Sermon Sunday June 24, 2018 – Lessons from Gideon Part 1

Judges 6:1-16

Have you ever been put into a position of leadership that you felt totally unprepared for? God constantly puts his children in positions where they feel stretched even uncomfortable. And that is okay, God seldom calls you and I to lead in an area in which we are fully equipped. Gideon felt the same way when God called him in Judges chapter 6.

The book of Judges covers a period of roughly three-hundred years in the life of the nation of Israel. Joshua has died and left the nation with two instructions; defeat the remaining Canaanites and obey the law of Moses. The children of Israel fail on both accounts. As a result, God uses the nations surrounding them to punish them and cause them to cry out to Him for help.

As the chapter begins with a familiar phrase, “The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord…”

Israel had begun worshiping the idols and follow the pagan ways of the tribes that remained in the land. They had turned their backs on God after all that God had done for them.

God used the pagan nations of the Midianites and the Amalekites to punish the Israelites for a period of 7 years. The first six verses of the chapter describe the fear and the oppression of the Israelites. The Midianites forced them out of their homes and towns and caused them to hide in the hills, they were hiding in caves to get away from these invaders. The midianites came in vast numbers and raided their crops, taking their livestock and their tents.

In verse 11 we read that Gideon is also hiding, as he is beating out wheat in a winepress. Normally one would grind wheat in a large open area so that the wind could blow away the chaff. But a winepress was a smaller area, hidden in trees for shelter, probably a hollowed rock in the ground. Gideon was hiding and grinding out just a small portion of wheat, probably just enough for his family.

When the Israelites had nowhere left to turn, their own resources and means were over, they remembered the Lord and cried out to him (verse 7). The Lord responds by sending a prophet with a clear message (verses 8-10). The prophet tells them the obvious, he tells them all that God has done for them, and then he tells them how ungrateful and disobedient they are. The prophet declares the obvious, but the people needed to hear the obvious.

Sometimes we also need to hear the obvious as we miss the mark in our Christian walk. Maybe you have been blessed with a family, a home and many good things, but along the way you have lost your first love, you have stopped worshipping God, you have stopped spending time with God everyday in prayer and reading your Bible.

The prophet ends his message from God with a powerful accusation, “but you have not obeyed my voice.”

In the very next verse, we see the plan of deliverance that God began working out. God’s plan of salvation for his people always involves a person. God used Abraham, Noah, Sampson, David and many others in the Old Testament. But ultimately God sent His only son, Jesus Christ, to bring his perfect and eternal plan of salvation.

The Angel of the Lord appears to Gideon and sits under the Oak tree (V12). But this is no ordinary angel. The writer begins by calling him by the Hebrew term, “Malak”, which means messenger, but as the account progresses, we see in verse 13 that Gideon addresses him as, “Adonai” or my Lord, and then in verse 22 he calls him “Yahweh” – The Lord God. This messenger is God himself, the second person of the trinity, the pre-incarnate Christ. God was implementing a rescue plan for his people and as a foreshadowing of what is to come a thousand years later, God the Father sends the Son.

The angel addresses Gideon with a dramatic introduction, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor

Gideon must have looked around to see who the Lord was talking to. Here is was hiding in a cave and grinding a little wheat to make some food for his family. But God saw the real Gideon, the man that He had created.

When God calls you and I to serve him, to witness for him, to be his ambassador, He knows our weaknesses, but he also knows what he created in us. We must never respond to God’s call by explaining to Him our weaknesses, he knows them, but he also knows everything about us, because He created us and His ways are perfect.

The Lord responded to Gideon with a firm directive (verse 14). But Gideon continues to try do persuade God by pointing out his weaknesses in verse 15. Some of what Gideon said was out of humility, but mostly he was simply stating the facts, and asking “why me?”

And that is precisely what God wanted to hear. Gideon could not do anything in his own strength, and this is the position everyone who is to be used by God must come to. God loves to use people who are keenly aware of their weakness. Because when someone is fully conscious of their weakness, then God can begin to use them for His glory.

The person who relies on his own strength, intellect, skills and financial resources, is not likely to lean into God for courage and provision, and that person is also not likely to give God the glory for anything that is achieved.

Gideon tried to voice his lack of skill, and the Lord responded with an amazing promise in verse 16. God promised to be with Gideon, and that he would strike the Midianites as one man!

Remember, if you are doing what God has called you to do, you will always be in the majority – even you and God alone is the only majority that counts.

Jumping forward over one thousand years, when Jesus gave the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20 he gave the church an impossible mission, but just like the Lord said to Gideon, Jesus said to the Disciples, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

What is God calling you to do? Where is he calling you to go? What excuses are you using?

God can use you like He used Gideon, because he promises to be with you always.

June 17, 2018 – Fathers Day

 Father’s Day – Genesis 18:1-19

Fathers-day is a day of mixed emotions and quite often it is a day of pain for those who have lost fathers or who had abusive fathers. I was blessed to have a father who loved his family and who set an example for his family. My father was not perfect, but he was steadfast in his, love for God, and his love for his family.

The Bible has so many examples of good fathers and poor fathers, but one of the best examples we have of a father in the Bible is Abraham. God called this mighty man of faith to be the father of a great nation. Abraham was a man of exceptional faith who had a unique relationship with God. In Genesis 18 we have the account of God speaking to Abraham about the birth of Isaac, and the reaction of Sarah to the good news.

After the declaration of Isaac, the two angels prepare to leave and go to Sodom where they will rescue Lot and his family, but the Lord stays with Abraham. The Lord stays behind and discloses to Abraham what he is about to do in punishing Sodom and Gomorrah. God has a special role for Abraham, to raise up God’s chosen people and to be the father of the nation of Israel which will bless all the nations of the earth.

In verse 19 we read,For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”

In this verse we see four characteristics of a good father that we need to develop in our own lives.

1: A godly father teaches…”that he may command his children…” Genesis 18:19a

The Greatest Command in the Bible is found in Deuteronomy 6:4-5, the Shema is the very first scripture a Hebrew boy would learn, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

But the Scripture doesn’t stop there, verses 6 and 7 continue, “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

God tells the Hebrew fathers that they have a responsibility to teach their children to love Him with all their hearts. He tells them how to impress this command on the children by talking about it when you sit down or walk along the road, when you lie down to sleep and when you get up first thing in the morning. The teaching continues all day and every day. Teaching happens all the time, even when we aren’t intending to teach, but right teaching does not happen by accident. You have to teach on purpose the things of the Lord.

Fathers teach your children to love God. This is your first and primary discipleship role as a Christian parent. Our children have a much better chance to grow up to love God, if they see the love for God in our lives (see Proverbs 22:6 and Ephesians 6:4).

2: A Father is to lead his children,For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord…” Genesis 18:19a.

God told Abraham to command his children and his household, the people who were under his sphere of influence. Abraham was to lead his family.

You can lead by rule, or force, but a good father leads primarily by example (Joshua 24:15).

Fathers are you leading your families well? Are we leading those in our sphere of influence to know and love the Lord?

3: A father disciplines his children, “For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord… Genesis 18:19a

 Keeping the way requires discipline, it requires intentional correction in order to maintain a life that walks along the pathway that God has for us.

Discipline is not beating a child into submission, it can be affected without the rod, although sometimes a child may need to feel correction.

But discipline is correction, guidance, keeping the child in the pathway that is right. A fathers’ discipline is always done in love (Hebrews 12:6-11, Proverbs 3:11-12).

True discipline is an act of love. We need to know the difference between discipline and punishment.

Punishment causes rebellion, but Discipline builds relationships.

Punishment is spoken harshly in anger, but Discipline is usually spoken kindly and lovingly.

Punishment produces a bitter, poisonous fruit, but Discipline produces the fruit of acting in the right way, which is righteousness.

4: A father loves his children.

In Matthew 22, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6, when he was asked about the greatest commandment, and he responds by saying what we read in verse 37, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…” and the second, Jesus said is to love your neighbor as yourself.

Fathers, your children need to know that you love them (see 1 Corinthians 13:1). Parents tell your children they are loved and show them that they are loved. Bringing a paycheck home is not loving your children.

God blesses good fathers.

The last part of verse 19 contains a promise, “so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”

Those two little words, “so that”, introduce the promise.

If you want to see all that God has in store for you, follow these four principles in your homes. You will be overwhelmed by the goodness of God and his blessings to you and your family.

It all stems from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. If you don’t know Jesus, that is the place to start. Only then can you teach your children by example to love God and you can introduce them to Jesus, the Way the Truth and the Life.