls us to do. And today I really want to call
out this idea that we tell ourselves sometimes
that we're not strong enough or that we're not
smart enough or we're not spiritual enough or
I'm not old enough or I don't have the education
or I don't have the experience. I want us to
call that idea out because the truth is we aren't
enough. We're not. I, Donovan Rillian, am not
enough. I'm not strong enough. I'm not smart
enough. I'm definitely not experienced enough
to do everything that God has called me to do.
But Christ is. What we talked about is how God
equips us to do what he's called us to do. But
sometimes it's not even something that we can
be equipped to do. It's not an ability that God
can give us or a talent that he can give us.
It's not something that maybe we can learn or
that we can train to do. Sometimes it has to
be a complete work of God. And the way we look
at it and we see the results, we can only say
that was God working. And that's how we get to
our passage today. Last week we looked at Moses
and how he was up on the hill with his hand raised
and he's holding the staff and his friends have
to help him hold it. And that's how the Israelites
have victory over the Amalekites. We know that
it was not Moses who won that battle. It wasn't
the Israelites and Joshua who won that battle.
It was God who brought the victory. And today
I want us to look at that idea of God being the
only one who can bring the victory. And we find
a story in Judges 6, verses 11 -16. And what
we're going to see here is a man and an army.
Because there's a lot of men and a lot of armies
fighting in the Old Testament. And there's some
really rich stories in there. So this morning
we're going to read Judges 6, verses 11 -16.
And we're going to talk a little bit about it.
Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under
Terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash
the Abizrite, while his son Gideon was beating
out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the
Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared
to him and said to him, The Lord is with you,
O mighty man of valor. And Gideon said to him,
Please, my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why
then has all this happened to us? And where are
all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted
to us, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from
Egypt? But now the Lord has forsaken us and given
us into the hand of Midian. And the Lord turned
to him and said, Go in this might of yours and
save Israel from the hand of Midian. Do not I
send you? And he said to him, Please, Lord, how
can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest
in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's
house. And the Lord said to him, But I will be
with you, and you shall strike the Midianites
as one man. Let's pray. Read of Gideon and his
reliance on you for victory. As we see examples
in Scripture of the need for your power and your
might to accomplish the things you have called
us to do, God, I pray that something in us would
be shaken. That our confidence in ourselves Would
decrease. But that our confidence in you would
become supreme. God, I pray that we realize that
it's nothing we can do. It's nothing we can be
equipped for or nothing we can learn to do or
be trained to do. But sometimes it is only you
that can bring the victory and the battles we're
called to. God, I pray that we rely on you and
only you. And I pray that this morning you would
speak. To our hearts. It's in Jesus' name we
pray. Amen. In this passage, we find Gideon hiding.
He's trying to hide from the Midianites. This
is a man who's afraid. He's insecure. He is feeling
very weak. This is a man that we can relate to.
He doesn't have all the answers. He doesn't feel
strong enough. He doesn't feel like they can
go toe to toe with the Midianites. So he's hiding.
And I want you to notice how when the angel of
the Lord speaks to Gideon and the angel says
the Lord is with you, Gideon responds with this
question that we all ask or maybe have asked
before. And if you haven't asked it, you may
ask it one day. If the Lord is with us, why then
has all of this happened to us? Or maybe in a
modern translation, it's if God is so good, why
is all of this happening to me? If God loves
us, why do I have to deal with this? If God is
this good God that wants to provide life for
me, why do I feel like I'm dying? Or why am I
dying? Or why are my loved ones experiencing
this turmoil? If God is with us, why then has
all of this happened to us? And when you're reading
this, you may ask yourself, well, what happened
to them that has Gideon doubting the God who
has provided for the Israelites this whole time?
What could possibly have gone wrong to make this
man questioned the same God that provided victory
for the Israelites against the Amalekites. The
same God that brought them out of Egypt. The
same God that has promised good things and has
over and over and over and over again shown them
how powerful and how good He is. What could have
happened that has Him doubting? Well, there in
the same verse, Gideon says this, the Lord has
forsaken us. He's turned his back on us. He's
forgotten about us. And he's given us into the
hands of Midian. Maybe you have felt that way
before. Where you just feel like God has separated
himself from you. Where God has forgotten you.
Maybe you felt like you don't quite understand
what all the hype about this good God is. Well,
everybody says God's so good, but I can't see
it. It seems God has worked in their lives, but
I don't know if He's worked in mine. Maybe you've
asked the question, does God even care about
me? Has He given up on me? You see, sometimes
when we're being called by God, we find these
things to argue with Him about or to question
Him on. And it's often our current or our past
circumstances. Sometimes it's a fearful view
of the future circumstances that cause us to
question the good God that we serve. Here in
this passage, we see an example of all three
of those. The past circumstances, the current
circumstances, and the future. See, Gideon mentions
how in the past, God helped His people, and we
just talked about that. God helped and gave victory
to the Israelites in their battle against the
Amalekites. And God led them out of Egypt, and
He parted the Red Sea, and He provided food,
He provided direction for them. But now, where
is God? And now what we'll see in verse 15 is
where Gideon is going to question God on the
future circumstances. What he says in 14 and
15 is, And the Lord turned to him and said, Go
in the smite of yours and save Israel from the
hand of Midian. Do not I send you? And this is
his response to the angel of the Lord. Lord,
how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the
weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my
father's house. Basically he says, we are already
undersized. We're already at a disadvantage.
And not only are we at a disadvantage, but I
am the least of the disadvantaged. When I was
in high school, I was on a really, really, I
hope none of my old teammates or coaches listen
to this, I was on a really bad football team.
Like our football... Let me just simplify it
like this. We won three games in the four years
I played high school football. You didn't hear
me wrong. I said in all four years. We were really
bad. And we'd show up to some of these games,
and I'm from South Mississippi, and you guys
know this because we're still in the South. We
would show up to some of these games against
some corn -fed dudes. Y 'all know what I mean
by corn -fed, right? Okay, so these are some
big guys. And I think maybe I've said this to
you before, if not, when I started high school,
I was five foot nothing and I weighed 90 pounds.
So I was on a really bad football team and I
was the least on that really bad football team.
That's kind of what Gideon's got going on here.
Now, let me tell you what in my brain, if I'm
Gideon, I think is going to happen. My first
ever play of varsity football, I was a freshman,
and I still am not very good at learning the
playbook. And so coach had to just tell me what
to do. So I get put in in the middle of the game,
and coach says, hey, I need you to just blitz.
Just go. Okay. Now I'm five. I think I gained
like five pounds over the summer workout. So
I was now 95 pounds. Okay. So, so he says blitz
and I'm playing middle linebacker against one
of the most corn fed teams we played. And so
I go to blitz and I'm not kidding. The center
grabs me by my shoulder pads and throws. I'm,
I don't mean like, I'm not exaggerating. Like
he didn't just push me. He threw me. In fact,
let me clarify, I did go in and help on the tackle.
It was an outside run, and I got up and I helped.
Okay, so victory Donovan. But you know what got
showed in film over and over? Coach had the clicker,
and he'd press play, and you'd just see little
Donovan flying through the air. And he'd rewind
it and press play. He's like, look it really
on. And I'm like, coach, that's not very nice.
That's not a good way to encourage your players.
But that's what if I'm Gideon, I'm imagining
is going to happen to me if I try to go toe to
toe with the Midianites. We're a bad football
team and I'm the worst one on the team and you
want me to do what? This is some real poor pitiful
me stuff from Gideon. But God doesn't give him
a tissue and say, no, buddy. That's not true.
You are so strong. You're so capable. You're
so powerful. That's not what God does. God doesn't
hype Gideon up so that Gideon can feel like he
is strong enough to do what he's being called
to do. What God does is he says, I will be with
you and you shall strike the Midianites as one
man. God says, you're not the one who's going
to do this. I'm going to do it through you. God
doesn't lie to Gideon and say, you're enough.
He assures him that he is. That God is enough.
And here's the truth. God is not in the business
of boosting our self -confidence. That's not
what he wants. He doesn't want you to feel like
you're powerful and you're mighty and you're
strong. That's not what God's here to do. What
God does is He boosts our confidence in Him over
and over and over again through Scripture. And
if you look close enough, you'll see in your
life where God proved to be strong in and through
you. It wasn't anything you did. It wasn't anything
they did. It was God working. And as God always
does, He does what He says He's going to do.
We don't read through it. Or we won't read through
it for the sake of time. But in Judges chapter
7, we see God actually decide to shrink Gideon's
army. So Gideon, he says, we're the least. But
Gideon had 32 ,000 people to fight in this battle.
32 ,000 sounds like a lot. That is more than
everybody in Union County put together. 32 ,000
people. But God says, hey, I don't want you to
take 32 ,000 people into this battle. I want
you to take 300. As if the battle wasn't already
scary enough. This would be like if I said, I
want you to go by yourself to the Capitol building
and you tell them what they need to change. And
you're going to say, well, I'm just a cattle
farmer in Union County, Georgia. Why would they
listen to me? Why would all, however many people
are in that building that are powerful and make
decisions, why would they listen to me? This
would be like, and I wanted to do this, but I
didn't have a weight set. This would be like
if I took my son Easton, who is four, and as
strong as he thinks he is, if I put him up here
and I had a bar and it had two 45 -pound plates
on each side. Now, for reference, that's 225
pounds, okay? This is a little bit more than
I weigh. And I can tell you, Easton cannot pick
me up. So if I took Easton and put him up here,
put this bar in front of him and said, lift it
onto your shoulders, he's not going to be able
to do that. But if I said, hey, Titus, can you
come help Easton lift this up? I don't know.
I've never worked out with Titus. Titus is a
pretty big dude. Something tells me Titus could
lift it pretty easily. But Easton can't. And
to put Easton in front of that bar and say, hey,
Easton, lift that, sounds insane. So for God
to look at Gideon and say, just take 300 people.
Let me give you some reference as to what those
300 people were going to go up against. It was
135 ,000 men. And not just men, but skilled,
trained soldiers. I'm not good at math, so I
did this ahead of time. With only 300 people,
each man would have to kill roughly... 450 opponents.
That's a lot, okay? So you may be asking, why
would God do this? Why would He put Gideon in
this situation? This is what He says in Judges
7, verse 2. The Lord said to Gideon, the people
with you are too many. It's too many for me to
give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel
boast over me, saying, my own hand has saved
me. See, with 32 ,000 people, the Israelites
might have been able to say, we were just really
playing our best ball. And we did everything
right. We were strategic. We went in for the
kills that we needed to, and we chose our opponents
wisely. This would give them a chance to say,
we had a part in this. Now, if I'm being honest,
it really wouldn't because 135 is still a lot
more than 32 ,000. But let's just pretend like
they could make a claim for themselves. And so
God is like, he's kind of, this is like Steph
Curry shooting from the half court line. Like,
you know, he can make it. He knows he can make
it, but he wants to just do it to show you. To
make sure you know He can make it? That's kind
of what God's doing here. He says, let's back
this up. Let's back it up. Let's bring it down
to 300 people. And let's see if you can do this.
See, God wants to use this as a way to ensure
that the army can't boast about even having the
opportunity or the ability. But he wants them
to know that it was only by his power and might
that victory would happen. Because the truth
is, is God shines in the impossible. When it
seems like there is no hope, when it seems like
there is no shot of victory, that's where God
does some of his greatest work. That's where
he shines. I want you to picture this for a second.
Imagine you're hiking deep in the mountains and
you come across or you come to a gorge. A deep
ravine with jagged rocks below. And the only
way across is this old rickety rope bridge. You
know those ones that sway when the wind's blowing
and with every step it rocks a little bit. You
know, those. kinds of rope bridges. You stand
there, you look at this bridge, and you think
to yourself, there is absolutely no way that
this thing is strong enough to hold me up, much
less for me to walk across it. And the truth
is, you're probably right, by itself the bridge
would never hold you. But what keeps you safe
It's not the old wooden planks. It's not the
rope. It's not the bridge itself, but it's the
massive cables anchored deep into the rocks on
both sides. And maybe you've seen a bridge get
built, but they take these cables and they've
got them deep in there so that there is no shot
that that thing is coming out. The bridge by
itself is pretty weak. But it is held up by something
way stronger and way more secure than itself.
That's you. And that's me. And in this story,
that's Gideon. And we're going to read, and it
was our scripture reading, something in the New
Testament that helps us to kind of understand
all of this. And it's one of the most famous
verses in the world. Often used out of context,
and we're not going to use it out of context
today because we would never do that from the
pulpit, would we? No. We're going to look at
Philippians 4 .13 and we're going to talk about
this context where Paul says, I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me. And this is
not about my ability to lift heavy weights. It's
not about your ability to hit a baseball 450
feet. It's not about your ability to make the
basket, to score the points, to pass the test,
to get the job. That's not what this is about.
What this is about is something far greater.
The context here is Paul, the apostle, being
in prison. He knows that the Philippian church
is worried about him. Because if you have a friend
that you feel like is being wrongfully imprisoned,
you may be worried about them. We talked about
some conflict in Africa. And we worry about our
brothers and sisters, and so we pray for them.
But what Paul tells them is, I know you're worried.
Don't be. Because I have God on my side. And
that is all I need to make it through. See, again,
by ourselves we're weak. And by ourselves, being
imprisoned, especially wrongfully imprisoned,
might be enough to cause us to crumble. Being
persecuted, even the slightest bit of persecution,
might be enough to make us walk away. In fact,
somebody right now is choosing to walk away from
God because of some slight inconvenience in their
life. And let me not make light of it, somebody's
going to walk away from God because of a major
inconvenience in their life. Their loved one
passes away. Maybe family member after family
member after family member is just getting sick,
they're getting hurt, they're facing these trials,
and they're thinking, I don't think this is what
a good God would let me go through. Or even worse,
theology, this is what a good God would put me
through. They're going to choose to walk away
because of that. But what Paul says is, I understand
that my God shines in the impossible. I understand
that when I'm facing my darkest battles, my toughest
journeys, my hardest persecutions, that's where
God does some of His greatest, most magnificent
work. Paul says, don't worry about me. I can
make it through this imprisonment. I can make
it through the persecution. I can make it through
the beatings. And I can keep doing the good work
in this world that God has called me to do. God
called Paul to bring the message, to plant churches,
to spread the gospel. And Paul says, I'm going
to do it no matter what comes. And I love this
song by Wren Collective called Whatever Comes.
And in the song, the singer says, Lord, whatever
comes, be my bravery. Be my courage. A cedar
planted firm. Be the thing I need to keep going.
To keep preaching your goodness. You see, what
Paul knows... is this truth that it's only by
the power of God that he would have the strength,
that he would have the ability to continue on
and fulfill his calling. Because he knows the
same God that called Gideon to trust in his power
to have victory, despite Gideon's army's lack
of power, their lack of size, that same God is
the same God that is calling us to trust in his
power and not our own. And to me, that is such
a comforting thought because I do often feel
inadequate. I do sometimes feel incapable. And
for whatever reason... I can rest assured knowing
that I don't have to have it all together before
I can go. I don't have to know all the answers
before I can share the gospel. I don't have to
be strong enough before I can do the act of service
that God's calling me to do. My inability does
not matter. It never has. My availability does.
My ability to be available to God is what matters.
I use sports references a lot because that's
what I know. I don't know much else. I've heard
coaches say it a million times. And you may have
heard it too. Your best ability is availability.
You know, there's a player on LSU's football
team that was rated one of the top five receivers
in his recruiting class. In fact, in the same
class, he was rated higher than two guys that
were both first -round draft picks and had the
best rookie seasons you could imagine last year
in the NFL. He was rated higher than them. But
he has less yards in his four years of college
football receiving than they had in one season
each. He was better than them, talent -wise.
But you know what has hurt him? He's always hurt.
He lets a little stubbed toe keep him off the
field. He's always hurt, so he's never available.
It doesn't matter how good you are. If you're
not available for God to use you... you can't
be used. It doesn't matter how talented you are,
how strong you are, how smart you are. If you
won't let God work through you, it doesn't matter.
Likewise, it doesn't matter how weak you are.
It doesn't matter how illiterate you are. It
doesn't matter how little you know or how little
experience you have. If you'll be available for
God to use, He will use you. You've seen it before.
Maybe you've seen the movie Rudy. Rudy was not
that good at football. But he showed up over
and over and over again. He kept trying when
they said no. He kept trying when they said you're
never going to play, give it up. And he gets
in and he's this hero. Because he was ready when
he was called. My inability does not matter.
My availability... When I'm available for God
to use me, when I'm available for him to work
through me, I put myself in great position to
be a vessel for God's great works. So going forward,
I want us to stop throwing the pity party of
I'm not smart enough. I don't know enough. I'm
not strong enough or I'm not gifted enough. Maybe
even as a church, we're not big enough. We're
not cool enough. We're not young enough. Whatever
the excuses are individually and congregationally,
let them go. Instead, let's open ourselves up
for God to work in and through us, and then let's
pay attention to what, where, and who God may
be calling us to. I can do all things through
Him who strengthens me. Gideon and his 300 men
ended up defeating a trained army of 145 ,000
men. I want you to imagine what the Blairsville
Church of Christ, what the church in general
could do if we collectively made ourselves available
to God. If we all decided to just let his power
shine through us despite our brokenness, despite
our differences, despite our disagreements or
our inadequacies, our incapabilities, whatever
it is, if we just let those things go and said,
God, we're going to let you shine through us.
There's an illustration I saw one time. And I
did not, and this is lazy preacher of me, I did
not want to take the time to break a clay jar
and then glue it back together. But there's this
illustration where you take a clay jar and you
crack it and then you put it back together and
it still has some cracks and holes and there's
still some see -throughs. And you put a candle
in it and it represents how we're all broken.
We're all cracked. individually, congregationally,
maybe our families. We've got our things, our
issues. But when God is working in us, the light
shines through. In fact, it shines through better
if I've got some holes in me than it does if
I'm all sealed up. Isn't it crazy how big God's
light shines in this world when broken people,
when inadequate people, will let Him work through
them? We're being called to change the world.
We're being called to prepare this world and
the people here for the return of Christ. And
it may seem like a daunting task. There's less
than 100 people in this room, maybe 100. And
it may sound like a crazy task for us to change
this county, for us to change this world. And
the truth is, it is kind of crazy. We will never
be enough. We'll never be strong enough. We'll
never be capable enough. We'll never be definitely
me. We'll never be cool enough. But we can change
this world and get it ready for Jesus to come
back if we will let God work in and through us.
I genuinely believe that. We simply need to trust
and believe that when we're not, When we're not
strong enough, when we're not capable enough,
our God is. We have to believe that. And if you've
been doubting that, or if you've never fully
taken hold of that truth, if you'd like to accept
the call to let God work in and through you,
to let Him change your life so that you can change
someone else's life, so that they can change
someone else's life, if you just need prayers
because you do feel broken and you want that
light in you, we offer you this invitation. And
I invite you to remember and hold on to this
truth as you go through this week. If you'd like
to respond in a way that allows us to pray for
you and support you and love you this morning,
we give you this invitation now as we stand and
as we sing.