Gideon, Mighty Man of Valor, Pt.3 - Audio
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Well it's good to see everyone again. I don't know if it's great to see you guys from this angle. Usually I'm back there. I'm hiding behind Doug, which I much prefer. So we've been talking about Gideon, and it's been a minute since I've been up here, so I figured I might as well go through and just kind of recap with you guys Gideon's story. So when we found Gideon, Gideon was in a bucket, basically a giant bucket that they use to squeeze the juice out of grapes, and he's beating wheat with a stick. Why? Because he's afraid of being murdered by a roving band of marauders. Not a great place to be. An angel just shows up and is like, "Hey, mighty man of valor." And he's like, "No, not me." And Gideon basically does everything he can to get out of what the angel is telling him to do. I want you to do this. I want you to, you know, I want you to go. I want you to, you know, sorry, but I want you to knock down the giant penis statue in the middle of town. He's like, "Oh gosh, that sounds like a terrible idea." People want to kill him. His faith is slowly growing though as he participates. Oh, do we have slides, Marilyn? I'm getting the one sign, the down sideways. We're down. Okay. Well, in this message, Gideon finally becomes who the angel announces him to be. A mighty man of valor. So in this case, the big notes from our last message were that Gideon was chosen, participate in God's work just as you are. God gives others a chance at redemption through your service. Gideon's dad is redeemed through Gideon's service. Gideon is no different than you. Gideon comes to this place kind of kicking and screaming, right? He's not quite sure that this is right for him. Just like the rest of us, he has kind of a moment in his faith where he's like, "Is this really what I want to do and is this really whom I'm going to be?" But God works through him. God is a sower of fields. God is the creator of good things. He tends your field. He harvests fruit from you. We get to be the dirt, which I say kind of jokingly because we are kind of dirt. We Christians get to share in his harvest and his glory. God lets you share in the fruit of his labor. So, oh, hold on. I forgot my Bible, which is important because I can't see the screen. I'm half blind at this point. Apparently, I reached 45 and that was the end. Vision is no muss. All right. Oh, that was the wrong one. That is also the wrong one because I'm in Joshua. Let's go to judges. But Jerabel, that is Gideon and all the people beside the well of Herod, so that the camp of the Midianites was on the north side of them by the hill of the Moray Valley. And the Lord said to Gideon, the people who are with you are too many for me. Give the Midianites to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against me, saying, "My own hand has saved me." Now, therefore proclaim in the hearing of the people saying, whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead. And 22,000 of the people returned and 10,000 remained. We're on slide four, Marilyn. God basically calls the first group. He's like, "Get that first 22,000 people out of there." Interestingly, I don't know if you guys realize this, Gideon may have tried to pull a fast one on God in this moment. His faith is not yet where it needs to be, and this is a good indication, because Gideon, being a good Jew, would have memorized Levitical law in Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy, it says officers shall say to their army, "Has anyone built a new house and not yet begun to live in it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle, and someone else may begin to live in it. Has anyone planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle, and someone else enjoy it. Has anyone become pledged to a woman and not married her? Let him go home, or he may die in battle, and someone else marry her. Then the officers, Gideon, leader of the army, shall add, "Is anyone afraid or faint-hearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too." When the officers have finished speaking to the army, they shall appoint commanders over it. But really, in this moment, Gideon's looking on, and can we blame him? He's about to face an army of 135,000 people, and he's got 32,000. If I'm Gideon, I'm like, "Yes, 32,000. I don't care if you're scared. I'm scared. Welcome to the team." And they're meeting at the spring of Herod. Oh, we got to go back, Marilyn. We got to go back.
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Where do you put your faith, your hope, your time, passion, treasure? If you are faithful God will tend His fruit through you.