Elevate - The Story Pt 10 - Gideon

God sees everyone as a mighty warrior, not just those in ministry or with outgoing personalities. The Israelites entered the promised land but failed to drive out all the pagan nations, leading to temptation and worship of false gods. God would raise up deliverers to rescue them, but they would forget and repeat the cycle. The Israelites cried out to God for help when they were oppressed by the Midianites. The angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, who was hiding and afraid, and called him a mighty warrior. Gideon questioned why God had allowed their suffering. It's not just for those that have been called into ministry that God sees as a mighty warrior. It's not just those with gregarious personalities that can talk to a wall, and the wall will talk back to them. Those are not the only ones that God has called a mighty warrior. It's not just the ones that shout real loud during worship or when I'm preaching. Those aren't the only ones that are called to be a mighty warrior. Everyone in this room, God has called you to be a mighty warrior. Welcome to Elevate from Authentic Life Church in Mobile, Alabama with Pastor John DiQuatro. We hope it builds your faith and helps you to live a life for God that you've always wanted to live. We hope it inspires you to be a fully devoted, authentic follower of Jesus Christ. Enjoy the message and welcome to Elevate. We are continuing in our series called The Story. Last week we talked about when the Israelites entered into the promised land. If you remember, they were enslaved in Egypt, and then God rescued them, and they came through the wilderness for 40 years, and then they stood on the edge of the promised land, and God gave them all their promises and promised to be with them and to strengthen them, and they went in as a ragtag bunch of nomadic desert wanderers, not a trained military. They went in, and God gave them strength to defeat all of these pagan nations, these evil, evil nations. God was cleansing the land, and He was showing them His faithfulness as they entered into the land that God had reserved for them and had set aside for them. So they finally enter the promised land, and they failed as they were coming through. As they were doing the conquest, they failed to completely drive out all of the nations as God had instructed them to do. And so because of it, they were constantly tempted by all of these pagan worship practices. They worshiped a god named Baal. They sacrificed their children to this false god. They engaged in immoral sexual activity, all in the name of worshiping a god, which was an evil spiritual force, to be certain. It certainly was not the one true god, but we do know that what they were worshiping, there was a spiritual force. There was fallen angels. There was demons behind those idols. We said that these idols were the calling card of demons, and they were inviting demonic activity into their land. God's chosen people, this holy land, they were inviting this demonic activity. And so the Bible says that they forsook God, and they worshiped other gods. And if you remember, the word forsook means to loosen, to loosen the binds, the ties. They were loosening their ties to Yahweh, the one true God. And because of that, they were walking out from underneath His protection, underneath His life and His provision for them. And so as a result, they found themselves attacked by other nations. They were besieged. They were sold. They were attacked. They were captured. And so during those times, God would come to the rescue, and He'd raise up a deliverer to rescue them and turn their hearts back to God. And then they would be delivered, and they would reestablish their relationship with God, and they would have peace for 20 or 30 or 40, sometimes as long as 80 years, until, once again, they forgot the Lord. And they started chasing after the foreign gods once again, only to repeat the cycle over and over again. Twelve times you read through the book of Judges where Israel failed and forgot the Lord and began to worship other gods, and then God had to rescue them. All right? And so today, we're going... that was the overview of Judges and what we talked about last week. But today, we're going to look at one particular deliverer that God raised up. And so we're going to begin reading in Judges chapter 6, and we're going to begin at verse 1. And it says this, The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years He gave them into the hands of the Midianites. Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves, and strongholds. Now remember, Israel did this to themselves by loosening their ties with God, by forsaking God. So now they're afraid, and they don't know what to do. There's a battle that's raging against them from a foreign nature, and so they're afraid, and they're hiding in their caves and in their rocks and in their bomb shelters, and they're eating canned tomatoes and Vienna sausages and Chef Boyardee. Right? This is what's happening. So we move on to verse 3. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, the Amalekites, and other eastern peoples invaded the country. They camped on the land and ruined their crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels. They invaded the land to ravage it. Midians so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help. You see, this is what the armies did. They did what they called besieging them. They put them under siege, and they would basically starve them out. Rather than just jumping over the walls and attacking, they would surround them, and they would starve them out. They wouldn't let any supplies in or out, wouldn't let them harvest their crops, and then they'd be so weakened and half dead that they would just come in and take them over. So this is what they're doing, but it says in verse 6, Midians so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help. Finally, they've had enough, and so they realize that Baal is not helping them, and so they cry out to God. Verse 7, when the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian, he sent them a prophet who said, This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians, and I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors. I drove them out before you and gave you their land. I said to you, I am the Lord your God. Do not worship the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live, but you have not listened to me. Again, God is repeating, rehearsing with them, once again, what He has done for them, and then He repeats His instructions to them. Listen, Israel, no other gods. Read my lips. No other gods. Don't worship them. Don't fear them. Don't sacrifice to them. Have nothing to do with them. He said, I'm the one who rescued you out of Egypt. I'm the one that showed you signs and wonders. I'm the one that fought for you as you entered into the promised land. But now, here we are again. I told you. You can almost sense the frustration in God's voice in this moment. But let's read on. Verse 11. It says, The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophira. Not Oprah. Ophira. That belonged to Joash the Abizrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. So now we see here that the fear that the Israelites were experiencing was all over this guy named Gideon. And so the angel comes to Gideon, and we see what he's doing is he's threshing wheat in a winepress so nobody can see him. This dude is afraid. Threshing wheat was a process whereby you would take the stalks of wheat and you would beat them, and it would separate the grain from the straw. And this was usually done in an open space called the threshing floor. You've probably heard that as you've read through the Old Testament. The threshing floor. And the threshing floor was a smooth area of rock or hard ground, and it was usually way out in the open so that the prevailing winds would come by, and as they beat that wheat onto the threshing floor, the winds would come by and blow away the straw, blow away the chaff, and leave the grain that they wanted to fall to the threshing floor. Now a winepress is not a place to be threshing wheat. A winepress is the very opposite. It's a hole dug in the ground. And so Gideon was hiding in that hole trying to thresh wheat, which probably was frustrating him because the wind was not able to blow the chaff away. And here he is in this hole, hiding from the Midianites. He's depressed, he's scared, and he's frustrated. And so we move on to verse 12. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, The Lord is with you, mighty warrior. Now listen, some of you just need to hear those words today. The Lord is with you, mighty warrior. So you may be afraid of the battle that has come against you. You may feel vulnerable. You might feel ill-equipped. You might feel weak. But that's not how God sees you. It's kind of a weird thing to say to a guy hiding in a winepress. Mighty warrior. But you see, God knew what Gideon did not know at that moment. We'll move on to verse 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. Have you ever felt this way about life? Have you ever had these kind of conversations with God? Where are you, God? What about all the things you promised in your word? What about the way that you were in my life years ago? What about all the wonderful things that I saw that you did when I was growing up or when I first got married? What happened, God? Where are you? Why are my kids struggling now? Why is my loved one sick? Why am I having a hard time making ends meet? What's going on here, God? Why is the culture getting more and more wicked all around me? I don't even know what to do about that, God. What is going on? Why is all of this happening? Do you understand those conversations with God? Have you been there? Listen, God is a big boy. He can take your complaining. He can take your frustration. He can take your direct questions. He can take your accusations. Right? Gideon accused God. He said, You've abandoned us. See right here. But now the Lord has abandoned us. No. You walked away from Him. You abandoned the Lord. He's even accusing God. But listen, God can take it. The thing is, He doesn't want you to stay there. He doesn't want you to stay in that place where you're complaining and just frustrated. Right? He wants you to stand up and to be the mighty warrior that He sees in you. And He sees it in every single one of you. It's not just for Gideon. It's not only Gideon that God saw as a mighty warrior. It's not just for those that have been called into ministry that God sees as a mighty warrior. It's not just those with gregarious personalities that can talk to a wall and the wall will talk back to them. Those are not the only ones that God has called a mighty warrior. It's not just the ones that shout real loud during worship or when I'm preaching. Those aren't the only ones that are called to be a mighty warrior. Everyone in this room, God has called you to be a mighty warrior because you have purpose. You have been created for a reason, for a purpose. And God did not create you and save you so that you could hide in a wine press or hide in your house, binge-watching Netflix, afraid to move or do anything for the kingdom of God. You are a mighty warrior in God's eyes. And mighty warriors don't just sit at home watching Netflix. Verse 14, let's move on. 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? Pardon me, my Lord, Gideon replied. Excuse me, Lord, pardon me. But how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I am the least in my family. God tells him, go in the strength that you have. What strength? We just heard that he's the smallest one in the whole nation of Israel, according to Gideon. He's the littlest guy. I don't know, maybe he was like a dwarf or something. I don't know. But he's this fearful little guy hiding in a winepress. And he's crying the blues about the circumstances all around him. What strength is God talking about? But see, something's about to happen with this guy. And we can see here that it's not going to happen through Gideon's strength. Gideon was a mess. Afraid, depressed, frustrated. It was going to be through God's strength. And so what God is telling him in this moment is that whoever and whatever you are right here in this moment, just give it to me and make yourself available and I'll do the rest. Go in the strength that you have. Well, you've got something. You're breathing, aren't you? You've got enough strength to thresh wheat in a winepress. You've got something to give me, so let's go with that. And then let me do the rest. And so verse 16, the Lord answered, I'll be with you. And I will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive. And there's the promise. He says, don't worry, Gideon. You're weak. You're scared. You're not confident. But that's okay, because I'll be with you. And you will have victory and you will rescue my people. Have I not sent you for this? And so as we sit here today, there is a culture war that is raging all around us. And be sure that it's not just a war over philosophies and new ideas. It's not just a war. It's not just the politics of left and right extremism. It's not Trump versus Biden. That's not the war that we're in. The war that we're in, the culture war that we're in, and all that you see happening all around us, is a war for the souls of humanity. It is a battle for identity. And this particular generation is desperately seeking identity. Right? That's why everybody wants to identify how they want to identify. They're looking for identity. They're struggling. They're not happy. They're unfulfilled. And they're trying to figure out, who am I? Why am I here? How can I be fulfilled? And so the God of this world is leading them to everything but the one who can give them real identity, authentic identity in Him. This is the war that we're in. Every evil and selfish thing is taking root in the heart of humanity. And the battle is fierce. Do you feel it raging? Do you feel the Midianites surrounding you all around, trying to choke you out, and your faith and your belief in Him? They're doing it. But we're called to engage in this battle. Listen guys, we're not called to hide in the wine press. We're not called to huddle in our little churches and have nice little services. I mean, I like our church, and I like our services. No, I like what God does in here with us. I love the relationships. I love learning more about God. I love growing in Him. But we're not called to huddle out in our little wine press. That's not what we're called to do. We're not called to stick our head in the sand and pretend like everything that's happening is not happening. Like it's just going to magically go away. Or cower in fear. Because we don't want to ruffle any feathers. We don't want to be the one that offends people. Our role in this battle is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with every person that we can. That's our role. That's how we fight the battle. Because it saves people. It saves people. It's a war, folks, and you are the mighty warrior that God is calling on to engage in this fight. Go in the strength that you have and let the Holy Spirit do the rest. Whatever you've got, go in that. He will fight for you. Let's keep reading. We're in Judges 7 now, beginning in verse 1. Early in the morning, Jerob Baal, that is Gideon, and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Morah. 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. Now announce to the army, anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead. So 22,000 men left, while 10,000 remained. Did you see this? First of all, Gideon assembled an army to go against the Midianites. He was able to rally 32,000 men to fight. I mean, that's pretty significant. I've never rallied. I can't seem to rally just a couple hundred, it seems like, these days. But he rallied 32,000 men to fight, and God whittled them down. And he said, the ones that are afraid, send them home. So out of the 32,000, 22,000 men went home, leaving only 10,000 to fight the battle. Now there was like, I can't remember the exact number, but I think it was like 200,000 of the Midianites. Now they're down to 10,000. Now you see, fear is the biggest tactic that the enemy has against you. Fear will paralyze you and keep you ineffective in doing the work of the kingdom. And once the enemy has gripped you with fear and convinced you with a bunch of clever arguments, then he's got you paralyzed. Arguments like, well, I don't feel called to be an evangelist. It's not my personality. I just wouldn't know what to say. I don't want to bother people, and I don't want to jeopardize friendships because I talk about Jesus. Right? These are things that we say. These are the excuses that we give ourselves. And so we stay silent, and listen, God's army whittles down. Because you have been taken out of the battle by fear. We see in Gideon's case, 22,000 were taken out by fear. But every time fear keeps you from doing the Great Commission and what God has called you to do, you have been removed from the battle. Now there's less. There's less on the war front. All right, we move on. Verse 4. But the Lord said to Gideon, I'm sorry if I'm stepping on toes today, but the Holy Spirit gave me this word, so He's the one stepping on your toes. All right, verse 4. But the Lord said to Gideon, There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I'll fend them out for you there. If I say this one shall go with you, he shall go. But if I say this one shall not go with you, he shall not go. So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink. Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink. 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. So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites home, but kept the three hundred who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others. So we've got ten thousand men, and now God disqualifies another ninety-seven hundred of them. Now this may seem arbitrary, that God would choose who stays based on the manner in which they chose to drink water. But here's the issue. The ones who were only focused on their thirst, only focused on their own needs, and didn't have their heart engaged in the battle, they just plunged their head right into the river and just started lapping up and fulfilling their own personal need at that moment, to get their fill. And there was ninety-seven hundred of them that just plunged their head right down into the water to drink. Now the other three hundred, they knelt down, they kept their heads up, and they brought the water to their mouths, what they needed. They were alert. They were prepared for battle, always watching, always alert. Yeah, they had a thirst that needed to be met, but it didn't overwhelm their engagement with the battle. Their heart was in it, and so they met their needs. They took what they needed, but they were alert, and they were watching, and they were engaged. They did not put a hundred percent of their focus on themselves. They stayed engaged. Now we said that fear is Satan's number one tactic to get you out of the battle. But the other focus, the other thing that keeps you out is a focus on self. And it's not that we mean to be selfish, or that we consciously are trying to be selfish, but what the enemy has done is he has put so many temptations, struggles, needs, and wants in front of you that you don't have time for anything else. He makes you busy so that you stay focused on you. I'm preaching, guys. He keeps you busy so that you only stay focused on you, your family, your immediate needs, your desires, your wants, your cravings. And so we come to church, and we hear the Word, and we read our Bibles, and we worship, but for many, that's as far as it goes because we are so focused on us, our provision, our hunger, our thirst, our desires for the things of this life. And so we're not engaged in the battle that rages all around us, the battle for the souls of humanity. We have plunged our heads into the water of this world. We have plunged our heads into the water of our own needs and our own desires and our own wants and our own urgency and immediacy of things that are all around us. We've plunged our heads into that, and we have nothing else in mind. We're not thinking about the battle that rages around us and about the kingdom of God that needs to grow. Gideon started with 32,000 men, and because of fear and focus problems, that army was whittled down to 300. Now my question to you today is, will you be like the 31,700 who were not able to be used by God to defeat the Midianite army? Are you going home? Are you disqualified from the battle because of fear? Are you disqualified from the battle because your focus and attention is on you and everything else around you rather than on the kingdom of God? I want to encourage you today. Be counted among the 300. Listen, there's a direct correlation here. Right? Fear and self-focus removes you from the battle. And so now God has... Now the churches may be full all across this country, but there's just a handful of actual warriors that are doing the work. There's only a handful that are actually engaging in the battle and actually fighting and doing the work. Yeah, the churches may be full, and the bank accounts may be full, and the statistics may look great. And we might be able to do all kinds of cool things that look really great and have nice facilities and all these things all across our nation, just wonderful big churches. And we can have 32,000 people in a church, but all but 300 have been disqualified because of fear and self-focus. Be counted today among the 300 that showed up for battle. All right, let's see how this whole thing ends up. Chapter 7, we're going to look at verse 19. Gideon and a hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch. Just after they had changed the guard, they blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands. The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars, grasping the torches in their left hands and holding it in their right hands, the trumpets they were to blow. They shouted, A sword for God and a sword for Gideon. While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran crying out as they fled. When the 300 trumpets sounded, the Lord caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords. The army fled to Beth Shitzah toward Zerah, as far as the border of Abel Meholah, near that word. Israelites from Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh were called out and they pursued the Midianites. Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim saying, Come down against the Midianites and seize the waters of the Jordan ahead of them, as far as Beth Barah. So all the men of Ephraim were called out and they seized the waters of the Jordan as far as Beth Barah. They also captured two of the Midianite leaders, Oreb and Zeb. They killed Oreb at the Rock of Oreb and Zeb at the winepress of Zeb. They pursued the Midianites and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeb to Gideon, who was by the Jordan. I want you to see something here. This was the victory, right? They won the victory with 300 men, but I want you to see something. Those 300 men never had to lift a sword. They didn't have to get their trebuchets and their catapults and do all the stuff. They never had to lift a finger because they were not afraid and because they were focused on the battle, God gave them victory. It was God who fought the battle. It was God that gave them the victory. Now listen, Jesus told us this. Matthew 28, 19. We know it well. It's the Great Commission. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This is the purpose that each one of us has received. If we've been saved, if we've been brought into the kingdom of God through faith in Jesus Christ, this is our purpose. This is the battle that we are to be engaged in, to make disciples so that God's kingdom can grow and so His house can be full. This is our authentic identity in Him. The method may look different for each one of us, but the mandate is the same. Engage in the battle for men's souls. Be counted among the 300. But what stops 99% of Christians from obeying this one simple command? Fear and focus issues. Fear of opening your mouth, lest somebody might ridicule you. Or a lack of focus on the kingdom of God, replaced with a continual focus on ourselves and our own needs. But like Gideon, God says to you this morning, you are a mighty warrior. I have called you to fight this battle for the souls of men. I have called you to spread my kingdom to the far reaches of the earth. I have called you to forsake this world and stay engaged in the battle. Thank you for listening to Elevate. We hope this message encouraged, inspired, and challenged you. Authentic Life Church is located at 3750 Michael Boulevard in Mobile, Alabama. Visit our website, AuthenticLife.tv, for more information about Authentic Life Church, to find out what we have going on, or to make a donation. You can also find us on Facebook. We'd love for you to join us on Sundays at 10 a.m. for our weekend service. We have excellent children's, nursery, and youth programs, so bring the family. Thanks again for listening to Elevate. God bless you.