Where Do I Find Help This Coming Year? – A Look At Committed Followers Willing To Do Battle

INTRO: We are going to continue on for our theme…Where Do I Find Help This Coming Year?

I have talked about friendship and how it can help our lives. I have spent time on Daniel’s faithfulness. Then I looked at teamwork and Joshua. Next I spent time looking at David and our pursuing God. Then we spent time looking at our obedience to the Lord. I then looked at Jacob’s life and how love changed him. Next we looked at Joseph and how forgiveness saved him. Today I want to look at how a few committed followers of the Lord can win the battle.

Have you ever been involved in something when your heart was not in it? Just going along for the ride, so to speak. Well today we are going to see some men who in the rush of the moment signed up for the Army and really wanted to be in the Peace Corps.

We have all done something like that. How does it happen?

Our parents sign us up.

Our friends sign up, so do we.

We have to meet a requirement.

We get excited and sign up and change our minds.

The grass is greener on the other side.

And, the most prevalent reason…

Our wife signs us up to get us out of the house. HA!

Let’s look at a man named Gideon and see how his life was changed because of a few willing, committed servants of the Lord.

Judges 6:1-17 KJV ¹And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.
²And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds.
³And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them;
⁴And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass.
⁵For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it.
⁶And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried unto the LORD.
⁷And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD because of the Midianites,
⁸That the LORD sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage;
⁹And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drave them out from before you, and gave you their land;
¹⁰And I said unto you, I am the LORD your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed my voice.
¹¹And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.
¹²And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.
¹³And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.
¹⁴And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?
¹⁵And 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.
¹⁶And the LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.
¹⁷And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then show me a sign that thou talkest with me.

There are several things that we can see in God’s Word in this passage. Before we look at Gideon, I want us to see…

Sin has away of bringing pain and hurt to our lives – just as it cost the Israelites in this scripture.

It defeats us.

It costs us dearly.

It brings harm to our lives.

It moves us from the areas God wants for us. (To the caves)

God wants to rescue us.

Okay, we see of Gideon…

One who was not really worthy to most people

Unaware of Gods’ blessing upon him – 12

Unaware of his might (even though he was a man of valor). – 12

Unable to give the right answers – 13

Full of questioning doubt - 13

Family was poor - 15

Not even a leader in his father’s household. - 15

We can see some of the same ideas in action in our own lives…

We feel unworthy

We feel helpless

We feel abandoned

We feel inadequate

Etc.

Yet, we need to see that God gave Him a great promise…

The Lord is with thee - 12

Like Gideon, with all his “problems” or excuses or needs, we see the Lord’s promise…

Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.

God promises us victory

God does so with certainty

God does so willingly

God does so adequately

God does so presently

What can we learn from this?

Victory is ours if we will follow the Lord

We then see another aspect of Gideon (this is one reason he WAS worthy)…

Gideon wanted to give his best to the Lord

Judges 6:18-24 KJV ¹⁸Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again.
¹⁹And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it.
²⁰And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so.
²¹Then the angel of the LORD put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the LORD departed out of his sight.
²²And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the LORD, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord GOD! for because I have seen an angel of the LORD face to face.
²³And the LORD said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.
²⁴Then Gideon built an altar there unto the LORD, and called it Jehovahshalom [the Lord is Peace]: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

We need to hold nothing back

Just a note – we, ourselves, are the best we can give Him

We need to be prompt or give Him ourselves today

When we do our best for Him there is true peace

Judges 6:25-32 KJV ²⁵And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Take thy father’s young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it:
²⁶And build an altar unto the LORD thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down.
²⁷Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the LORD had said unto him: and so it was, because he feared his father’s household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.
²⁸And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built.
²⁹And they said one to another, Who hath done this thing? And when they inquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing.
³⁰Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die: because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it.
³¹And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal? will ye save him? he that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning: if he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar.
³²Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal plead against him, because he hath thrown down his altar.

God will use our best when we give it to Him

God used Gideon – 25-26

Gideon obeyed God – 27

Our obedience will be noted by those around – 28

Our obedience will not always be understood or agreeable – 30

We can use that time as an opportunity to preach truth – 31-32

Judges 6:33-40 KJV ³³Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel.
³⁴But the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered after him.
³⁵And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh; who also was gathered after him: and he sent messengers unto Asher, and unto Zebulun, and unto Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.
³⁶And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said,
³⁷Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said.
³⁸And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.
³⁹And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.
⁴⁰And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.

I must admit I do not blame Gideon for wanting to make sure about the Lord’s message.

This brings us to one aspect of Gideon’s life that I find very interesting and familiar.

It also brings us to a question we need to ask…

Can a man (or woman) doubt God?

Let’s be honest…

It is not always easy to follow the Lord

It can be scary

It is often unpopular

It may be dangerous

It certainly seems uncertain

There is a great difference in uncertainty about our direction and saying no to God. Seeking God’s will is very different than doubting God’s plan and abilities.

Each week we have looked at our characters of study’s meaning of their names.

Gideon – A Cutting Down, He That Bruises or A Great Warrior.

After he began throwing down the idols of Baal his name (nickname?) was…

Jerrubbaal – Contender Of Baal.

God help us to be know as a contender of Satan. God help us to better servants for the Lord.

We look further in the Word…

Judges 7:1-7 KJV ¹Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.
²And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.
³Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.
⁴And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go.
⁵So he brought down the people unto the water: and the LORD said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink.
⁶And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.
⁷And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place.

This is the part I like. God is going to show us He can use and bless those who will follow Him wholeheartedly. And I will tell you, this would not be a part of any pastor’s plan. No Pastor would want to weed out 99% of his flock to do battle for the Lord. Yet that is about the figures for Gideon.

When God blesses it is GOOD!

When we let God use us it works.

When we look to God He is there.

When God stands with us (and we with Him) it will work.

When God stands with us we cannot always see how it will work – but it will.

Let’s look and see what happened to his army…

 This happened after Gideon and Phurah sneaked into the enemy’s camp and overheard a dream foretelling his victory.

Judges 7:16-25 KJV ¹⁶And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man’s hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers.
¹⁷And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do.
¹⁸When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.
¹⁹So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands.
²⁰And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.
²¹And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled.
²²And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man’s sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath.
²³And the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after the Midianites.
²⁴And Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim, saying, Come down against the Midianites, and take before them the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and took the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan.
²⁵And they took two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side Jordan.

God’s plan needs to be followed

It depends upon Him

He uses us

It works

So, today I have some questions for you…

Are you committed to the Lord?

Do you want to be His servant?

Are you willing to trust and follow Him?

Would you like to pray about being a committed follower of the Lord?

Gary Marcum – New beginnings Church – 022209am