God Wants Ordinary People To Spread His Word

Judges 61-6,11-16

You know, we hear a lot of people in churches say that it’s not just the pastor’s job to go out and tell people about Jesus.

They say that anybody can do it, and that we all should be doing it.

But I’m not so sure, you see I’ve often thought that maybe it should be left up to the professionals.

I mean after all, if you didn’t go about doing it right…you could really mess somebody up don’t you think?

There was a barber that thought that he should share his faith with his customers more than he had been doing lately. So the next morning when the sun came up and the barber got up out of bed he said, "Today I am going to witness to the first man that walks through my door."

Soon after he opened his shop the first man came in and said, "I want a shave!" The barber said, "Sure, just sit in the seat and I'll be with you in a moment." The barber went in the back and prayed a quick desperate prayer saying, "God, the first customer came in and I'm going to tell him about going to heaven. So give me the wisdom to know just the right thing to say to him. Amen."

Then quickly the barber came out with his razor knife in one hand and a Bible in the other and he looked the man right in the eyes and said, "Good morning sir. I have a question for you... Are you ready to die?"

Isn’t this how you envision it turning out if you try to tell somebody about going to heaven?

And maybe you’ve got good reason to think that way.

Let’s find out by looking at a very good example of the kind of people God picks to do awesome things for Him.

Pray

When I think of a good example of the kind of person that God is looking to take His message to the masses, I think of Gideon.

I think of the kind of guy who has enough chutzpah to take on an entire army with just 300 guys and actually win big.

This is the kind of person that God needs to do His will.

Somebody who’s got the skills and the means to do what He asks.

Somebody way above par.

And to be completely honest when I look out over this congregation today, I don’t see any rocket scientists.

I don’t see any nuclear physicists.

I don’t see any brain surgeons.

I see plain ordinary people.

If I’m being completely honest, some of you seem like the kind of people that may have been fired from the M & M factory for throwing out the W’s.

And by the way, if you didn’t get that joke, then you’re the person I was talking about.

And don’t get me wrong, I think you’re all wonderful people.

I love you all dearly as if you were my own family.

Which actually isn’t saying much since you know my extended family.

I love you more than my own family.

But if I have to be completely honest with you...I look out and I’m not sure that you’re qualified to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.

I mean God always picks people that are well above the norm to take His message to the people, doesn’t he?

Look at Gideon for instance.

The Midianites have taken over Israel.

The Israelites are so afraid of the Midianites that they are hiding in the hills.

The Midianites are like the big bullies of the day, and anytime the Israelites start doing well for themselves the Midianites come in and beat them up and take what they’ve got and kill all of their animals.

And the Israelites don’t know what to do, and they have no idea how they could ever stand up against this much bigger and stronger army.

Luckily the Israelites have Gideon.

And Gideon is such an awesome guy that he leads just 300 soldiers and conquers the entire army.

This takes an extraordinary guy.

This is the kind of person that God picks to tell others about him.

And the reason that he does this is because if you don’t pick the right person, they could really mess things up.

John went to the store the other day. He was only in there for about five minutes, and when he came out there was a motorcycle cop writing a parking ticket. So John went up to him and said, 'Come on buddy, how about giving a guy a break?'

He ignored John and continued writing the ticket. So John called him a stupid jerk. He glared at him and started writing another ticket for having bald tires!