“GOOD MORNING MIGHTY WARRIOR”
Judges 6:11-16,25-34; 7:2-3,7,19-21
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: TOUGHENING UP
1. “My grandfather worked in a blacksmith shop when he was a boy, and he used to tell me, when I was a little boy myself, how he had toughened himself up so he could stand the rigors of blacksmithing.
2. One story was how he had developed his arm and shoulder muscles. He said he would stand outside behind the house and, with a 5 pound potato sack in each hand, extend his arms straight out to his sides and hold them there as long as he could.
3. After awhile he tried 10 pound potato sacks, then 50 pound potato sacks and finally he got to where he could lift a 100 pound potato sack in each hand and hold his arms straight out for more than a full minute!
4. Next, he started putting potatoes in the sacks.”
B. “THE MORE THE BETTER”
1. Here’s an expression I’ve heard many times in my life, and quite often it’s true.
2. If ladies can get two pairs of shoes for the price of one, that’s good; or if guys can buy more Duck Dynasty duck calls or more shotgun shells at a lesser price, that’s a good thing.
3. But there are times when more may not be better. Sacrificing quality to have more of a product isn’t good. 4. Having more people in church is good, unless it’s because the gospel’s watered down, or sin isn’t mentioned, or personal accountability is omitted -- then more isn’t good.
5. We also think that “more” is necessary to do the work of God: More money wins more souls; more people praying guarantees someone with cancer will be healed.
6. Such assumptions need to be rethought in the light of today’s Scripture, because it clearly teaches that in God’s work, less may be better.
C. TEXT Judges 6:11-16,25-34; 7:2-3,7,19-21
11 The angel of the Lord came…where…Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” 13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” 15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” 16 The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
25 That same night the Lord said to him… “Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. 26 Then build a proper kind of altar to the Lord your God….30 The people of the town demanded of Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.” 31 But Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him, “Are you going to plead Baal’s cause? Are you trying to save him?...If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar.” 32 So…they gave him the name Jerub-Baal that day, saying, “Let Baal contend with him.” 34 Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the [Israelites] to follow him.
7: 2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’ 3 Now announce to the army, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained. 7 The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home.” 19 Gideon and the hundred men with him…20 blew the trumpets and
smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” 21 While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled.
D. THESIS
1. This morning we’re looking at a man who’d lost sight of God and what he could do but rediscovered that God can do great things through the least things.
2. This morning's message is entitled, "Good Morning Mighty Warrior!"
I. A NEW VISION OF GOD NEEDED
A. GIDEON’S POOR PERCEPTION OF GOD
1. It had been a bunch of bad years for the Israelites. They’d been invaded, defeated, and oppressed by their enemies because of their sins.
2. Gideon's first response to God was, “But Sir, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?” (13).
3. When we have trials, the enemy always tries to make us question God’s goodness, or make us think that God’s abandoned us.
4. Gideon’s next question was to point out the lack of God’s intervening; "Where are all His miracles?" (There had been a cessation of the miraculous.)
5. DO YOU THINK IT WAS GOD’S WILL FOR THERE TO BE NO MIRACLES? NO! God hadn't changed! Then what was the problem? Their sins had separated them from their God and hindered His working!
6. Jesus said, “If you can believe, all things are possible to them that believe!” Mk. 9:23. It was necessary that Gideon’s vision of God be restored to one of faith.
7. God’s calling us to restoration & to be agents to return Pentecostal power to the Church!
B. GIDEON’S PERCEPTION OF HIMSELF
1. Next (vs. 15), Gideon declared himself unfit to be God’s servant to deliver God’s people.
2. He pointed out that he was of the poorest family; of a divided tribe; of which no one was famous; he was unknown, unheard of; his occupation -- thresh corn stealthily.
3. BUT GOD HAD A DIFFERENT OPINION OF HIM:
a. Accompanied by God
b. Mighty Man of Valor
c. Deliverer of Israel
d. Sent by God.
4. God saw, not what he was at present, but his potential. That’s the way God looks at you too!
C. GOD’S PERCEPTION OF US?
1. When you get up and look in the mirror each morning what do you see? Do you see a person who wants to change his or her appearance for the world or do you see what God sees?
2. God sees greatness waiting to happen, if the right decisions are made.
3. One of the reasons God sees what He does is that God created you. He knows what a difference He could make in your life if given the chance.
4. God’s just like a sculptor who sees -- not just a large rock -- but the magnificent statue hidden inside. When God looks at you, He sees something wonderful that you can be shaped into!
II. GROWTH IN PERSONAL OBEDIENCE
A. PERSONAL REFORMATION
1. God called Gideon to start at his own house!
2. You & I can't do a work for God with personal sin.
3. God’s request committed Gideon; it tested him. It's one thing to say you'll step out, but another to do it.
4. Imagine the scene -- Smoke on the New Altar! Think how much it represented! Fire, repentance, revival, a return to God, that God is alive! Next notice the results:
B. GAINED A REPUTATION
1. He won his father over;
2. The Abiezrites were silenced and then converted.
3. Called Jerub-Baal, "Contender with Baal;" famous! People are looking for someone who’s sold out; who believes what they preach!
4. People later followed Gideon because he had taken a stand for God.
5. One Pastor told a man, “You need to join the Lord’s Army!” “I’m part of it!” “But I don’t ever see you in
church.” “That’s because I’m part of the Secret Service!”
C. TAKING A STAND FOR JESUS
1. Megan Chapman of Russell County, Kentucky was
asked to say a prayer during her high school graduation. The ACLU filed suit and a federal judge issued an order barring the High School and Megan, specifically, from saying a prayer. Can you imagine being named in a federal lawsuit filed by the ACLU?
2. 3,000 people packed the H.S. gymnasium to watch 200 seniors graduate. As the principal finished his opening remarks, the senior class suddenly stood as one body and began to recite The Lord’s Prayer! Before they could finish the audience erupted into thunderous applause.
3. Megan came to the podium prepared to deliver a secular statement, but when she saw the large crowd, she said to God, “You didn’t put me here for that, Lord.”
4. So she shared how Christ had led her since she was a child. She spoke of the peace that comes from giving your life to Jesus. And she wished her classmates the same peace through a relationship with Jesus Christ.
5. Again and again her speech was interrupted with applause and standing ovations. A newspaper reporter described it as having a “revival-like atmosphere.” The ACLU’s attempt to silence a prayer sparked a revival!
That’s what can happen when God’s people stand up!
III. GROWING DEPENDENCE ON GOD
A. GIDEON’S SHRINKING ARMY
1. God called Gideon to a new step of obedience: the Holy Spirit fell on him & he blew his trumpet, calling God’s people to go to war. Some of you need to blow your trumpet!
2. The call to wake up, to pray, and to share the Gospel is going out today! The moral climate of our culture has reached crisis stage. We must have revival!
3. Now we think God has to have large numbers to accomplish a great revival, but this story says otherwise. God decided Gideon’s army was too big. To have victory,
he needed FEWER soldiers.
4. There’s a lesson there Saints of God! "There is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few." 1 Sam. 14:6.
5. God reduced the army from 32,000 to 300! The Odds were 300/135,000 = 450 to one! Have we stretched ourselves for God lately? Is our faith growing? Are we taking new
steps of obedience?
B. THE CHARACTER OF GIDEON’S MEN
1. Why did God want only 300? Because He cared about Character. These were men of faith and courage. They didn’t become afraid when 22,000 left afraid.
2. They were Vigilant -- didn't put their mouths to water, but were up watching.
3. They took the enemy seriously. This was practically a suicide mission. Why go? Because their families had been hurt by the enemy, so they would stop at nothing to drive the enemy out of their land.
4. Haven't you suffered at the hands of Satan? Make him pay! Aren't you sick of sin yet? Then let’s be done with sin and do all we can to lead others to Christ!
5. "You that love the Lord, hate evil." Psalm 97:10.
C. REALIZED TEAMWORK DEFEATED THE ENEMY
1. They became part of the 300 who: Tithed, Support the missions program; Came to all the services; Became active workers; Invited people to church.
2. Gideon could only do so much. But with 300 others, his efforts to be multiplied.
3. A one-legged school teacher from Scotland came to J. Hudson Taylor to offer himself for service in China. "With only one leg, why do you think of going as a missionary?" asked Taylor.
4. "I don’t see those with two legs going," replied George Scott. He was accepted. – Source Unknown
D. NO PHYSICAL WEAPONS! Vessel, trumpet, torch.
1. A vessel willing to be filled... (we are temples of the Holy Spirit; our church should be like the lady who borrowed many vessels and all of them were filled with oil, which represented the Holy Spirit). According to verse 20, they broke the jars; this indicates we must be “broken vessels” to be of greatest use to God.
2. Secondly, the trumpet symbolizes we are to get the lost world’s attention. We are to "lift up our voices like a
trumpet" (Isaiah 58:1). We’re to “sound out” the Gospel, witnessing to others.
3. And thirdly, the torches symbolize we’re – to "let our lights so shine before men" Matthew 5:16. This means that our Christianity should not be hidden, but be visible
to all those around us. We are to light up other’s lives with Christ’s light.
4. THEIR REAL SWORDS? "A sword for Gideon and for the Lord." "The Word" was their only sword! Amazingly, "all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled." (Judges 7:21)
5. Then "the men throughout the camp turned on each other with their swords." (Judges 7:22). "'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the Lord Almighty." (Zech 4:6 NIV)
IV. GIDEON’S RESOLVE
A. SOME OF YOU MAY THINK IT’S YOUR BATTLE
1. We seem to be alone.
2. It doesn't seem like God’s concerned.
3. Circumstances seem to be against me (so God must be against me).
4. You wonder if God will really help you. Gideon felt the same way, but God was with him.
B.YOU’RE NOT A PIECE OF DRIFTWOOD ON THE OCEAN
1. The Bible says that God planned the time you would be born and a time you would die and the exact places where you would live (Psalm 139:16; Acts 17:26).
2. God knew you when you were still in your mother's womb (Psalm 139:13, 15).
3. God has plans for you, "to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future" (Jer. 29:11).
C. THEREFORE, OUR BATTLE IS REALLY GOD’S BATTLE
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. This Gospel is the power of God to all who believe! Some people think they’re Christians, but aren’t quite sure.
2. Like the lady who told her doctor she thought she was a “little pregnant.” He said, “Maam, either you’re completely pregnant, or you’re not at all. There’s not anything half-way about it!” It’s the same with being sold out to Christ! You are or you aren’t. There’s POWER!
3. A woman was won to Christ from Islam. Her family threatened her in vain. Seeing their threats weren’t
working, they concocted a simple but deadly poison and secretly put it in her food.
4. When she’d eaten it, she realized that it was poison. She knew she was doomed to death. She was scared and terrified.
5. Without intending to do so, she began to repeat the name of Jesus over & over -- "Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!" For three days she continued repeating the name of Jesus, and gradually, the poison receded from her blood.
6. Her family was shocked; the poison had never failed before. She told the missionary, "Each time I said the Name, I felt as though there was a wave of life, and in between, a wave of death!" SD Gordon.
7. That’s how powerful God wants to be in your life!
B. THE CALL
1. Will you watch from the sidelines or join in the battle? Be one of Gideon's 300!
2. "Not all who say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of God, but only those who do the will of my Father." God says, "Repent!"
3. Are you relying on God to fight your battles? Are you relying on your own resources?
4. God sees you differently than you see yourself. He says this morning, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” It’s up to you now to let Him direct your battle.
5. If you’re needing God’s help, stand to your feet & come to the front. Prayer.
