Heb 11:32. God obviously saw in Gideon something that he did not see in himself, and something that others did not see in him!

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1 ï» B a c k t o T i t l e p a g e F A I T H O V E R F E A R Heb 11:32 * Forrest Gregg was given the job of rebuilding (Southern Methodist) SMU s football program several years ago after a scandal. The team was definitely short on potential. He was in his office one day looking over his team roster when all of a sudden the room got dark. It was caused by the shadow of a huge young man who was standing in the doorway of his office. Coach Gregg asked the young man what he wanted. This hulk of a boy said, I want to play football. Coach Gregg s eyes lit up, and he asked the young man to come into his office and have a seat. With excitement in his eyes he thought about the line and having this barn-size boy blocking the backfield. He got out his papers and asked the young man a few questions: First, how old are you? The young man started counting on his fingers and then said, Nineteen. The coach looked at him a minute and said, Okay, and asked, how tall are you? The young man stood up, took his hand and measured up his leg, on up to his head, and then counted on his fingers again and said, I m six feet, eight inches tall. Again the coach gave him a funny look, wrote down the answer, and asked, Okay, what s your name? This time the young man paused, dazed off into space, nodded his head about fifteen times, and then said, Charlie. Well, that was too much for Coach Gregg, and he said, All right, Charlie, I understand counting on your fingers to figure out how old you are. And I understand using your hand to measure how tall you are. But what was all the nodding of the head about when I asked you your name? Charlie answered, Oh, that s simple, Coach. Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday, dear Charlie... God obviously saw in Gideon something that he did not see in himself, and something that others did not see in him! The name Gideon means "Mighty warrior," or "Feller (of trees)." Very unsure of both himself and God's command, he requested proof of God's will by two miracles, performed on consecutive nights and the exact opposite of each other: His heroism was not a product of his natural make-up, but the outcome of the transforming spiritual experience through which he passed.

2 We think of his fleece.6:36-40 Judges 7 His 300. limited by God to but 300 men, yet with that 300 he put to rout 135,000 Midianites and gave Israel one of its most miraculous victories ever. We think of the GIDEONS INTERNATIONAL..etc. The book of Judges records the "dark ages" of Israel s history. The children of Israel during the Judges period is on a roller coaster spiritual ride. The book begins in a compromise and it ends in confusion. The cycle of sin again! (1) There was failure concerning the land (1:1-36) (2) There was failure concerning the law (2:1-10) (3) There was failure concerning their relationship to the Lord (2:11-23). There was a period of failure that lasted 350 years from the days of Joshua to Saul. There are 7even times when Israel departed from God, 7even times when they were in servitude to their enemies, and 7even eventual instances when God delivered them from the hand of their enemies. àzero to hero!...coward to conqueror!...from A Loser To A Leader 6 cycles in the book of Judges Gideon s represents the 4 th cycle of apostasy. 13 Judges 12 men 1 a woman

3 ..they were like the Wyatt Earps of the wild west 1 Cor 1:27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; I. G i d e o n ' s C o n s t e r n a t i o n 6: 11 Def : amazement or dismay that hinders or throws into confusion When we first meet Gideon we find a man that is filled with hesitation and hopelessness set against a backdrop that is distressing and depressing. A. W h e r e G i d e o n W a s F o u n d The angel of the Lord said to Gideon, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour Gideon must have looked around, Are you talking to me? Mighty man of valor? This is me, Gideon, hiding in a winepress! You ve got the wrong guy. The mighty man of valor lives down the road. As a result of rebellion, and idolatry, God delivered them into the hand of the Midianites for 7 years. God allowed them to be overrun and overtaken by the Midianites...Vs 1-2, 6 Like a great massive swarm of locusts, the Midianites moved relentlessly across Palestine. Being the first people to domesticate the desert camel, they enjoyed enormous advantage in military mobility. Their hooved hordes roamed and raided relentlessly. No corner of the country escaped their raging ruin. Their sharp swords and shining spears were notoriously vicious. They drew blood with a grin, took slaves with impunity, and left behind a landscape reddened with blood and blackened by fire.

4 This is why we find Gideon hiding in a winepress threshing wheat. The conditions that existed are a stern reminder that when we turn our back on God there is always a heavy price to pay. Hebrews 12:6, "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." Sin always ends up with a trip to the woodshed. B. W h a t G i d e o n W a s F e e l i n g Gideon took issue with the Angel s statement, The Lord is with thee. He replied, IF [One of Gideon s favorite words was if (vv. 13, 17, 36).] 1. Gideon feels fearful! During World War II, a military governor met with General George Patton in Sicily. When he praised Patton highly for his courage and bravery, the general replied, "Sir, I am not a brave man... The truth is, I am an utter craven coward. I have never been within the sound of gunshot or in sight of battle in my whole life that I wasn t so scared that I had sweat in the palms of my hands." Years later, when Patton s autobiography was published, it contained this significant statement by the general: "I learned very early in my life never to take counsel of my fears." Vs. 17 a sign that thou talkest He thought it was a dream a joke! He didn t just doubt he could do it he doubted he was even hearing it!

5 2. Gideon feels forsaken. Vs.13 Gideon either failed or refused to recognize that the people had brought the existing conditions on themselves. Whatever the case, Gideon felt abandoned and forsaken of God. It may be that things around you are dark and stormy, and even worse; the Lord seems to have walked off and left you to fend for yourself. "where be all His miracles?" 3. Gideon feels futility. Vs. 15 He gives 3 excuses: HIS FAMILY WAS POOR. Lack of FORTUNE HE BELONGED TO THE TRIBE OF MANASSEH a tribe not know for its military strength. Lack of FAME HE WAS THE LEAST IN HIS FATHER S HOUSE, he was the youngest son of his family. Lack of FAITH The answer??? Vs. 16! I I. G i d e o n ' s R e v e l a t i o n "And there came an Angel of the LORD." We find this expression in verse 12, 21, and twice in verse 22. This was not an just any angel that appeared to Gideon. Whenever you find the description the Angel of the Lord, it is always speaking of the Lord Himself. It was a pre-incarnate appearance of the Christ.

6 It seems clear from the contextual connection of Judges 6:14 that the angel was in fact "the LORD" The word "angel" means, "Messenger." We speak an ev-angel-ist, one who proclaims the message of the Lord. The name "LORD" (all capital letters) is Jehovah, the covenant God. What you have the Lord Jesus paying a visit to Gideon and coming with a message that contained a wonderful promise. A. T h e A n g e l O f T h e L o r d S i t t i n g vs 11 He visits a place called "Ophrah." The name Ophrah means, "dusty" or "dusty place." This was the old home place of Gideon. A desolate region of Manasseh, an arid area. The Lord has a way of showing up in our dry times and in dry places! What does the Lord do? He sits down under an oak and watches Gideon hiding in the winepress threshing wheat. Gideon is not even aware that he has a heavenly visitor. Like Gideon, there are times when we feel the Lord has forsaken us, but I remind you He is sitting under the oak tree! I can see Gideon down in the winepress, hidden from view. I can see him every once in a while stick his head up to see if anyone was around and to make sure no one had seen him. All the time the Lord is watching. He is present, even though we may not be aware of His presence. * The biographer of Bishop Watts told of when he was a child, he was in the house of an old woman who asked him to read a motto she had on the wall. It contained the words of Hagar:

7 "Thou God seest me." The old woman said, "When you are older, my boy, people will tell you that God is always watching to see when you do wrong, in order to punish you. I do not want you to think of it in that way, but I want you to take the text home and remember all your life that God loves you so much that He cannot take His eyes off you!" B. T h e A n g e l O f T h e L o r d S p e a k i n g 1. In verse 12 we read, "And the Angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him..." I can imagine the Lord getting up from under the oak tree and then walking over, looks down into the winepress, and then speaks to Gideon. He not only paid a personal visit to Gideon, but He also had a personal word for Gideon. 2. How sweet and special are those times when the Lord has a personal word for our needy hearts. Many times when I have been down in the winepresses of life, the Lord has appeared and spoke to my heart. 3. The Lord has a way of speaking to us when we are struggling with the why's of life and feeling that He has forsaken us. It may be in a church service like this and in a song or sermon the Lord speaks personally to you. It may in your private devotional time or through a friend or acquaintance. Like Gideon, the Lord has a word just for us personally. 4. Finally I want you to think with me of: I I I. G i d e o n ' s T r a n s f o r m a t i o n! Gideon was asking about miracles. He was bemoaning the absence of miracles. Verse 13 seems to suggest that Gideon had heard of miracles but had never seen a miracle. He asks, "where be all His miracles which our fathers told us of." He had heard the old people talk about all the things the Lord had done for Israel. Countless times, he had heard about how God had delivered them from Egypt and the many demonstrations of God's power. He had been told of miracles, heard about

8 miracles, but it would seem that he had never personally experienced a miracles. Many believers would fall into this category. The Lord is a mighty God. He is a God with great ability. I doubt that anyone here would deny or doubt that. But in many cases your belief is theoretical and not experiential. You believe God's power, but have not personally experienced God's power. 3. The Lord appears and brings up the subject of miracles. Now, I want you to see something exciting in what happened. Instead of the Lord giving Gideon a miracle, He tells Gideon that he is going to become a miracle. The Lord says, "Gideon, you want to see a miracle. I'm going do something for you even better. I am going to make you a miracle." It is exciting to think of what God can do. The Lord is able to do miracles for us. Yet, I tell you something even more thrilling and that is the Lord making us a miracle. A. W h a t T h e L o r d C a n D o I n U s Notice how the Lord addressed Gideon in verse 12, "The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valor." Now, think about that for a moment. Gideon-a mighty man of valor? Calling him a mighty man of valor would be the same as we calling him a gallant general. He's hiding in a winepress for goodness sake. He is anything and everything but a mighty man of valor. When the Lord called Gideon a mighty man of valor it was not because he was a mighty man of valor. It was not because of what Gideon was, but what God was going

9 to make out of him. God was not looking at him for what he was at the present, but was seeing him in the future. He was anything but a mighty man of valor, but God was going to make him a mighty man of valor. God wants to move us from victim status, to valor status. He wants to change us from meager Christians into mighty Christians. He wants to change us from gropers to generals. God wants to make us the miracles. God can take a Jacob (cheat, schemer, con-artist) and make him a Prince that has power with God. He can take a Simon (unstable one) and make him a rock. He can take a Saul (a murderer) and transform him into a Paul (a minister). God can make us the miracle. We all are miracles of God's saving grace. But the miracle should not stop with us just being saved. There is the matter of what God can do in our lives afterwards. 7. Vance Havner describe how many are asking, "Where is the Lord God of Elijah," when they ought to be asking, "Where are the Elijah's of the Lord God?" He is the Lord God and a God of miracles. Yet, He wants to make us Elijah's. He wants to make us a miracle. When I look around this place I see people that are potential miracles. God is able to turn you into someone and something that is a miracle in itself. I am talking about each of you. From the youngest to the oldest, you are a potential miracle. B. W h a t G o d C a n D o T h r o u g h U s

10 verse 14, "And the LORD looked upon him, and said, 'Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites." Israel needed a miracle and the Lord told Gideon he was going to be that miracle. He was going to use Gideon to deliver Israel from the oppression of the Midianites. When the Lord called him a mighty man of valor, it must have stunned Gideon. But you can only imagine how shocked he was when the Lord informed him that he was the one that was going to deliver Israel from the Midianites. verse 15, "And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house." Gideon says, "Me, save Israel? My family is poor and to top it all off, I am the youngest and least important member of my family." The Lord answered him in verse 16, "Surely, I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man." What was the Lord saying to Gideon? He was telling him that regardless of his position in life, He could use him in a marvelous way. Someone might be saying, "It would be a miracle if God used me." That is what being a miracle is all about. When Edward Kimball, a Sunday School teacher, walked into the Holton Shoe Store on 43 Court Street in Boston, and led a seventeen year old boy named Dwight Lyman Moody to the Lord, he had no ideal, or anybody else for that reason, that he had led a prospective miracle to the Lord. In the years to come, D.L. Moody would be used of God to the salvation of literally thousands. Moody's ministry would embrace the world and would mark one of the effective and influential ministries in history. Even today, more than 100 years after his death, the ministry of D.L. Moody is still touching lives.

11 8. Yet, what a most unlikely candidate Moody was to be used of God in the fashion and measure that he was used. Let me share with you a portion of a letter that Edward Kimball wrote regarding D.L. Moody: "I can truly say, and in saying it I magnify the infinite grace of God as bestowed upon him, that I have seen few persons whose minds were spiritually darker than was his when he came into my Sunday school class; and I think the committee of the Mount Vernon Church seldom met an applicant for embership more unlikely ever to become a Christian of clear and decided views of gospel truth, still less to fill any extended sphere of public usefulness."4 Do you need a miracle in your life? Better still, would you not like to be a miracle? As we stand of the threshold of a new year, I know of no better way to get it started than to let God make you a miracle. If today you are asking, "Where be all His miracles," then listen closely to the Lord for He is saying, "I want to make you the miracle." Drinking water.. Down to 300 We don t have to be the most to do the most! Weapons?

12 1. In this chapter Gideon was given a nickname after nearly single handily destroying the altar to the pagan god, Baal, in his own hometown. 2. It took unbelievable courage to do such a thing, and because of that, he came to be known by his nickname Jerubbaal, which meant, let Baal plead, or even, let Baal-contend, which in today s vernacular he made Baal cry. Faith, not fear is the victory