How God Turns Nobodies Into Somebodies This is the last message in the series, What God Can Do Through Ordinary You. We've looked at how God uses ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary accomplishments in life. This morning we're going to look at a man named Gideon. FACT: God often uses the most unlikely people. And this is what the story of Gideon is all about God turning nobodies into somebodies. This story is the process that God uses to change losers into leaders, zeros into heroes, cowards into champions. Gideon was a farm boy who became a national hero. Gideon was insecure this guy was afraid of his own shadow. How did God change Gideon? God took him through a four-step process. 1. STEP ONE: CONFIRMATION God always starts with a word of (encouragement) affirmation confirmation (helping us grasp our true identities). The angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon and he said, The Lord is with you mighty warrior. Judges 6:12 Gideon was no mighty warrior. I just told you he was timid in fact, we find him hiding. KEY: When God starts to work in your life, He will first want you to get a new view of WHO you ARE. Here s the REALITY Most of us never see what God sees. And therein lies our problem. God sees your potential. What do you see? Most of the time I m guessing you see PROBLEMS, which always clouds POTENTIAL. LISTEN: Confirmation is a powerful form of motivation. When you see what you really are, it will change everything. But notice Gideon s reaction. He starts making excuses (sound familiar?). Gideon replied, With me, my master? If God is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all the miracle-wonders our parents and grandparents told us about the fact is, God has nothing to do with us He has turned us over to Midian. Judges 6:13 CIRCLE: if, why, where These are words of the insecure. Excuses. And that s our problem. Excuses always underestimate the power of God and devalue it. - You ve got the wrong village. The town Gideon was from was called Ophrah (which means tiny). 1
JOKE: Plug in your razor and the whole town s lights dim. Ophrah means the place of dustiness. This was tumbleweedville. Not a place you hold the Olympics. - You ve got the wrong family. Gideon s family was the poorest family of their entire tribe. - You ve got the wrong guy in the family. Gideon asked, How can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I m the least in my family. Judges 6:15 I m the runt of the litter. The ugly duckling. The load shy of a brick. My elevator doesn t go all the way to the top. Doesn t even have an UP button. Day late and dollar short. Few sandwiches short of a picnic. Full six pack, but lacking the plastic that holds it together. GET IT According to Gideon it makes no sense. According to GOD it s incredible. The youngest guy, of the poorest family, from an unknown town, at the bottom of the well. And so God says, Hey, mighty warrior. HUGE: Confirmation is a big thing. LISTEN: To be a somebody, it always begins (step one) with God s confirmation. The Lord turned to him and said, Go I will be with you. You da man. Judges 6:14 Look at someone right now and say, I m da man. 2. STEP TWO: CONNECTION When we have a personal experience with God, life becomes more than a religion it becomes a relationship. When Gideon realizes that it was the angel of the Lord he exclaimed, Ah, sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face. So Gideon built an altar. And he called it The Lord is peace. Judges 6:22 Gideon had a personal experience with God, so he builds an altar. What does an altar represent? STORY: In the Old Testament, it always represents a personal commitment to God. A reminder. Gideon was saying, I don t ever want to forget. Our PROBLEM: We forget. A lot of altar experiences never turn into a lifetime commitment maybe because the altar was more about emotion than heart 2
transformation. Some of you need to rebuild your altar. Go back to that commitment and renew it. STORY: This is why I love marriage RENEWEL services. Lest we forget. Notice he names the altar The Lord is peace. What s the lesson? Before you are ready to fight any external battles, you need to settle the internal one. HUGE: Peace wins every BATTLE every time. 3. STEP THREE: CONTENTION If you don't get anything else, get this. After confirmation (knowing whose you are) and connection (owning whose you are), comes contention (growing in whose you are). Before God will ever use you in a significant way, He has to test you first. The background of the story is, Israel is in a time of oppression. They (God s people) were trying to worship God and idols at the same time. They were compromising. Not good. So God says to Gideon, I have a task for you to do. Before you do anything else, I want you to go and tear down the idol that your father has. It s time to clean house. Now LISTEN: This is tough. Now it came to pass the same night that the Lord said to him, Take your father s young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the wooden image that is beside it. Judges 6:25 This is HUGE: FAMILY first or FAITH? This incident shows us the three ways that God may test us. 1. God may test you spiritually. (Faith do you really trust God?) This is a test of Who is going to be #1 in your life. Exodus 20:3 God said, Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. God says, I want complete allegiance. I want total obedience. QUESTION: Who is number one in your life? What's the Baal in your backyard? What s your idol? A Winnebago. A person, a career, a possession, a position. What is it that competes for your time and energy? God says, Cut it down! 2. God may test you emotionally. (Trust feel or fact?) Notice who the altar belongs to it was his father s. It says he went and tore it down at night because he was afraid. That s an emotional test. We re talking about a confrontation with tradition. That s not easy stuff to deal with. Do you ever find yourself limiting yourself because family members might get upset? This was his dad s idol and he goes and smashes it that s emotional. 3. God may test you physically. (Endurance how long can you last/wait?) 3
When you read the next few verses, you'll find that when they woke up the next morning the town formed a lynch mob that s a physical test. FACT: If you really get serious about serving God, expect fireworks. You may cause a riot. You may upset a few traditions. That will affect your stamina (trust me). 4. STEP FOUR: CHANGE (showing whose you are) Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon. Judges 6:34 It is here that Gideon is NOW ready for service, ready to be effective. God says, I m going to help you. I m going to put my power in your life. God promised him His Spirit, now it s a reality. KEY: The secret of Gideon s life is that now God would be working through him. The Spirit came upon Gideon literally means the Spirit clothed himself over Gideon. I liken that to saying, Gideon, I'm going to take over your body. Move on over I m going to DRIVE. Key QUESTION: Is God in control of you that way? CONCLUSION: Some of you are at Stage One. You just need encouragement. You need someone to say, God believes in you! Some of you are at Stage Two. You are ready to meet God personally. Maybe you ve had a religion, but you ve never had a relationship. God says, I want you to know Me. I don t want you to be afraid of Me. I don t want you to be threatened or frightened. I want you to feel like friends with God. Some of you are at Stage Three. You re in a test. It s a test of compromise. Will you compromise what you believe? It may be a test at work. It may be a test at home. It may be a test at school. What s going to have first place in your life? Status? Career? Money? Things? What s going to have first place in your life? God says, I want total allegiance. Some of you are in Stage Four. You ve been trying to fight God s battles in your power and you re tired. You came here thinking I m wasted, I m really fatigued. God, do something today, please! It s been a tough week. You need God s Spirit in your life. 4
PRAYER: I look out on your faces and see so much potential. I see what God wants to do in your life. I see that God says, I see that person sitting there and I could do something significant but they re holding back. Here s God s word to you this morning. God thinks you rock. What s going to be first place? Some of you are struggling with that right now. Some of you have allowed something to become first place and you need to do housecleaning this morning. Just say, Lord, I'm going to tear it down, flush it out of my life. Holy Spirit, work in my life. Give me Your power. I can t do it on my own. Heavenly Father, I thank You for the life of Gideon, for the example that he is and how You can take somebody who never in a million years could have imagined that he could become a hero. Lord, change our lives. Make us useable. Prepare us for service in ways that we ve never seen before. Lord, I know that if You could just get a handful of people in Celebrate who are totally, 100% sold out to You, that You could cause a spiritual explosion in all of Sioux Falls. Lord this week, let us be available to You. In Jesus Name. Amen. 5