Judges 7:24-25
The world has always been obsessed with outward boast and human glory. Sadly, much of the Western Church is on par with this thinking. If a man has charisma and can hold an audience captive with stories and personal anecdotes, we make him a minister! The pulpits up and down the length and breadth of this country are full of such men. They look more like action men than they do God’s men. It’s not what a man is on the pulpit that counts so much as what he is off it! Character my friends is where it’s at!
How a man conducts himself amid conflict says a lot about his character. Leaders are called to be peacemakers. Having beheld Gideon the man, in this sermon, we behold Gideon the peacemaker. Through one man’s leadership, a nation is spared from civil war. I pray the Lord ministers to your heart through Gideon’s example.
Judges 7:9-15
If God is going to get the glory from your life, it is going to require that we trust Him!!! There’s no escaping this reality!! When the call of God comes to service, it never comes in a neatly packaged parcel with a cute sticky label on the front. We want all the I’s dotted and the T’s crossed. We want it safe and predictable, secure and tested, but that’s not how it works. God called Gideon to a work above his natural ability and out of his human capabilities. At every single step along the way, he was a man pressed out of measure and therefore completely reliant upon God. In the two previous signs given to Gideon as a means of encouragement, they came about at the request of Gideon!! Gideon was the instigator! However, in the passage before us, without so much as a request on the part of Gideon, God takes the initiative to offer him a third sign as further proof on top of the further proof he had already given him — GIDEON, I’M WITH YOU FOR GOOD!!!
Judges 7:1-8
If I were to ask why you so desire a move of God in this hour I wonder what you would say? When I speak of a move of God, I mean a heaven-sent revival that would turn the hearts of compromising lukewarm Christians back to God in fervent zeal and ardent love. I mean a heaven-sent revival that would awaken the sleeping dead and sweep whole multitudes of lost sinners from this town and beyond, into the Kingdom of God. The Pastor wants God to send revival so that His dwindling Church can be filled! The evangelist wants God to send revival so that he can tell of the great numbers that came to Christ under his ministry.
But you Pastor, I’m not a minister. I don’t care for those things just mentioned, I want God to send revival so that my backslidden husband can return to the Lord and my wayward son could get saved! Now granted, your motivation is radically different from the ego-maniac ministers just mentioned, but it still falls short of the only fitting answer to be given, as to why God should send revival. Why should God send a revival? FOR HIS GLORY!!!
Judges 6:33-40
The men God sets His hand upon for use aren’t supermen; they’re human men like you and me, fraught with human weakness and marred by many insecurities. Any good biography worth its salt will not only describe the mighty feats of the man it purports to represent but also his frailty.
When the Spirit of the LORD comes upon a man/when the anointing of God is resting upon God’s servant, He ministers in a power and an anointing that cannot be explained apart from the language of the supernatural!! It’s not His strength it’s not His power, it’s not his grace, it’s not His ability, IT’S GOD’S! It’s God’s strength, it’s God’s power, it’s God’s grace, its God’s ability!! We look and think, what a man but we’ve got it all wrong!! Rather, we ought to say, what a God!!! In this fourth part of the sermon series, we consider Gideon the man!
Judges 6:25-32
Before Gideon could reform a nation, he had to first reform his house!! The altar of Baal MUST come down and an altar for Yahweh be established!! See where revival begins! Admittedly, this is a costly ask — it always is with God. Can I encourage you — PAY THE PRICE AND GO THROUGH WITH GOD, it will be the best thing you ever do!!!
Judges 6:7-24
When circumstances sink so miserably low, we grow accustomed to it and can’t see how things can ever change. WE FORGET!!! Every revival has begun from the place of low ebbs!! Moses didn’t come on a fluffy cloud with a bolt of lightning to deliver Israel. Where did God find him? In a place of low ebb, his people were oppressed and enslaved by the Egyptians! In the days of Gideon, it was the same. The Midianites were instruments of humility to turn the hearts of His wayward people back to Him. When Israel cried out to God, God raised up a deliverer! From whence did God find this man? In the palaces of power and influence? On the contrary; God found His instrument of revival by the winepress, threshing a handful of wheat and hiding in fear. Men love to look on the outward appearance, but have yet to look where God’s eyes are found – on the heart!
This sermon is an encouragement for believers. It matters not how incapable you may feel you are. God has a work for you to do in His power!
Judges 6:1-12
When a generation loses touch with God and the favour of the Lord is taken away, the next generation coming after will have to start all over again! I don’t know if you’ve ever had the experience of demolishing a wall. I’m no builder, but I know for sure that it took whoever built the wall a whole lot longer to build it than it did for the person smashing it down. My dear people, look around and see; you don’t need me to tell you that we are living in days of great spiritual declension. This land of ours that once enjoyed regular seasons of refreshing and harvest blessing has for some time now been crippled in the grip of a dearth.
As we begin this series, looking at the life of Gideon, we begin with the sin of God’s people and His remedial judgements. What was true in the days of Israel, is true in our day. This is a call for the Church to seek the face of God in humility, prayer, and repentance if perhaps the Lord might turn His face again towards His people.