8-2-26 Sunday School - 9:00 a.m.

Hey, good morning class. Hey, good morning class. Good to see you here in the Lord's house today.

Uh We are glad that you're here. Good to see Bryson and Mary Claire with us this morning. Glad that they're back and and um I hope you've had a great great week.

Uh it has been good for us. We flew back in Saturday uh Friday late Friday night from the uh uh spending some time with our grandson and uh taking him to the Ark and the Creation Museum and it was had a fantastic time there. Uh but it is good to be back home and be in my own bed.

I don't care what people say. There's just something about coming home and being home. Um let's uh let's have prayer this morning and pray for some of those that are uh in um critical needs.

Uh you pray for Miss Mickey. Um she had surgery yesterday morning and um they had given her blood. They took her by ambulance to Pineville and then transferred her from Pineville to downtown.

So, she's at uh in the hospital downtown Charlotte and between last night and early this morning, she had another surgery and the cancer has spread to her intestines, so um you pray for uh for her and that God would just give her peace, that peace that surpasses all understanding and you pray for Roger and Kim. I know they've got to be tired and weary. Um Melanie and Dave are home and you know, God's just got a great way of doing things that he puts families back together and um so you you just pray for them at at this time cuz I know it's got to be difficult.

Um but we love our sister, I love her, I spending time with her, I miss those times and when she's not here that I can't just sit there and just chat with her and talk with her. Um but I pray for that family. Pray for Tina Hopkins this morning.

She Pastor Reggie's wife, she is with a dear friend she did, she passed away. Her friend passed away this morning, but we got word that her friend called and I think her name is Mary Ann um but not our Mary Ann. Um but um uh she called and asked for Tina to come and course I I hope that she made it there in time to spend some few precious moments with Mary Ann before the Lord took her home.

But so many people are going through trials and uh uh there's others. We had a text last night Larry and I did uh from Tim Vaughn. There's a family the Riddler Riddlings I think and um um their daughter Sarah is in Spokane, Washington and she was in the path of the fire and they said please pray for our daughter and if you know anyone, would you send that prayer request to them?

And so, we prayed over her last night, and I pray that she made it out and away from that fire. But, I know there's there's perhaps in the prayer journal is going around. You please make make that make those items a matter of prayer that I mentioned, and if you have any, please put them on there, and Jerry will get that out sometime this afternoon, and you pray over those needs um as um as you would for anyone else, all right?

So, would you join me in prayer? And also, remember Larry and Debbie. They are down in Myrtle Beach.

She has she's I think it's a part of a convention or what Whatever she's doing down there, it's her her show. So, you you pray for them while they're away, all right? Heavenly Father, God, we are so grateful to be in our in your house this morning and with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

And Lord, how encouraging how uplifting that is to us. Lord, no doubt some are going through some great trials, and perhaps some even under the sound of my voice this morning that are in our class. Lord, there may be some heavy hearts.

Lord, some that are grieving from the trials and the circumstances they're walking through. And Father, we just lift them up and ask that that there would be a dose of encouragement. Lord, that they would feel your grace and your comfort.

Lord, we pray for Mickey and for Roger and Kim, Melanie and Dave, and Christopher and his family, and uh Lord, as um as they just rally beside the bedside of Miss Mickey, and God, we pray that that that dose of comfort would be there for her. Lord, that the pain would be removed, and and there would be some grace in the midst of this trial that she's going through. Father, there's so many others for Miss Tina and Reggie as they have their own battles that they're going through, Lord, with his health and Lord, the circumstances with Miss Tina and this family that she's been um invaluable to and they've relied on her so much and Lord, to see this loved one slip away.

And God, we pray that your grace would be on this family. Uh Lord, so many others. We pray for uh Malia as she heals and for Mary Ann um uh that's a a dear friend of ours here that uh is going through trials and uh Lord, so many in our our classroom.

Lord, so many to mention, but uh you Lord, you know who they are and uh God, we are forever grateful that they are here today and Lord, for those that could not be, Lord, we lift them up and ask that you would just bless and encourage their hearts. Um now Lord, for our lesson today, I pray that you'll speak through it and use it in a mighty way, Father, that we might understand it from the scope of the Old Testament and how it translates down through time and transcends through time to help us that with our walk here in today. Father, we ask it in Christ's name we pray.

Amen. So, if you will, take your Bibles and turn to Judges chapter 6. That's where we're at.

Judges chapter 6 and it is a powerful testimony. But, I want to start with something that happened July 1st, 1899. July 1st, 1899, there were two men in Janesville, Wisconsin.

These two men were traveling salesmen, but they were also were Christians. They met in a motel there in in Janesville and one thing they had on their minds was something about what God had done in and through them and that was his saving grace. That someone had shared Christ with them, and they trusted him to be Lord and Savior.

So, here these two men talking, and they just thought how wonderful what God had done, and what more they could do to share the gospel. And these two men uh came up with something called the Gideons, the Gideons International. And I want you to know over since um over a period of time since 1899, 127 years have passed, and it's passed from two men to now some 240,000 men that are in the Gideon ministry.

And that's what I call it, it's a ministry. But in these 240,000 men, it just tells me about the life-changing goodness or or the grace of God. That uh for 127 years that um that God has allowed the Bible to be translated into 100 different languages, and those 100 different languages has taken its toll and gone into 200 different countries.

That is something that is powerful. That God is still in the life-changing business, and I don't know if you know this, but uh I am uh a Gideon, and Jerry uh and I have been with a Gideon ministry, and she's part of the what they call the auxiliary membership. Uh that's the wives of the Gideons.

Um but we have been doing that for a number of years. And what's amazing to me is God's life-changing structure of how he reaches souls. And 2 weeks ago in the Gideon there was a Gideon convention in the uh in Charlotte, and I had the sweet privilege of being a transport um personnel.

I was on the transport team, and there were some 387, what we call delegates. Those are nationals, the people that were, uh, from different countries that would fly in from Charlotte, um, to the convention center, and we had the privilege, I was one of those that picked them up at the airport and transferred them down to, um, uh, to their hotel accommodations in Charlotte. But out of some of these people that I've met from Brazil, um, from Mexico, um, uh, Puerto Rico, and and the many other countries.

And what's interesting to me is, yes, they're from different countries, but they speak English. They're bilingual. And that is amazing.

Now, I met some from Germany, uh, there were, uh, quite a few families that came from Germany, and there were some that had, um, um, people translators with them, and that I don't know how that played out. But it was still interesting to talk with people around the world. And we have one thing in common, that is Jesus Christ.

How he had changed their lives over there, and now they're over here, and to come together. And I heard some fantastic testimonies of how God is still changing lives. From a little Muslim girl that got a a New Testament in a place called Guyana.

Uh, a Muslim family, and and that is a story within itself, to where God had changed the lives of, um, of young men in college. There was a young man that had a green New Testament. He popped it in his pocket, and he kept it with him, uh, but, uh, he went on a drinking binge, had a car accident, and as a result of that car accident, he, after he was he was chained to a gurney, and one of the nurses, a male nurse in that hospital, says, "You know, people like you make me sick." He said, "I hope you die and go to hell cuz you deserve everything you get." And that stuck in that man's heart, if you will.

Later on, he was transferred to a uh jail cell, and the guy that or the the the police officer that checked him in, he said, "You know, we don't let anyone carry anything of of uh their personal belongings, but I'm going to make an exception for you. This little New Testament," he says, um "you need it where you're going." And uh he said he went into his jail cell, and he sat there, and the only place he could have TV was outside of the jail cell in this common area. And he said, "I looked at those people, and I didn't want any part of that." But that thought of what that man said, that nurse, what he said, and what this um officer said, "You're going to You need this where you're going." And he said, "For 45 days, I was locked up in my jail cell.

I did not leave." He said, "The only time I left was to eat, but I read that New Testament four times through." Today, he is a pastor in a church. I heard of a Jewish young boy that how God had used him, and uh they came to America, and his dad told him he was a Jew, and he says, "That's their God," talking about the Lord Jesus, uh us, you and me, that we're Christians. He said, "But that's not your God." Someone spoke to him and said, "You know, in high school and in college," he said, "have you ever read Isaiah?

I know you're in the Old Testament. You Have you ever read Isaiah chapter 55?" And it talks about the vicarious suffering of Jesus uh Jesus. And so, he read that, and um he flipped over to Matthew and began to read about the lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And it was there that stuck in his mind and heart and where he trusted Jesus to be his Lord and Savior. He was simply a Jewish boy, but I want you to know today he's pastoring a church in South Georgia because of what God did in his life and he's outreaching Jewish people. And it's amazing how God is still turning people's lives over simply because of this book and to be a part of that ministry.

But you know, as I've gone through this, I thought about Judges chapter 6 and that's where you we are today. Judges chapter 6. Why Gideon?

Why is it Gideon? Why call this ministry The Gideons? It's not about this ministry, but it's about basically it's about Gideon and I wanted to open your mind and give you some thought processes and maybe stretch your mind and your imagination there.

But when we look at Gideon, it's not so much about the character of the man as it is what God can do with the character of that man when we are available to him. And so that's what we can see today because when we look at Gideon and you'll see this in just a moment, we see a man who is a coward, but the Bible says that he is a conqueror. How is that so?

The Bible says that he is a warrior, but all we see is the weakness of a man threshing wheat in a wine press. So why is that? Well, it shows us that what God saves us not from from what he saves us from, but what he saves us to.

You see, God saw Gideon as a mighty man of valor or a conqueror, but all we can see Gideon at this point is just a weak weak man. He's not a conqueror, he's a coward. But basically that's what God does.

You know, when he saves us, listen, when he saves us, he doesn't leave us where we are. He doesn't leave us where he found us. He moves us from that point.

And you know, when I think about what God has done, not only in my life, but some of the lives even in our church family, when you think about what God did some 50 years ago or 55 years ago, when he saw a little bus kid running around, but one day he was looking at that bus kid said, "One day you'll be a pastor and you'll be pastoring this church." Who would have ever dreamed of that? Can you imagine what God has done down through the portals of time, how he has changed lives like Billy Graham and D.L. Moody and A.W.

Tozer and we can just go on and on, but we don't have to go outside the realms of this church. We can look at each other and say, "Look what God did to you, Lane, and good did through you." He can we can look at each one and say, "What amazing testimony that we have." So, let's look this morning, if we will, Judges chapter 6, starting with verse number 1, and let's immerse ourselves in the text. Let's go back in time and see what God can and will do through Gideon.

And let's look at some of the facts that we already know. Verse number 1, it says, "And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. And the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian 7 years.

And 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 strongholds. And 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. And 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 donkeys.

For they came up with their cattle and their tents and and they came as Look at this. Grasshoppers for multitude. For both they and their camels were without number.

And they entered into the land to destroy it, and Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried unto the Lord. And it came to pass when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord because of the Midianites, that the Lord sent a prophet unto the children of Israel. Drop down to verse number 10 for time's sake.

And it verse number 10 says this. The prophet is speaking and God is speaking through the prophet. Verse number 10, "And I said unto you, I am the Lord your God.

Fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell, but you have not obeyed my voice." So, we see a problem that is developed. Here's the challenge or the circumstance, and it starts in that first verse, verse number one. And it tells us in verse number one the problem, "And the children did evil in the sight of the Lord." What was the evil?

It's a big story because when you go back to what we've been studying for the past few weeks, where Joshua brought them over into the promised land, what did he tell them? He says that you are going to flush out the inhabitants of the land. Now, we know that the inhabitants of land, you think, "Well, how cruel that is." These squatters, if you want to call them that, the squatters that were there had an opportunity to be saved, just like Rahab.

Out of the out of Jericho, you remember that, the number of people that were in Jericho, only Rahab and her family were saved. Why? Because she said, "We are fearful of the of your God.

We have heard how he has brought you over out of the land of Egypt and what he has done. They they had heard these stories time and time again. Some 40 years had transpired.

But they had heard the story. They had an opportunity to be saved. Just like Rahab, all of these other Jebusites, Amorites, Amalekites, all of these others had opportunities to be saved, but they chose not to believe.

So the interesting thing is they were told the children of Israel were told to get the people out of the land. But I want to take you back, hold your place in verse number six. Go to chapter one.

And look at verse number 19 because it says and the evil what was it? Verse number said the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. Where where is the problem?

Verse number chapter 1 verse number 19 and it says and the Lord was with Judah and he drove out the inhabitants of the mountain, but but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley. Look on with me verse number 21. And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem.

Verse number 27. Neither did Manasseh. Go on.

Verse number 29. Neither did Ephraim. Verse 30.

Neither did Zebulun. And if you keep going on, you'll find out that none of the 12 tribes ran out the people in the land. Now here is it is and I heard Larry say this last week.

Small compromises lead to major failures. Small compromises lead to major failures. When we see Judah not running running out the inhabitants of the valley, well, it was a small compromise because they probably looked at the people and said, you know, these people are pretty smart.

They're intelligent because we inherited the land that it is flowing uh with milk and honey. And the only way we inherited it is because of these people took care of the land. So, they were farmers.

Israel was not farmers. They were servants. They had no idea of how to farm the land.

So, they probably took in some of the people to say, "Help me farm the land." Well, this is what we do. We we cultivate the land and we plant the seed and then we fertilize the seed and and and the whole thing is it grows a great produce. But, one thing you have to do is pray to the God of Baal because the God of Baal, he is the one that gives us the produce.

So, they said, "Well, then maybe there's something to this." So, you see the small compromise is what happens. It's just a slow a slowly disintegration, if you will, away from the faith. So, it's interesting what happened.

All right, go back to Judges chapter six. So, we see all of these people that are left in the land and verse number one of chapter six tells us the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. Well, basically, what was it?

Look verse number 10. Verse number 10 of chapter six, the last line, says, "But, you have not obeyed my voice." It's talking about the idolatry. Do you remember what God told them before they left Egypt or when they were in the process of leaving Egypt?

God spoke to Moses and Moses transferred that. He said, "I will be your God and you will be my people." He didn't say that I'll share you with somebody else. He said that you will be my people.

When he gave them the 10 Commandments, he gave them the first commandment above all commandments was what? Thou shalt have no other gods above me, before me, or around me. When we read Isaiah 43 verses 9 and 10, it says, "I, even I, am God, and beside me there is no other." That should tell you that God owns the factory.

That should tell you that all of this belongs to him, and he doesn't need to share it with anybody because it's his. So, when he gave the children of Israel this land, and rightfully it was their land, God told them what to do. They had an opportunity to be saved.

They had an opportunity to trust this Jehovah God, the God of Israel. They refused that. And so, God said, "Wipe them off.

Get rid of them because they will tear you down." So, verse number one tells us what has taken place. The latter part of that says that, you know, we know that there was They did evil, and this The latter part of verse number one says, "And the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian." God has taken corrective measures to correct the children of Israel, if you will. It is the same process that you and I we do for our children or our grandchildren.

Sometimes we can clear our throats. Sometimes we can look at them. Sometimes we have to take the rod to them, but the whole thing is what?

Corrective measures to correct their thinking, to help them make better choices. And that's the same thing God is doing here in the life of the Israelites. So, we see this, and you know, when we read verses two, three, and four, we find out that when the Midianites would come in, and it says this happened for how many years?

Seven years. It went on for seven years. But they didn't live there.

What they did is they waited for the gardens to get right. Brother Doug, it was like you had planted your garden. You get ready to go out there and harvest all those tomatoes and bring those tomatoes in here, and somebody comes along and swipes all those tomatoes.

All you've got is a scrawny little vine left, and there ain't nothing on it. That's basically what happened. When it came harvest time, the fruit of the harvest, this land flowing with milk and honey, then all of these other nations, these heathen nations would come in and and take the harvest away from the Israelites.

They had nothing left. And the Bible tells us that they were so fearful, they were scared, that they would actually go up into the mountains, to the caves, and hide out until the enemy left. So, you can see the the sadness of what's going on.

But, this went on according to scripture that it went on for seven years. Now, look on with me, verse number seven. And it says, "And it came to pass when the children of Israel cried because of the Midianites." You see, their troubles caused them to pray.

You don't see them praying any other time here, but they cried out to God on the seventh year. They cried out because of the Midianites. They didn't cry out because of the the the discomfort, they cried out because there was nothing left.

They cried out because of the suffering. You see, God is more concerned about their disobedience. Israel was more concerned about the discomfort that they were going through.

Do you see the two? God is trying to correct this, they are trying to say, "Hey, we deserve better than what we're getting." And so, they're crying out to God for this sat dissatisfaction what's going on in their lives. So, verse number seven that God sends them, verse number eight, God sends them a prophet.

Now, this is an unnamed prophet, it's not Gideon. Gideon is actual a judge actually a judge, but God sends them a prophet and begins to tell them what's going on to get some of the corrective measures in place. But, I find it interesting that they were suffering, and then God sent them a prophet.

And then a verse number 11, he sends them a deliverer. Now, follow along with me here. So, I want to keep our time cuz I don't want it to get away and have some extra time here.

Verse number 11, follow along with me because this is the delivery and it's the introduction to Gideon. And it says, "There came an angel of the Lord and sat upon an oak which was at Ophrah and that pertained to Joash the Abiezrite and his son Gideon threshing wheat by the wine press to hide it from the Midians, Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him and said unto him, "The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor." Do you know the Lord's just got a sense of humor, doesn't he?

We find out where Gideon is, but the Lord calls him something else, a man of a great warrior. Verse 13. And Gideon said unto him, "Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then all this befallen us?

And why where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of saying, 'Did not the Lord bring us from Egypt?' But now the Lord hath forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites." And the Lord looked upon him and said, "Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites." And then he says, "Have I not sent thee?" Read on. 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." And the Lord said unto him, "Surely I will be with thee and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man." So, going back to verse number 11, that he is saying that the angel of the Lord came to Gideon and finds him threshing wheat, it says by or in the wine press.

Now, we know that wine press and just to write quick, the wine press is where? It's in the valley. It's where the fruit of the vine would be brought and that's where they would push out the juice from the wine from the grapes to make the the wine juice the grape juice of etc.

But, the whole thing was that was down there. He is threshing wheat where? In the wine press.

Where do you normally thresh wheat? On the mountain top. Why?

Because it takes what? It takes wind to thresh the wheat. In other words, you have the the What do you call the canvas around the wheat germ?

It is the chaff. So, what do you do? You you you break that apart and then you throw it up on the mountain top and then the wind would catch the chaff and push it away from the wheat kernel and then the kernel falls and then you make produce or make a wheat or bread or whatever with that wheat germ.

So, he's throwing it up in the wine press. Where's the Where's the air? There is none.

But, the whole thing and when you read this is is comical in a way. He's trying he he has found some food. He has been foraging for food and he has found some and now he's trying to keep it out of the hands of the Midianites.

He didn't know where they're at. All he knows is maybe they're close by. I found this this food for my family and so he's threshing wheat in the wine wine press when the Lord begins to speak with him.

Verse number 12, he says, "And the Lord is with thee." I want you to know that things are so bad in Israel that they're hungry. They're hungering for food. They're starving for food.

And that just helps me to understand that when we are in the worst of circumstances, sometimes we can't see out see our way out of it, that we know that God is with us because that's what he says, I am with thee. Uh when I go back to Judges chapter 1 and I it's the start of all of uh the the trials and the problems that the children of Israel um experienced. And I thought about this, that there was apathy.

It was no enthusiasm to serve God. Do you see that? Nowhere do they serve God until they cry out to God because of their trials.

So, there's no enthusiasm, it is the apathy. Then we see the apostasy here that it was the slowly abandoning the things of God. They have gotten away from God from uh from from chapter 1 to chapter 6.

Don't know how much time is lapsed and it really doesn't matter, but it is those slow compromises that Joshua told them, do not do. He says, your God is a jealous God. And he said, no, no, no, no.

We will serve God. They said it with their lips, but their heart was far from it. So, we see the apostasy, slowly abandoning the things of God.

And finally, it is the anarchy, it is the lawlessness, it is the chaos, it is the absence of authority that we see there in the book of Judges in chapter 6 especially. And I thought about that, the apostasy, the apathy, and the um the um the anarchy. And all of these things that we see in the Old Testament, we can really translate them to 2026.

We see that in our own country. Slowly abandoning the things of God. There's no enthusiasm to serve God.

And we see the lawlessness, the chaos, and and just the constant wickedness that flows through. You You Jerry and I were in uh Ohio um this past week. Turned on the TV and you wouldn't believe it, some of the things that go on there is the same thing that happens here.

There's murders in their streets. We don't hear about those. All we can hear about, all we have time for in our news segment, is to hear about the murders in Rock Hill and the murders in Charlotte.

It's it's it's rampant in our country. The lawlessness. The disrespect for people.

Have no shame of the way people live or have no shame in the way of taking a gun and pulling the trigger and watching a life just slowly die. It is sad the way our country has fallen into that. But guys, history is repeating itself.

What does it take to get back? What does it take to get back to God? It is turning, it is repenting of our sin, it is simply turning away from our wickedness, our perverseness, our waywardness, away from God and falling on our knees before God and saying, "God, please work in and through my life." Man, that's what we're about to see in Gideon's life in this testimony of what he has done.

Look at verse number 13 of uh of chapter 6. So, God is saying, "Here is a mighty man of valor." He we have seen that verse number 12. In verse number 13, Gideon responds.

So, look at Gideon's response. And Gideon said unto him, "Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all of this befallen us?" Now, he's asking three questions. The first one is right here.

Why all the suffering? Basically, what he's doing, get this, is he is blaming God for his troubles. He's blaming God because he is sifting wheat down in the wine press.

He's blaming God because the Midianites ha- have have taken the food and they're all over their resources. He has nothing and he says, "Lord, if the Lord be for us, then why are we suffering? Why are we going through this?" And so, that is his first question.

The second question is found in verse number 13. He says, "Where are all the miracles? Where are the miracles that God has told us about when we left Egypt and my family has told me about, my father, my grandfathers have told me about?

Where are all the miracles?" So, really, he's telling or concluding to that that God lacked the power. Listen, he's concluding that God lacked the power to deliver them from their trials, just like many Americans do here in our own country. God doesn't have power.

Look at the Look at the world. Look at the shape that it's in. Look at the third question.

He said in verse number 13, "The Lord hath forsaken us." Basically, is this, unbelief. Listen, unbelief blames God when we don't get our way. When things don't go as planned, we begin to blame God.

Now, you say, "Tim, are you talking about Gideon or me?" I'm talking about us. But you can see it in Gideon's life some 2,000 2,500 years prior to us getting here, somebody else has already experienced it. But the whole thing is Gideon's first word to the Lord was complaints, complaints.

And just giving God down the country simply because things were not happening like he thought they should. So, he's blaming God that he is inadequate, that he can't take care of them, he can't deliver them from the hand of Midian. Sad.

It's unfortunate. But when you read this passage, we know that God is faithful, right? It was Israel that was not faithful.

God is still faithful. It was God who is all powerful, but it is Israel who is weak, and they don't understand why. But look on with me, verse number 14.

So, we see verse number 13, the experience that Gideon uh or should I say not the experience, but the response that Gideon was given, but look at verse number 14. So, here is the response from God. And God uh verse number 13, and Gideon said unto him, No, I'm sorry.

I was on the wrong one. Verse number 14. And the Lord looked upon him.

And I thought, wait just a minute. It says, and the Lord looked upon him. Now, the Lord has called him a mighty man of valor.

I got great things for you to do. I want you to go. There is the commission.

I want you to go. And he says, Lord, why all these things happen? Well, you know, look at look at the response.

And in verse number 14, the Lord looked at him. Now, you wonder how long the Lord looked at him. It's It's sort of like your kids when they say something to you, and you just sit there, and you look at them.

And the Lord had every right to say, Gideon, you're an idiot. He He He had that right. But the Lord just I I wonder how much how long the pause was.

You know, I thought about we don't see him that much, but it just came to me, Jackie Gleason and The Honeymooners. Some of you older generations, you remember that show. But when Jackie Gleason would say something, well, somebody else would say something, he would look at him, and he would That's almost the picture that I see of the Lord looking at Gideon.

And the Lord looked at him. That should be enough. But look at verse number 14.

He says, "And the Lord looked at him and said, go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from their sins." Did you notice that that God did not answer his questions. Just like listen, just like he doesn't answer our questions when we're going through trials and circumstances, he's not giving you answers. Maybe you don't need the answer.

You just need Listen, you just need to trust him. If God has secured your eternity, you know he's going to secure you through whatever you're going through, right? You have to trust him because what we see in Gideon's life, he said, "I will be with thee." Is God with you?

You say, "Sometimes I question that." Well, look at Gideon's life. He's questioning. He's looking at God and saying, "Lord, where are you?

Why didn't you deliver? Why didn't you do this? Why didn't you take care of that?" And God is saying, "Go." But look in verse number 14, he said, "Thou shalt save Israel." He gives him three promises.

Sometimes what we need are the promises of God. The promises that I will never forsake you. I will be with you through thick or thin.

And you know, what do we do? We blame God, just like Gideon. We're blaming God for something that's not his fault.

I love what what Larry said. Uh I don't know. It's been many months ago and just stuck with me.

When he was talking to an individual and they were blaming God for all their trials. He said, "Why you blame God?" He said, "God's not at fault. Why don't Why don't you blame Adam and Eve?

They're They're responsible." Now, we find it too easy to blame God. Why? Because he's he's the top man.

He's the one that's in control of all things. But pointing our little pointed finger at God and saying, "Lord, all this is your fault." No. It's not necessarily his fault.

But in verse number 14, he gives him three encouraging promises. He says, "You can save Israel through my might, not through your power, but through my might." And look at verse number 16, he says, "And thou shalt smite Midian, the Midianites." So, not only is he going to save Israel, he's going to smite Edom and and then the uh verse number uh 16 again, he says, "And I will be with thee." Three encouragements that this man would have needed. So, he didn't get the answers to his questions of why, but God gave him three promises to get him off of his um to to change his mindset.

And the first one was to go. Get busy. Now, look at verse number 15, Gideon's response.

You got to love this. And he said unto him, Gideon said unto him, "O my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh." So, he is a of the tribe of Manasseh, and we know that's one of Joseph's sons.

And he says, "I am the least in my father's house." So, here's his here's his response. And what are his responses? Two things.

First of all, first of all, he is saying, "Lord, I'm poor." He said, "I ain't got no money." That's exactly what he said. Look, he says, "I My family is poor. I don't have any money." Does God ask him for money?

No. But he is offering God an excuse. "Lord, I'm short on money." Gideon could not solve the problem like you could say, "Well, bankroll me, give me $100,000, and I'll run over to Harris Teeter and get some food and bring it back." No, that wasn't an option.

He's saying, "You can save Israel through my power." God is telling him what he can do, and he didn't say that Gideon say I said idiot, sorry. Gideon said, "Lord, I don't have any money. I can't buy anything." He said, "I didn't ask you for money." He said, "Go in my mind." And then look at the next one.

He says, "I am the least in my father's house." So, we don't know if Gideon is the youngest, but he's saying the least. Now, that could be in rank, it could be position, it could be many things. It could be that he isn't Listen, he's an outcast because we knew he we know that his father worships Bale.

And as a result of that, we'll see some other things next week in chapter 7. But, his father worshiped Bale. And so, this man, Gideon, he didn't worship Bale.

So, maybe he was an outcast. As a result of that, his family looked down on him. But, he says, "I'm the least.

Why are you choosing me?" He's offering nothing but God I mean to God but excuses. He says, "I got no fame, I got no money, I got no fortune, I got nothing." And God says, "You have everything because I am with you." And that's what we see here. He's offering all of these excuses.

We can offer God the same excuse. We can offer God, "Lord, I can't serve you because" and then we put an excuse in that line. It's just a blank line, you fill it out.

"Lord, I can't serve you because this. Lord, I can't witness because Lord, I get tongue-tied. Lord, I I I can't say the right thing.

Lord, I don't know what to say. Lord, I I I can't witness. Lord, I can't live the Christian life.

Lord, you know who who I am. You Lord, you know my past and why I can't live the Christian life. Lord, I I I can't I can't do these I can't read my Bible.

Lord, you know you've given me a family. You've given me a good job and Lord, I don't have time to pray. Lord, I don't I don't have time to read my Bible.

Excuse. Excuse. Excuse.

But what did he say? Verse number 16, he says what? I will be with thee.

Listen to this. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse number 27 and 8. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.

And that word means confound means to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong. You see, God what he does is overrides the excuses that we give him.

Lord, I can't do this because of this. And what does God say? He says, I will be with you.

John 14, Jesus says, let not your heart be troubled. Hey, when you're going through trials, sometimes that's all we can do is think about the fear and the anxiety and the the the problems, but God says, let not your heart be troubled. Why is that?

Because he's with us. He is not going to allow his children to go through I think about it. If you're in the hands of of the Lord Jesus, watch this.

And there's trials that come in, those trials will sift. But what happens? They go through the sifting hands of our Father.

But who's left in the hand? You are. And it's the same thing what God told who was it?

Peter. Satan has desired to sift you. But I am praying for you.

I am really he is guarding Peter and we know that Peter did a tremendous thing. Paul did a tremendous thing, but what Paul was, what Peter was prior to that, they were nothing. They were weak.

They were inadequate. The same thing that we can see here from Gideon. You see his inadequacies, but we see that later on he is indispensable.

We see his weakness, but God made him a warrior. We see that his cowardness, but God made him a conqueror. Do you see what God can and will do when you are obedient to him, when you say yes to Jesus Christ?

These are things that we see in Gideon's life. He says, "I will be with thee." It overrides our excuses we offer. It accomplishes much for the kingdom of God.

He didn't ask for our abilities. He asked for our availabilities. Verse number 16.

And the Lord said unto him, "Surely, most assuredly, I will be with you." There was a song that I heard this morning. It's an old sinner saved by grace. If you could see what I once was, would you walk with me back to see where I started from so you could see what I was.

But the whole thing is where God had moved them from. It's not that he found us there and he left us there. No, he moves us from that position and and allows greater things to be accomplished through us.

Who would have ever dreamed that God would use someone like me to be your teacher? Never would have dreamed it. Jerry probably still can't believe it.

But the whole thing is that God is allowing things to happen. Who would have believed that a young little bus boy, a little bus kid, would be our pastor? Who would have believed that God would use great and mighty men in places of and women, not just men, in places of prominence to lead us to where we are today in our country?

Where are we from? Oh my goodness. But Gideon surrendered.

I want you to listen. Verse number 16, that finally sunk in because God has told him and several times, I will be with you and especially in verses number 16 where it ends that God says, I will be with thee. Gideon took that for face value.

He said, Lord, if you're with me, then we know that there was the fleece and we I'm not going to get into all that, but the fact was you there were so many things going on in Gideon's life. He said, Lord, I I I want to check to make sure this is not a vision. Lord, make sure that this is real.

And and and God proved himself. And once he proved himself and it was a powerful verse, verse number 23, and the Lord said unto him, peace be unto thee. Fear not, thou shalt not die.

If God's got Listen, if God's got a plan for you and he does, you're not going to die until he is ready for you. I think about Miss Mickey. You know, she is suffering, but it is what's interesting to me and I know it's it's tiring for for for Roger and for Kim and for the family, but Melanie and Dave just got here.

And maybe it's just an opportunity that God had just delayed her homegoing maybe to to Melanie and Dave gets here to to to say their goodbyes. Why? Because they are spending their time, I don't know, a mission field doing what God has for them and and reaping the souls of harvest, but at the same time Mom, Grandma is way back home and and I'd love to see her before one more one last time.

So, God is allowing things to happen. You know, it's amazing how God works things out. Even for Gideon, and I want to close with this.

Did you know if Gideon had not surrendered to the Lord Jesus, he would not be in what we call the Hall of Fame? That is the Hebrews chapter 11. I think it's verse number 31 or 32, and it says, "And time would not permit me to tell you about Gideon and Barack and some of these others." But the whole thing is this, it was his faith in God.

You know, when you're in that cloud, you don't understand what God is doing. Sometimes we just have to trust him. The bodies break down?

Yes. We'll go through trials in this life? Yes.

But we have to trust him. Just like the angel, and it's none other than the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus. It says, "Peace be unto you and fear not." He says, "You will not die until I get ready for you." Eventually Gideon died, but I want you to know he was a great warrior for God.

Why? Because he was simply a servant in the hands of God. That he used him in a mighty, terrific, extraordinary way.

And we'll see that next week. Next week is uh Judges chapter 7. So, read up on that.

We can finish chapter 6 next week, but I wanted to get get the feel of Gideon. Who is Gideon? He was a weak man, but he turned out to be a warrior.

That's from what God saw of him to what he made of him because he was obedient, because he was a servant of the Lord Jesus. How powerful that is. Just remember the small compromises, small compromises can make big big failures.

Don't compromise. Father, Lord, we thank you for our text this morning. Lord, something that you wrote in your word many years ago, some 2,500 plus years back.

Lord is still prevalent today. Lord, it is still active in our own lives because we can see it played out, many of us. But Lord, we can understand it better from a distance that we can see it and Lord, we can learn so much from so many others that we don't have to duplicate their mistakes.

God, not to offer up compromises. God, not to offer up excuses, but simply to trust you. As you told us to simply trust us.

Lord, that we can then put away our fears and our complexities, those trials and the circumstances and Lord, just look beyond them to see you and knowing that you have our best interest in heart. Father, I pray for our music today. God, that you would bless and pour out your spirit on us.

Lord, I pray for the message and for our pastor that as he stands in this pulpit, God, that you would give his body the the strength and the power. Lord, to convey your thoughts to your people and Lord, that there would be a mighty demonstration of your spirit today. Holy Spirit, you are so welcome in this place.

Would you have your will and way today? And Father, we ask that in the precious name and through the precious blood of our Lord and Savior, we pray. Amen.

All right.