BECOMING A FRIEND OF GOD – Part 6
“The Example of Gideon”
Pastor Mike Barnett
Hebrews 12:1 says:
1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great
cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that
so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for
us.
Judges 6:1-15 says:
1 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the
LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. 2 Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the
Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and
strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites planted their
crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the
country. 4 They camped on the land and ruined the crops
all the way to
7 When the
Israelites cried to the LORD because of Midian, 8 he
sent them a prophet, who said, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel,
says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 9 I snatched you from the power of
·
Because the
Israelites did Evil in the sight of the Lord, he punished them for seven years
by allowing Midianites to conquer them.
·
The Israelites
hid in caves and shelters in the Mountains.
·
The Midianites were savages that destroyed everything in their
path – they were a vicious and barbaric people who showed no mercy in their
destruction.
·
They killed
people, animals and crops as a recreational sport.
·
The
Israelites cried out to God in desperation!
·
God heard
their cry and rose up a prophet to remind them of their discipline for
worshipping false Gods of the Amorites.
·
The unnamed prophet
rebuked then for forgetting that the Lord had saved them from Egyptian bondage
and had given them the promised land.
·
Gideon was
threshing wheat for his father when the call came on him to rise and become
deliverer of the nation of Israel, Just like Moses did many years previously.
OBSERVATIONS REGARDING
GIDEON’S FREINDSHIP WITH GOD:
1) FRIENDS OF GOD ARE NOT
__________________(LIMITED) BY THEIR BACKGROUND BECAUSE GOD HAS UNLIMITED POWER
THAT HE _________________(LENDS) TO HIS FRIENDS TO GET THE SPECIFIC JOB DONE.
·
Christian’s
talk about their spiritual gifts today as if they own then – when in fact they
are only _____________________ _____________________(temporary Stewards) of
them.
·
The Spiritual
gifts God gives His children today are on ____________________(loan) from God
and only for a ____________________(season) – they can be taken away anytime
God will’s.
·
Gideon was
poor, but once again, Bible History teaches that obscurity of birth and poverty
is no obstacle to noble service.
·
While Gideon
was young and strong, He was also humble and God fearing.
·
The angel of
the Lord appeared to Gideon and said: “The Lord is with you”.
·
Gideon’s
response was: “If the Lord is with us, then why has all this destruction
happened to us”.
·
The Lord did
not defend his discipline, but turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you
have and save
·
Gideon
replied, “But Lord how can I save
·
The Lord
replied: “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites
together.”
·
In Old
Testament times a person who encountered God face to face would die because He
is holy and men are not.
2) FRIENDS OF GOD CAN SEE
GOD ________________(FACE) TO _____________(FACE) AND DO NOT DIE. Judges 6:22-24
22 When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the
LORD, he exclaimed, "Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD
face to face!" 23 But the LORD said to him, "Peace!
Do not be afraid. You are not going to die." 24 So Gideon built an altar
to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace. To this day it stands in
Ophrah of the Abiezrites. Judges 6:22-24
·
The price tag
for encountering perfect holiness was death.
·
Today, we can
_______________________(encounter) God face to dace and not die because the ____________________(sacrifice)
of Jesus Christ on the cross ___________________(atoned) for our sin and covers
us with his righteousness.
·
Jesus calls
us his ________________(friends) today because we have ________________(access)
to God without experiencing death!
·
Today Jesus
wears our robe of sin and we wear His robe of righteousness.
Galatians 3:25-29 says:
26You
are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27for
all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor
female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29If you
belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the
promise.
3) FRIENDS OF GOD STOP
FAMILY ___________(SIN) FROM BEING PASSED DOWN FROM ONE
_______________________(GENERATION) TO THE ________________(NEXT). Judges 6:25-27
25 That same
night the LORD said to him, "Take the second bull from your father's herd,
the one seven years old. [c] Tear down your
father's altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole [d] beside it. 26 Then build a
proper kind of [e] altar to the LORD
your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah
pole that you cut down, offer the second [f] bull as a burnt
offering." 27
So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the LORD told him. But because he
was afraid of his family and the men of the town, he did it at night rather
than in the daytime. Judges 6:25-27
·
His own
father had become an idolater, but idols had to go and Gideon vowed to remove
them.
·
The Lord
asked Gideon to tear down the false God’s and Idols.
·
Gideon obeyed
the Lord and did what he told him to, but he did it at night because he feared
his family and the men of the town.
·
When the
town’s people found out Gideon destroyed their alter to Baal, they wanted to
kill him.
·
As Christians,
we have a responsibility to throw away the __________ ____________(old script)
(which is the dysfunctional behavior) that we learned from our family of origin
and to pass on the ___________ ______________(new script) (which is God’s Word
in action) to our children.
Ephesians 4:22-24 says:
22You were taught, with regard to your former way of
life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
23to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true
righteousness and holiness.
4) FRIENDS OF GOD DO NOT GO INTO
36 Gideon
said to God, "If you will save
·
God called
Gideon, but Gideon wanted to be sure.
·
Gideon
requested a sign that God was indeed with him.
·
Before
fighting the Midians, Gideom wanted to be sure that God called him to this
task, so he asked for two additional signs – that only the wool fleece would be
damp and the ground dry.
·
After the
Lord did it. Gideon asked the Lord to now make the fleece dry and the ground
wet.
·
Gideon
realized he had seen God face to face which is the biggest sign God is with a
person.
5) FRIENDS OF GOD REALIZED
THAT GOD DOES NOT NEED THE MAJORITY TO ACCOMPLISH HIS PURPOSES – BUT INSTEAD
CHOOSES THE ______________________ _______________________(AVAILABLE MINORITY).
7:5-8
5 So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the
LORD told him, "Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a
dog from those who kneel down to drink." 6 Three
hundred men lapped with their hands to their mouths. All the rest got down on
their knees to drink.
7
The LORD said to Gideon, "With the three hundred men that lapped I will
save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the other men go,
each to his own place." 8 So Gideon sent the rest
of the Israelites to their tents but kept the three hundred, who took over the
provisions and trumpets of the others. Judges 7:5-8
·
God is not on
the side of big battalions.
·
Upon going
into battle the next morning God said to Gideon, “You have too many men for me
to deliver Midian into your hands. In order that
·
God did not
want to use all 32,000 men, but just a fraction so people would know that the battle
and the victory belongs to the Lord.
·
So Gideon
obeyed God once again and announced, “Anyone with fear can now turn back.”
·
So 22,000
left and just 10,000 remained.
·
But God told
Gideon, there are still too many men.
·
So God weeded
out the 9,700 that lapped water like a dog.
·
The 300 that
kneeled down to get a drink from the water were chosen.
·
GOD CHOSES TO
USE MEN WHO ARE HUMBLE ENOUGH TO KNEEL DOWN ON THEIR KNEES.
·
The Lord said
to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the
Midians into your hands.
·
God weeded
out 31,700 men, because he only needed 300 available men!
6) FRIENDS OF GOD RELY ON
THE _______________________________(ENCOURAGEMENT) AND
_________________(FAITH) THAT GOD AND HIS WORD GIVE. Judges 7:9-12
Now the camp of Midian
lay below him in the valley. 9 During that night the
LORD said to Gideon, "Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going
to give it into your hands. 10 If you are afraid to
attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah 11
and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack
the camp." So he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the
camp. 12 The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the
other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels
could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore. Judges 7:9-12
·
The Lord
spoke to Gideon again and “said if you are afraid, then go down to the camp of
Midians to see what they are saying about you.
·
A man was
telling his friend of a dream he had.
·
The friend
interpreted the dream and said, “This can be nothing other than the sword of
Gideon, the Israelite. God has given the Midians and the whole camp into his
hands”.
·
When Gideon
heard the dream and its interpretation…That God was going to give him favor, He
worshipped God.
7) FRIENDS OF GOD _________________________(WORSHIP)
GOD AND _____________________(THANK) THE LORD FOR THE
_____________________(VICTORY) AHEAD OF TIME!
15 When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation,
he worshiped God. He returned to the camp of
·
Gideon
returned to his 300 hundred men with confidence and said, “Get up! The Lord has
given the Mianians camp into our hands”.
8) FRIENDS OF GOD ENCOURAGE
AND __________________________(MOTIVATE) OTHERS WITH THEIR ___________________(FAITH)
IN GOD! 7:15-16
He returned to the camp
of
16 Dividing the three hundred men into three companies,
he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside.
Judges 7:15-16
·
After Gideon
found out that God was going to win the battle for Him and the Israelites, He
ran back to camp to tell his 300 men that God has already given them the
victory.
9) FRIENDS OF GOD _________
_______________(GO FIRST) – THEY EXPECT TO BE
17 "Watch me," he told them. "Follow my
lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do. 18
When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp
blow yours and shout, 'For the LORD and for Gideon.' " Judges 17-18
10) FRIENDS OF GOD WILL
BE __________________________(CRITICIZED) FOR FOLLOWING GOD’S AGENDA. Judges 8:1
1
Now the Ephraimites asked Gideon, "Why have you treated us like this? Why
didn't you call us when you went to fight Midian?" And they criticized him
sharply. Judges 8:1
11) FRIENDS OF GOD __________________(SPEAK)
BOLDLY WITH _________________________(CONVICTION). Judges 8:2-4
2 But he answered them, "What have I accomplished
compared to you? Aren't the gleanings of Ephraim's grapes better than the full
grape harvest of Abiezer? 3 God gave Oreb and Zeeb, the
Midianite leaders, into your hands. What was I able to do compared to
you?" At this, their resentment against him subsided. Judges 8:2-4
12) FRIENDS OF GOD
UNDERSTAND THEIR ______________________ ________________ ______________(POSITION UNDER GOD) – THEY REALIZE THAT GOD IS THE REAL
____________________(LEADER) AND ______________________(SHEPHERD).
22 The Israelites said to Gideon, "Rule over
us—you, your son and your grandson—because you have saved us out of the hand of
Midian." 23 But Gideon told them, "I
will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The LORD will rule over
you." Judges 8:22-25
13) FRIENDS OF GOD ARE SOMETIMES LIKED
SOMETIMES HATED, BUT VIRTUALLY ALWAYS _____________________________(RESPECTED)
BY THOSE THEY LEAD. Judges 8:24-26
24 And he said, "I do have one request, that each
of you give me an earring from your share of the plunder." (It was the
custom of the Israelites to wear gold earrings.) 25 They
answered, "We'll be glad to give them." So they spread out a garment,
and each man threw a ring from his plunder onto it. 26
The weight of the gold rings he asked for came to seventeen hundred shekels, [a] not counting the ornaments, the
pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian or the chains that
were on their camels' necks. Judges 8:24-26
14) FRIENDS OF GOD ARE
IMPERFECT PEOPLE WHO CAN SADLY _____________________(LOSE)
THEIR _____________________(FOCUS) AND RETURN TO WAYS OF THE WORLD. Judges
27 Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed
in Ophrah, his town. All
Hebrews 12:1-4 tell Christians:
1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great
cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that
so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for
us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and
perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning
its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so
that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 4In your
struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your
blood.
15)
ONLY A GRACIOUS GOD CAN STILL _____________________(BLESS) THE LEADERSHIP OF ______________________(IMPERFECT)
MEN. Judges
28 Thus Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not
raise its head again. During Gideon's lifetime, the land enjoyed peace forty
years. Judges
16)
EVERY NEW GENERATION OF CHRISTIANS HAVE A _____________________(CHOICE) TO MAKE - THEY CAN ___________________ _(REVERT) TO
THE SINS OF THE PAST OR PASS ON A ___________________(FUTURE) HARVEST OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
TO THE NEXT GENERATION. Judges 8:33-35
33
No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to
the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god and 34
did not remember the LORD their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all
their enemies on every side. 35 They also failed to show
kindness to the family of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) for all the good things
he had done for them. Judges 8:33-35
·
How quickly
God’s children can forget his goodness and revert back to the bondage of the
past.
·
Each of us
has a choice to live for God or live for the world.
·
To live by
the new script or the old script.
·
To listen to
God or disobey him.
·
We can set up
Kids up to win or loose depending on our current behavior and choices.
·
Our actions
can bring our children closer to God to push them from Him!