EVERY MAN STOOD IN HIS PLACE
Judges 7:9-7:25
INTRO:
Do you remember the movie called “Crocodile Dundee?”
It was a good one.
Crocodile Dundee comes from the land down under.
He is completely out of his realm when he came from Australia to New York City.
Crocodile Dundee and his girlfriend are out for a walk at night, when all of a sudden some guys, which we would have called a thiefs or a hoods all a sudden appeared out of nowhere.
One of the guys pulled out a knife and demanded, “Give me your money!”
And Dundee’s girl screams, “Oh, he has a knife!”
But Crocodile Dundee, the cool character that he is says, “That’s not a knife.”
And he coolly reaches behind his back and pulls a huge knife out of his sheaf and says, “This is a knife.”
The thieves take one look at Dundee’s knife and takes off.
What would normally bring fear did not bring fear to Crocodile Dundee, because he had something bigger and better.
Application:
Believer friend, we have someone bigger and better working for us this morning.
God does not want you or me to be intimidated out of being the person He has saved us and sanctified us to be.
If you are doing the powerful kingdom work that God has called you to do then you have the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit and you and I are spiritually powerful persons.
The experiences of Gideon, an angel called him a “Mighty Warrior”, are indeed exciting and adventurous.
I read about a minister who used the story of Gideon in speaking to a group of fifty or so elementary school children.
Only a few of them knew the story of Gideon and his three hundred men who won the victory over an overwhelming enemy of 126,000 Midianites.
One phrase used in this drama stands out to me especially.
It’s found in Judges 7:21, “While each man held his position” in the NIV
It reads in the “Every man stood in his place” (7:21 NLB).
I want you to see with me in my last sermon on Gideon that this describes how important it is for every Christian believer to know and understand how important it is to Stand in Your Place.
Do you realize this morning when Christian believers are not faithful to what God has gifted them to do, it hurts the Kingdom of God and gives victory to the enemy?
Do you realize this morning when you can’t be trusted by God to stand in the place where He has called you to stand, there is gap – the wall has a break in it - and the enemy – the devil, can sneak through and cause chaos in the camp?
Church, listen to me, there is too much chaos allowed to be in the camp.
Illustration:
All it takes is several hours of power failure to make us realize how much we benefit from an invisible resource called electricity.
The other day our power went out up at our house.
I don’t know about you, but I really struggle to be in the house without the power of electricity.
Electricity has power within itself.
Stick a piece of metal in one of your home’s electrical outlets and you will become on the lights in your home! Don’t do that – I’m just kidding!
When it’s dark the lights come on, all because we have available to us an invisible power.
But this invisible power that can be positive and negative all the same time is not anything compared to the power that every one of us have who knows Jesus Christ and lives in the Person and the Fullness of His Holy Spirit.
Listen folks, He is the invisible presence and power of God.
He is God, in fact.
The Holy Spirit is deposited in the Life of the Believer when we give Him our total life, our total desires, out total ambitions.
He is the One who challenges us to Stay in Our Place where God has assigned us to be.
So I’m here this morning to tell you that it is my responsibility to help you find your place in God’s plan and purpose for your life.
This is one of the most important parts of the church’s responsibility.
Being in one’s place in God’s plan is essential to His Kingdom work and for your happiness and the feeling of success.
I. EVERY MAN WAS A VOLUNTEER.
And that’s the way it is in the Church.
We are all volunteer’s in the Army of God.
Gideon sent messengers throughout the land (6:35) calling men to follow him in warring against the Midianites and the Amalekites.
Thirty-two thousand men gathered at Mount Gilead, but when Gideon told those afraid (7:3) and trembling to go home, twenty-two thousand did so.
Gideon’s army vastly dwindled, but those who remained were true volunteers.
A volunteer army is always superior to a conscripted army.
A different kind of commitment is obvious.
Often Christians give testimonies of how God has had to “conscript” them into His service and will.
That is sad.
Volunteers believe in a cause and step forward without coercion.
God needs volunteers with commitment to His cause.
You see if we don’t see the importance and grasp this truth, then His church is crippled and we become less effective in winning people to Jesus.
Just in Gideon’s case it is also true in our case today as His Church.
If we grow slack in our commitment and our faithfulness and if God can’t count on us, and if we are not trustworthy to God, then the enemy has won his victory over us.
Let me say it again, one of the Holy Spirit’s chief roles is to empower believers to live supernatural lives.
He is also the invisible power source for the church as the collective body of believers.
Many of you would know this by heart, but it’s one of my favorite verses in all the Bible, found in Acts 1:8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be MY witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria , and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
Believer friends, I want to tell you how important this is to your life and mine. This empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
If we don’t have this filling of God’s Holy Spirit all kinds of negative things can come into play in our spiritual relationship with God.
Take for example the 22,000 men who were afraid left Gideon to fight with just 10,000.
When we don’t have the Holy Spirit’s indwelling fullness and power, we will allow the enemy a foot-hold in our spiritual lives and when attacked we react in fear and a lack of spiritual power to overcome the strategic attacks of the enemy.
When this happens the devil comes in like a mighty roaring lion seeking those which he can devour.”
Your mind becomes a place where he can attack you.
He will infiltrate your thinking and cause you to waver in your faith.
He will tell you, “You can’t trust God.
“There’s no way you can do that.
“You can’t rely on God’s Word that says –
I mean, God doesn’t understand your financial situation. You can’t trust Him or rely on God to bless you if you give your tithe!”
The devil will come at you and tell you that you were slighted by the pastor. He didn’t shake my hand. Bless God – I’ll leave the church.
When you don’t have the fullness of the Holy Spirit the devil can play all kinds of havoc with your mind and cause you to have carnal thoughts about someone in the church.
Have you ever heard someone say, “All they ever do is ask you for money!”?
When God is in your spiritual life in His fullness through the Holy Spirit, we will immediately recognize when the enemy is coming at us and trying to defeat us or cause these evil thoughts to come into our thinking.
You see – understand this – We are a Church family of volunteer soldiers who have enlisted in the work of His Kingdom.
We’ve signed up and became loyal and faithful to Him.
We want to do it because He has asked us to do it.
In Gideon’s army every man was a volunteer.
How are you this morning?
How is your position in this volunteer army of God?
Are you on your post this morning?
Are you doing what you are suppose to be doing?
Are you giving to God your 10%, plus your offerings or are you finding ways to excuse yourself from being faithful to God?
Are you serving the Lord in some kind of ministry?
Are you giving your time and talent to God and faithfully executing what He has called you to do?
Can God say, “He’s trustworthy! He’s a good soldier! She’s trustworthy! She’s a good soldier!
We’re going to win because they are part of My Army.
With Three Hundred God was going to show Himself powerful against a greater number which was against Gideon.
II. EVERY MAN WAS ALERT.
The test given to the remaining army of ten thousand is usually interpreted as a test of alertness or readiness.
Only three hundred men passed this test.
I wonder if this tells us something about every church.
Only so many were going to pass the test.
Folks, listen to me. I want to be in the group that passes the test.
Gideon must have been greatly discouraged.
How could he defeat the Midianites and Amalekites with an army of only three hundred men? (7:4-6)
Oh, folks, I know I have been greatly discouraged and disappointed in the church.
I know many pastors today who have faced this kind of discouragement and disappointment in the church when they have tried their very best to get the church to grow and to be obedient to God in every way.
Discouragement is a terrible thing to face in the ministry.
I am discouraged every time some one else comes to me and says, “Well, so and so are going to leave the church.”
And my heart dies a little more.
Gideon, the leader was pretty encouraged when there were 32,000 soldiers who showed up.
Can you imagine 22,000 leaving afraid?
And then God pulls a fast one on Gideon and from the way they drank water – the Water Test – only 300 soldiers were left.
Only a pastor who has experienced something similar to this can relate.
Do you understand what I’m saying?
ILLUS:
A layman who had been trained in how to effectively share his faith in Christ with others, said,
“It is amazing how many more opportunities I have now to share my faith than I did have.”
The truth is: You have no more opportunities now than before.
The difference is that now you are more alert to the kind of opportunities that have been there all along.
Opportunities to serve God present themselves numerous times every day.
God needs alert people to see and use the opportunities He sets before us.
Jesus condemned the “slothful” servant (Matt 25:26).
26-27"The master was furious. ’That’s a terrible way to live! It’s criminal to live cautiously like that! If you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least? The least you could have done would have been to invest the sum with the bankers, where at least I would have gotten a little interest.
Jesus condemned those who did not give Him something to eat or drink, or clothe Him, or visit Him in prison or when He was sick (Matt 25:41-46).
41-43"Then he will turn to the ’goats,’ the ones on his left, and say, ’Get out, worthless goats! You’re good for nothing but the fires of hell. And why? Because—
I was hungry and you gave me no meal,
I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
I was homeless and you gave me no bed,
I was shivering and you gave me no clothes,
Sick and in prison, and you never visited.’
44"Then those ’goats’ are going to say, ’Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or homeless or shivering or sick or in prison and didn’t help?’
45"He will answer them, ’I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me—you failed to do it to me.’
46"Then those ’goats’ will be herded to their eternal doom, but the ’sheep’ to their eternal reward."
They had been unaware and un-alert.
God calls on us to be alert to hurting, suffering, lonely, lost people around us.
Church family, let me talk to you about this.
We are well known as a friendly church in this community when people first come to our church.
I’m very thankful for that.
But we have to learn to be aware and alert to new families or new people who come to our church that are looking for Jesus.
People today are looking for a church where they can be accepted.
If we are not sensitive to this and we don’t go the extra to make them feel that PCN is a place where they can come and be welcomed, they will leave and go somewhere else.
But, you say, Pastor, you don’t understand. I’m backwards. It’s hard for me to meet people that I don’t know.
You see – again I take you to the indwelling fullness of the Holy Spirit where He empowers you to overcome your backwardness and you go aggressively after people and make them want to be here at PCN with you.
Think about it! When you came, were there people who made you feel welcome.
God is looking for a Powerful People He can use just like the 300 + Gideon.
Actually our records show us that our potential as a Church right now is a little over 300 people if everyone would be here faithfully.
The Power of the Holy Spirit is also evident in that He creates a powerful people who have His powerful presence carrying out His powerful program.
Recall with me, the disciples were a weak group of men. Peter denied Jesus. The other disciples left Him because they feared the Jews. They ran until the Holy Spirit came.
The Holy Spirit Difference
But when the Holy Spirit came upon them, those weakened wimps who ran when the going got tough received some spiritual courage.
They received the Holy Spirit power.
It didn’t happen because of changes in their environment.
It didn’t happen because they got themselves a new pastor.
It didn’t happen because they took a Dale Carnegie course, or by enrolling in some class on the power of positive thinking.
The only difference was the Holy Ghost power came upon them and a change took place.
What’s it going to take for the Pataskala Church of the Nazarene to recognize this Holy Spirit Power?
We’ve already been through what some people would call defeat.
We’ve already got some out there who wants to see this church fail and go under.
As a matter of fact, there are those in the realms of the evil enemy who are praying for the demise of the Pataskala Church of the Nazarene.
Listen, the Power of the Holy Spirit is the only power we need to be victorious!
The Power of the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with the degrees you have on your wall.
It has nothing to do with your theological training or background.
You can have all of this and still be a defeated Christian.
The answer to this Church and every Church in the Nazarene denomination is His Fullness.
When you have His fullness then you don’t struggle with Worshipping God with your tithe and offerings.
The percentage of 22% goes up to 100% of those who trust God because now they have His fullness in their lives. We would go from an average $6500 to over $15,000 in tithes and offerings easily.
When you have His fullness then you don’t struggle with staying at your post and serving the Lord with gladness and we don’t have just 20% of the believers doing 80% of the work for the Kingdom, we have 100% serving God and His Kingdom growing.
When we would experience this power of the Holy Spirit, there would be a record number of unsaved people coming to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior here at PCN.
When the Holy Spirit – God’s Presence came upon those disciples threats couldn’t scare them or stop them.
Now they stood face to face with those who opposed them before – even when they were beaten they kept right on preaching.
And they rejoiced in the fact that there were able to suffer for Jesus.
Do you have that kind of Spirit in you?
Do you need the assurance of this kind of Spirit
The kind of Spirit that guarantees your victory, your spiritual lifestyle,
your giving in worship,
your serving Him?
III. EVERY MAN WAS EQUIPPED.
The equipment of Gideon’s army of three hundred men was strange.
Each man was given a trumpet, an empty pitcher, and a torch to place inside the pitcher (7:16).
The equipment was not only strange, but also it was simple and effective when used to accomplish God’s plan.
God equips His people to accomplish His plan.
A simple formula that brings encouragement is “You plus God equals enough.”
God never asks you or me to do anything we cannot do with His help.
Why wouldn’t anyone want to see that kind of victory and success in their lives?
I believe the problem lies in the devils strategy to make us believe his lies.
God does not expect the impossible from us.
He always provides what we need to do his will. He equips us for service.
God often uses the simple, even the weak, to accomplish His purposes in the world.
The disciples of Jesus are a good example.
They were ordinary men that God used in extraordinary ways.
Despite their weaknesses,
God equipped them through His Holy Spirit for special places of service.
IV. EVERY MAN WAS OBEDIENT.
Every man stood in his place.
The clear implication of the story is that each did exactly as instructed by Gideon.
Now, I want to share with you some very sensitive matter here.
God’s knows my heart and I am not here as your Senior Pastor to be on an ego trip.
Most all of you know me well enough to agree that I am not a dictator leader.
In America we have a problem with spiritual leadership.
According to my understanding of the Scriptures and the way we should follow leadership is called Theocracy.
Theocracy is God controlled. It’s not a Democracy.
Now – the way I understand it God has put spiritual leadership in place in His churches.
He has placed Pastors for spiritual leadership.
In this place of greater responsibility, the Pastor will hold a greater accountability when he stands before God in the Judgment Day.
We can’t take away God’s design for us to be obedient and change it the way we want it to be.
We can’t take a vote and see if the majority wants it another way.
It’s not a democracy – It’s a Theocracy.
Sometimes Christians struggle to know the will of God.
More often Christians struggle to obey the will of God they already know.
As Mark Twain said, “It ain’t those parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts I do understand.”
Obedience is an essential part of faith.
To trust is also to obey.
The gospel song “Trust and Obey” gives a good definition of biblical, saving faith.
Jesus said, “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46 NASB).
CONCLUSION:
When Gideon’s army stood “each man in his place,” a great victory was won.
Imagine what can happen today in God’s kingdom when every person stands in his place.
Imagine with me what could happen if every believer who have changed by the blood of Jesus Christ, gave in worship to God with a cheerful heart.
Imagine with me what PCN could do if we were obedient to serve the Lord.
Can you see this beautiful 32 acres of land developed and multitudes of people using it for the glory of God?
Can you see 100’s of people coming to Christ in victory?
As God was for Gideon – God is for us when we aggressively go after the indwelling fullness of His Holy Spirit.
When we are filled – we will show forth all the Fruits of the Holy Spirit.
We’ll love like never before.
We’ll be patient.
We’ll be full of joy.
We will have peace.
We will be kind.
We will be faithful.
We will be gentle.
We will have self-control Galatians 5:22
That’s where my next series of sermons will begin.
Do you want to pray about this message?
Do you want to ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit?
Do you want to see the Pataskala Church of the Nazarene move forward in the Power of God’s Holy Spirit?
Then I ask you to come forward with me and let’s all pray for this to happen.
