Enough Series

Welcome we are going to learn about this guy in the bible named Gideon. We have all heard the story of how he fought the 135,000 men with only 300 men. But I will explain how there is a lot more to Gideon. He was called by God, he tested God, he was empowered by God. So how did he come to be such a mighty man of God. Lets see what the bible says.

The bible says the Angel of the Lord came and spoke to Gideon and said, “The Lord is with you Mighty Warrior” (Judges 6:12). Now Gideon was a weak guy, and his clan was part of the weakest Clan. In Judges 6:14 the lord said “Go in the strength you have” and then the Lord said in 6:16 I will be with you. Now even after all of that Gideon still didn’t think he was strong enough, good enough, or powerful enough. But God had a different plan for Gideon. Fast forward just a bit and Gideon is sent with all of these warriors to fight the Midianites but Gideon was scared.

Because he was scared, he decided to ask God to make a fleece wet and the ground not as a test of his deity. Then he asked for the ground to be wet and the fleece to be dry. (Judges 6:36 - 40) How many times has God ask us to do something and we try to test Him?

Now when Gideon camped at the spring of Harod. The Lord Said you have to many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands they will boast against me ‘My own strength has saved me’ (Judges 7:2). And Gideon was required to cut his numbers down to 300 men. Now he started with 32,000 men. The odds of winning the fight would have been 4.2 to 1. So each warrior would only need to take down 4 or 5 men each. Now when God cut Gideons troops down to 300 the odds were definitely off. The odds were 450 to 1 so each man would have to destroy 450 men each. How much faith would you have in your commanding officer if he just changed the odds against you? I would feel like the guy has lost it and we need to do something about it. However the men had so much faith in Gideon that there is no record of grumbling from the men who stayed.

My Senior Pastor Joseph Britain enlightened me about the vision of the loaf of bread. Now in Judges 7:9-15. The bible says that the Lord told Gideon that if you are afraid go to the camp with your servant Purah and listen to what they say then you will be strengthened to go against them. Now Gideon and Purah went to the camp and they hear a soldier telling his companion his dream. (Judges 7:13b-14) The soldier said, ‘In my dream, I saw a loaf of bread that was rolling into our camp. It hit one of our tents and it knocked the tent down to the ground. 14 The other soldier replied, ‘This dream is telling us about Joash's son Gideon, the leader of the Israelites. It shows us that he has the power to kill us. God has put Midian and all our army under his power!’. How would you feel if you were Gideon? Would you be ready to go fight or would you still doubt the power of the Lord?

Then Gideon split the men into groups and gave them mighty weapons. Judges 7:16 Dividing the 300 Men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in their hands with torches in them. Who wants to fight a battle with a trumpet, a clay pot, and a torch? When they surrounded the enemy camp they blew the trumpet and smashed the pot and shouted a Sword for the Lord and for Gideon. The lord allowed the fear to build up in the Midianites and they ran away fearing for their lives.

What is the trumpet?

The trumpet can signify an alarm of war, a call to assemble, or a command to march

Numbers 10:2-10 Gives us 8 examples

2. Explains make 2 trumpets, and make a noise with them.

3. When the people hear the sound from both trumpets, all the people must meet you.

4. When you only want the leaders of Israel's tribes to meet you. Use one trumpet

5. With one short sound, the tribes on the east side of the camp must start to travel.

6. When they hear the next short sound, from the trumpet will tell the people that they must start to travel.

7. But when you want everyone to meet together, make a different sound with the trumpet.