INTRODUCTION
• VIDEO CLIP
• SLIDE #1
• What is the one thing that stops us in our tracks as we pursue life. FEAR!
• Truth is, some amount of fear is not always bad, it keeps us from doing things that would unnecessarily jeopardize our life, but fear run amuck, will keep us from ever achieving things in life.
• Fear will also keep our faith in a bottle.
• Think about how many things in your life you did not do because of the fear.
• Think about how many people you did not choose to share your faith with because of fear.
• Today we will begin a four-week series entitled The Great Deliverers. We will look at the lives Gideon, Samson, Moses, and Jesus to see what these great deliverers were able to for God.
• Some of them were able to do so great things despite some rather difficult obstacles.
• Today we will examine the Great Deliverer Gideon from the Old Testament. Gideon’s story can be found in Judges 6-8. If you have not read the story of Gideon, you should take some time to do so.
• Let me unfold the backdrop of the story of Gideon so you can better appreciate what he did for God.
• As I have discussed before, the book of Judges followed a cycle of sin, this is where the people would drift from God.
• Then the nation of Israel would go into servitude. God would finally have enough and He would allow a foreign nation to take control of the nation.
• Because of this servitude, the people would offer supplications (they were praying and sorry) to God.
• God would hear their cry and offer the nation salvation by sending in what was a Judge, one who would deliver the nation from their oppressor.
• As Judges 6 begins the story of Gideon, we see that they were beginning the supplication part of the cycle.
• God allowed the Midianites to oppress Israel for seven years.
• The Midian’s were a semi-nomadic people who lived in the Sinai Peninsula and western Arabia formed a loose confederation with the Amalekites and the Qedemites.
• The Midianites were Raiders. The bible tells us they swept in like locusts and would destroy the crops and would kill the livestock.
• This put the nation in a spot where they were starving.
• God told the people through an unnamed Prophet to let the nation know why they were suffering.
• Now enter Gideon.
• SLIDE #2
• Judges 6:11–12 (CSB) The angel of the Lord came, and he sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash, the Ab-i-ez-rite. His son Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites. Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said: “The Lord is with you, valiant warrior.”
• Judges 6:14 (CSB) The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the grasp of Midian. I am sending you!”
• You do not have to let fear stop you because…
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
I. God sees your great potential.
• What is one something that will keep you from applying for a job, or trying something different in life?
• We tend to think we cannot do it. When I felt the call to ministry, I pushed it off for a while because I could not understand how God could use a person like me for anything? Especially leading one of His churches!
• SLIDE #4
• Here we have Gideon, he is hiding in a wine press trying to avoid detection from the Midianites as he is threshing wheat.
• SLIDE #5
• Gideon is trying to provide food for the family, so he is hiding. Gideon is afraid of getting caught.
• Gideon probably does not feel real heroic or very valiant at this time. He is fighting against seemingly insurmountable odds.
• That would strike fear into most folks.
• So, the angel of the Lord appears and looks at Gideon and says in verse 13, Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said: “The Lord is with you, valiant warrior.”
• Interesting greeting to a man who is hiding in fear.
• When Maurice McNeely started telling me that God was looking for men like me for ministry, I told Maurice that God could not be that desperate.
• I could not see what God was revealing to Maurice about me.
• We tend to either underestimate or overestimate ourselves, God sees our true potential!
• When God saw Gideon, He saw a valiant warrior. I wonder if before this anyone else saw that in Gideon?
• I love verse 14, when we look at verse 13 it makes verse 14 even more awesome!
• Judges 6:14 (CSB) The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the grasp of Midian. I am sending you!”
• Hey dude hiding in the wine press, I am going to use you to deliver Israel!
• Notice the angel says GO IN THE STRENGTH YOU HAVE!
• God was going to empower Gideon, but Gideon was going to bring something to the table also.
• God saw the hidden potential of Gideon, and He was going to tap into that potential!
• You need not let fear stop you because God sees your potential and will help you to reach that potential!
• SLIDE #6
• Judges 6:13 (CSB) Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened? And where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about? They said, ‘Hasn’t the Lord brought us out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.”
• You do not have to let fear stop you because…
• SLIDE #7
II. God is with you even when it does not appear as such.
• Ok, Gideon gets this awesome introduction from the Angel, He tells Gideon, “The Lord is with you, valiant warrior.”
• Now at this point Gideon does not seem to realize he is talking to an angel of the Lord, and Gideon kind of lays into the angel.
• What fear stops us from doing thing for the Lord?
• In Gideon’s response in verse 13, he offers two things we fear to this day.
• First, Gideon challenges the contention that God is with him and the nation of Israel.
• “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened? And where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about? They said, ‘Hasn’t the Lord brought us out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.”
• We become fearful to carry out the work of the Lord when we don’t think He is with us.
• I mean, Gideon is looking at himself hiding in the wine press because he is fearful of the Midianites.
• The Midianites look too powerful to overcome.
• Then I can picture Gideon getting rather indignant at this point!
• He asks, where all the wonders our fathers told us about? I am not seeing it, and you are telling me that the Lord is with us?
• Then he continues, the Lord brought us out of Egypt only to allow us to die at the hands of the Midianites!
• He says the Lord had abandoned them and him!
• When you feel abandoned by God, fear will rule your life. If you think God has abandoned your marriage, you will give up on it, whenever we feel alone, we will think our circumstances are too big for us to be victorious, therefore, we will hide in the proverbial vine press!
• I love looking at verse 14 because it is if the angel simply ignored Gideon’s objection in verse 13 and told him to get to it!
• SLIDE #8
• Judges 6:15–16 (CSB) — 15 He said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Look, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s family.” 16 “But I will be with you,” the Lord said to him. “You will strike Midian down as if it were one man.”
• You do not have to let fear stop you because…
• SLIDE #9
III. God will help you overcome your perceived shortcomings.
• Gideon unleashes reason number 2 as to why he is fearful, I AM NOT THE MAN FOR THE JOB!
• Gideon is listing his potential shortcomings to in essence say that he is not the man for the job!
• He claims his family was insignificant, although the text seems to betray that by virtue that later we see Gideon took 10 male servants to carry out a task.
• Also, Gideon is trying to pass the buck to his older brother, who in that society usually took care of the things for the family.
• Gideon is much like Moses, whom Jerry will cover in a couple of weeks, full of excuses of perceived weaknesses.
• You do not have to fear because God will help you overcome and work through your real and perceived weaknesses.
• God will equip the called!
• When we feel inadequate, we will allow fear to keep us from carrying out God’s calling for our lives. Believe me, I can relate to the feeling of inadequacy!
• “But I will be with you,” the Lord said to him. “You will strike Midian down as if it were one man.”
• The Lord speaking through the Angel cuts to the chase, I WILL BE WITH YOU! Then the Lord promises that Gideon will cut down the Midianites as if they were one man!
• You need not fear and can deliver for the Lord because He will help you overcome your shortcomings!
• SLIDE #10
• Judges 6:17–24 (CSB) — 17 Then he said to him, “If I have found favor with you, give me a sign that you are speaking with me. 18 Please do not leave this place until I return to you. Let me bring my gift and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay until you return.” 19 So Gideon went and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from a half bushel of flour. He placed the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. He brought them out and offered them to him under the oak. 20 The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat with the unleavened bread, put it on this stone, and pour the broth on it.” So he did that. 21 The angel of the Lord extended the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire came up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. 22 When Gideon realized that he was the angel of the Lord, he said, “Oh no, Lord God! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!” 23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace to you. Don’t be afraid, for you will not die.” 24 So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. It is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites today.
• SLIDE #11
IV. God is willing to help sooth your fears.
• Without going into a long discourse concerning verses 17-24, the short of it is that Gideon asked the angel of the Lord for a sign to back up with he was being told.
• Really, considering what was being asked of him that is reasonable.
• In verse 22, Gideon realizes to whom he has been speaking with and NOW he is terrified!
• The angel assures him all will be good!
• Later in verses 36-40, Gideon asked the Lord for more signs, the fleece test.
• God does not get upset with Gideon for asking.
• God will help to sooth your fears. When I finally got on board with God to follow His calling for me, I put out the fleece.
• I was torn between climbing the corporate ladder at Square D, and going into ministry. Known versus unknown.
• When I got my answer, I was not happy with the way it went down, but once I checked my pride at the door, I knew that God answered my request, since then there has been no turning back!
• You need not fear, God will soothe your fears.
CONCLUSION
• Gideon was a great deliverer who delivered for the Lord despite his fear.
• Had Gideon allowed his fear to rule, a whole nation would have been affected.
• If you allow Satan to use fear to stop you for delivering for the Lord, who knows whose eternity will be affected?
• Fear not, the Lord is with you valiant warrior!
