WEBVTT 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:02.479 So we're in Judges 6 this morning. 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:04.480 We've been going through the book of Judges. 00:00:04.559 --> 00:00:08.080 So we're in chapter 6 this morning, and here's our text to start us off. 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:10.640 We're going to work our way through the entire chapter. 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:14.000 Verses 1 through 8a. 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:20.719 The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years. 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:22.719 And the hand of Midian overpowered Israel. 00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:29.760 And because of Midian, the people of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:32.640 Okay, so time out real quick. 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:36.240 So God's people go off, do what they wanted to do. 00:00:36.320 --> 00:00:38.799 They pretty much went and worshipped Baal. 00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:45.679 And so in this, these other people group begins to come in and devour them, take their food, take their land. 00:00:45.759 --> 00:00:53.520 And so then the people of Israel, when these people come in, they'd have to head up into the hills and live up in the hills and uh live wandering around apart from any of their resources. 00:00:53.679 --> 00:01:00.799 Verse 3 For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Malachites and the people of the east would come up against them. 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:09.840 They would encamp against them and devour the produce of the land as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel, and no sheep or ox or donkey. 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:12.480 For they would come up with their livestock in their tents. 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:14.799 They would come like locusts in number. 00:01:14.959 --> 00:01:18.959 Both they and their camels could not be counted. 00:01:19.120 --> 00:01:21.840 So that they laid waste the land as they came in. 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:25.599 And Israel was brought very low because of Midian. 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:28.959 And the people of Israel cried out for the help to the Lord. 00:01:29.120 --> 00:01:36.400 When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites, the Lord sent a prophet to the people of Israel. 00:01:36.640 --> 00:01:37.920 This is the word of the Lord. 00:01:38.079 --> 00:01:39.439 Thanks be to God. 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:46.879 So in 2009, the Auburn Tigers, and I can just time out and say, this is my growth in grace. 00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:49.359 That would even have a sentence that starts with that. 00:01:49.439 --> 00:02:00.719 I mean, this is my Christian maturity on display that I could start a sermon with an Auburn sermon illustration, is how far I've come with my identity rooted in Christ and not Georgia Bulldogs. 00:02:00.879 --> 00:02:07.519 But in 2009, Auburn Tigers under Gene Chiswick, they were Auburn fans. 00:02:07.599 --> 00:02:08.960 Do you remember 09? 00:02:10.400 --> 00:02:11.520 They were the worst. 00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:14.479 Like literally, they were the worst in their in their conference. 00:02:14.719 --> 00:02:15.520 There's three and five. 00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:17.199 They went three and five in the SEC. 00:02:17.280 --> 00:02:18.000 They were horrible. 00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:18.800 It was a mess. 00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:20.080 Amen, Georgia fans. 00:02:20.240 --> 00:02:20.400 Amen. 00:02:20.719 --> 00:02:21.520 Georgia fans said that. 00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:23.919 Now, Auburn fans, what happened in 2010? 00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:25.680 Everything changed. 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:29.759 Because of one, one, not even one it, one person. 00:02:30.879 --> 00:02:31.520 Right? 00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:32.639 Go ahead and say it. 00:02:32.719 --> 00:02:33.280 Say his name. 00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:34.879 Tim Newton. 00:02:35.919 --> 00:02:38.639 I I thought about putting his image up on the screen. 00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:40.400 I couldn't even get there as a Georgia fan. 00:02:40.479 --> 00:02:41.520 I was like, I can't. 00:02:41.759 --> 00:02:43.680 Like, I recoil when I see his face. 00:02:43.840 --> 00:02:44.879 Like, that's what he did. 00:02:45.039 --> 00:02:49.360 Like he came in and he changed everything, right? 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:50.879 A worst to first. 00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:52.479 They go 14 and oh. 00:02:52.879 --> 00:02:54.800 Aubrey Face, you all went 14-0. 00:02:55.120 --> 00:02:58.240 The year after you were the worst because of one person. 00:02:58.400 --> 00:02:59.759 You had the same coach. 00:02:59.919 --> 00:03:01.439 It was just one person. 00:03:01.919 --> 00:03:06.639 He was the best player on the field every time he stepped on the field. 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:08.319 He could have played any of the positions. 00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:13.120 I'm convinced he could have been field goal kicker, and he would have been the best field goal kicker on the field. 00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:15.039 He was that good. 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:16.159 14-0. 00:03:16.400 --> 00:03:17.840 They win the national championship. 00:03:18.080 --> 00:03:19.360 Auburn Fans, amen. 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:20.639 Amen, right? 00:03:20.879 --> 00:03:31.360 Worst to first, weakest to strongest, all in one year, all because, all because of relationship with one person. 00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:35.039 Now I recoil a little bit to use an Auburn illustration. 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:36.400 That's my growth in grace. 00:03:36.639 --> 00:03:38.000 Recoil a little bit more. 00:03:38.159 --> 00:03:41.520 That in the metaphor, Cam Newton is God, but well. 00:03:45.039 --> 00:03:47.360 We know that, that's for sure. 00:03:48.240 --> 00:03:52.960 But it does usher us into Judges 6, 7, and 8. 00:03:53.199 --> 00:03:57.439 Because Judges 6, 7, and 8 are all about the weakest. 00:03:57.840 --> 00:03:59.919 The weakest becoming strong. 00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:02.479 Not because they are strong, right? 00:04:02.639 --> 00:04:06.560 Not because, no, it's Gene Chiswick in 2009, Auburn is what it is. 00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:12.000 But it's because of relationship with the one who is strong. 00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:13.919 That's what this text is. 00:04:14.240 --> 00:04:16.240 Chapter 6, chapter 7, chapter 8. 00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:17.040 That's what we're getting. 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:20.480 We're getting that pattern playing itself out over and over again. 00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:23.680 The people eventually forget God, worship Baal. 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:29.839 The Midianites come in, seven years of hunger, poverty, they're on the run, exhaustion. 00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:33.040 I mean, they're going and living up in the hills on the run. 00:04:33.199 --> 00:04:35.120 I mean, can you imagine? 00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:38.000 I mean, but you probably know what that feels like, right? 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:40.480 To feel like you're on the run. 00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:46.720 I mean, at least in your heart, we can feel that so easily to kind of live hungry, to live wandering, to live weak. 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:49.199 We know what it feels like to be weak. 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:50.800 Of course we do. 00:04:51.439 --> 00:04:55.920 So the story says that these people finally cry out. 00:04:56.240 --> 00:04:57.680 Like in their weakness. 00:04:57.759 --> 00:05:05.680 That's when they finally, because until we're at the bottom of the valley, we keep clinging on to the hope that we can get ourselves out of this. 00:05:06.560 --> 00:05:10.319 And that's why it's at the bottom when they're brought low that they turn to God. 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:16.480 Point number one is this God will use our circumstances to guide us into relief of relationship with Him. 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:22.160 My mentor always says that God will have you cry uncle, so that you will cry Abba. 00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:25.120 He'll use your circumstances. 00:05:25.439 --> 00:05:26.879 I love verse six. 00:05:27.120 --> 00:05:29.360 I mean, that's our story over and over again. 00:05:29.600 --> 00:05:36.319 Israel was brought very low because of Midian, and then the people of Israel cried out for help to the Lord. 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:37.120 Right? 00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:40.959 I'm exhausted because of my sinfulness and selfishness and self-absorption. 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:43.279 I'm exhausted because of my self-justification. 00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:51.600 I'm exhausted because of performances in the world and wanting approval unendingly, and all of that exhausts me and the white knuckling of that. 00:05:51.680 --> 00:05:59.360 And finally, when I'm just brought low because of all of that, I cry out to the Lord for relief. 00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:07.920 We need to be brought low as to see our need of the God who loves us without conditions because everything else is love with conditions. 00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:10.480 Point number two. 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:11.920 We've said this before, we'll say it again. 00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:16.720 Repentance is a collapse into God's forgiveness and freedom for us. 00:06:16.879 --> 00:06:19.199 That's what we see these people doing eventually. 00:06:19.279 --> 00:06:25.839 They're repenting, they're crying out to the Lord, they're falling back into God's forgiveness and freedom for them. 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:26.959 His sufficiency. 00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:28.879 It reminded me of the movie in 2009. 00:06:29.120 --> 00:06:31.839 Do you remember the movie Get Low with Robert Duvall? 00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:34.000 It wasn't like it didn't, it didn't do extremely well. 00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:35.199 It's a great movie. 00:06:35.360 --> 00:06:38.879 Duvall plays this guy, Felix Bush, who's a he's a hermit. 00:06:38.959 --> 00:06:41.680 He's been a hermit for like 40 years his whole life. 00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:50.560 He's getting older, and all these stories around town had been just kind of going around about him because he pretty much didn't interact with anybody. 00:06:50.720 --> 00:06:54.560 But something happened years, decades and decades ago. 00:06:54.720 --> 00:06:57.759 And it was a secret, it was an unconfessed sin. 00:06:58.959 --> 00:07:03.600 And out of that, a guilt trip that he took on himself. 00:07:03.759 --> 00:07:05.600 He didn't know what to do with his guilt. 00:07:05.839 --> 00:07:07.360 He never cried out to God. 00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:10.560 Instead, he began to punish himself. 00:07:11.839 --> 00:07:14.639 And then he says this a little bit of dialogue from the movie. 00:07:14.720 --> 00:07:16.639 He says this to one minister. 00:07:16.959 --> 00:07:20.399 He says, I built my own jail and put myself in it. 00:07:20.480 --> 00:07:24.160 And I stayed in it for 40 something, something, years. 00:07:24.399 --> 00:07:28.160 No wife, no kids, no friends, no nothing, no grandchildren. 00:07:28.240 --> 00:07:30.000 I wouldn't even know how to hold a baby. 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:31.120 You hear me? 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:32.879 40 years. 00:07:33.199 --> 00:07:34.720 Now that's not enough. 00:07:34.959 --> 00:07:38.560 And then the Reverend replies, no, it's not. 00:07:39.120 --> 00:07:39.519 Right? 00:07:39.839 --> 00:07:46.079 He's what a great dialogue about our attempt to work for absolution and forgiveness. 00:07:46.399 --> 00:07:50.079 There's no amount you can punish yourself while all of a sudden you're gonna feel like you're forgiven. 00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:52.480 Forgiveness is received. 00:07:52.959 --> 00:07:56.079 Right relationship with God is received from God to us. 00:07:56.240 --> 00:08:00.160 Later in the movie, talking to a different minister, he says this. 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:03.680 Felix Bush says this about time for me to get low. 00:08:04.480 --> 00:08:05.920 The minister says, get what? 00:08:06.480 --> 00:08:07.199 Down to business. 00:08:07.360 --> 00:08:08.639 I need a funeral. 00:08:08.959 --> 00:08:09.839 For whom? 00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:10.879 For me. 00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:12.240 Right? 00:08:12.399 --> 00:08:17.120 So we all build jails like Felix Bush. 00:08:17.439 --> 00:08:17.759 Right? 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:20.000 And the jail may be just like him. 00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:30.240 Like we love to have self-contempt, self-pity, punish ourselves for our wrongdoings until we feel like we're punished enough, but it's never enough, is it? 00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:33.120 Or it could be a jail of trying to be enough. 00:08:33.440 --> 00:08:37.360 A jail of trying to earn love, a jail of working out of guilt or shame. 00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:42.240 The problem, of course, is the jail can only be kind of open from the outside, right? 00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:45.360 The way that you get out is to cry out for help. 00:08:45.440 --> 00:08:46.720 That's the way you get out. 00:08:46.960 --> 00:08:51.039 We collapse into Jesus being enough for us, not us being enough for him. 00:08:51.200 --> 00:08:52.720 That's why it's the weakest becomes strong. 00:08:52.799 --> 00:08:54.639 That's why God finds us in our weakest. 00:08:56.000 --> 00:09:02.399 And in him becoming the weakest on the cross, that's where our sin is put upon him and his righteousness is given to us. 00:09:02.480 --> 00:09:03.200 Such good news. 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:08.480 Listen to the way of the gospel, this dying, this giving up into God's sufficiency. 00:09:08.720 --> 00:09:12.799 King David did it in Psalm 32, verses 5 through 7. 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:15.360 This is how he responds. 00:09:15.759 --> 00:09:19.039 It's where Felix Bush in the movie Get Low was having to get to. 00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:24.159 Here's what King David says: I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity. 00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:29.120 I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. 00:09:29.279 --> 00:09:34.159 Therefore, let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found. 00:09:34.320 --> 00:09:37.440 Surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. 00:09:37.759 --> 00:09:40.159 You are a hiding place for me. 00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:42.399 You preserve me from trouble. 00:09:42.639 --> 00:09:46.399 You surround me with shouts of deliverance. 00:09:46.799 --> 00:09:50.399 That means just poetic language is a psalm, it's a song, is what it is, right? 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:52.240 It's just poetic language for us. 00:09:52.480 --> 00:09:59.519 To see this dying into, this giving up into God's provision for us that we know in the Word of Christ. 00:09:59.759 --> 00:10:04.960 So the story continues in Judges 6, and God sends a prophet to the people of Israel. 00:10:05.120 --> 00:10:06.320 Here's what happens. 00:10:06.559 --> 00:10:09.039 Picking up the second half of 6.8. 00:10:09.759 --> 00:10:24.559 And he said to them, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, I led you from, I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you in their land. 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:33.919 And I said to you, I am the Lord your God, you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell, but you have not obeyed my voice. 00:10:34.559 --> 00:10:37.759 So rightful conviction, right? 00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:39.840 There's the law put upon the people. 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:42.960 Here is what was said, you did not do it. 00:10:44.799 --> 00:10:49.600 So then this angel comes to Gideon, and Gideon says, I'm with you. 00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:51.200 This is what the angel is saying. 00:10:51.440 --> 00:10:53.840 Despite all that, I'm I'm with you. 00:10:54.639 --> 00:10:57.120 And Gideon responds in verse 13. 00:10:58.559 --> 00:11:03.919 Please, my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? 00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:04.720 Right? 00:11:05.360 --> 00:11:08.000 Such a good, just human, this is how we react. 00:11:08.159 --> 00:11:09.360 Like this is real, right? 00:11:09.440 --> 00:11:11.200 Like an angel has spoken to you. 00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:12.080 I'm with you. 00:11:12.240 --> 00:11:14.159 This is, you know, we're going for it. 00:11:14.240 --> 00:11:15.360 This is all gonna happen. 00:11:15.440 --> 00:11:21.200 And his response is like, like if you're with us, then like what's been happening in the last seven years? 00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:23.120 Like, why'd this happen to us? 00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:25.840 Continuing in verse 13. 00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:33.120 And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? 00:11:33.360 --> 00:11:37.679 But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian. 00:11:38.960 --> 00:11:42.799 So real, just a huge point here for us to grab hold of. 00:11:43.200 --> 00:11:49.840 Point number three: relief is not found in enough answers, but an ongoing relationship with our ever-present heavenly Father. 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:51.120 Here's what I mean by that. 00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:57.600 Gideon, his response to God's presence with him was a bunch of questions for God. 00:12:00.320 --> 00:12:04.720 And the chapter is so interesting because God doesn't feel any obligation to answer. 00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:05.200 Right? 00:12:05.519 --> 00:12:09.519 Just like he hasn't been answering most of your questions or my questions. 00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:14.799 He doesn't seem real interested in answering questions during this period of time for us. 00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:17.120 That's what the world to come is for. 00:12:17.279 --> 00:12:21.679 That we'll begin to understand and we will understand so much that we don't understand now. 00:12:21.840 --> 00:12:28.080 And part of the reason is answers, they'll never answer, there's not enough answers to give you peace. 00:12:29.679 --> 00:12:30.639 That doesn't exist. 00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:32.720 There's no arrival because of answers. 00:12:32.960 --> 00:12:35.360 Answers help solve some confusion. 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:38.559 But answers don't bring peace to a human heart. 00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:45.679 Only coming alive to his love for you and surrender into a mysterious sovereignty that God has can bring you peace. 00:12:46.080 --> 00:12:49.519 Everything else, you're actually, we're actually just building a jail of human control. 00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:52.320 If I have enough answers, then I'll be at peace. 00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:54.399 It's just another jail. 00:12:55.279 --> 00:12:57.519 Here's the good news, point number four. 00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:01.039 We'll read Judges 6, 14 through 18 first. 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:04.399 And the Lord turned to him and said, Go in this might of yours. 00:13:04.559 --> 00:13:04.799 Right? 00:13:04.879 --> 00:13:09.279 So God doesn't entertain the questions, he just heads right into what he wants to say to him, anyways. 00:13:09.440 --> 00:13:12.480 Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian. 00:13:12.559 --> 00:13:13.840 Do not I send you. 00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:16.720 And he said to him, Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:21.679 Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. 00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:24.879 He's like, This is the weakest of the weakest. 00:13:26.159 --> 00:13:31.600 And the Lord said to him, But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man. 00:13:31.759 --> 00:13:39.360 And he said to him, If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. 00:13:39.519 --> 00:13:44.080 Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you. 00:13:44.240 --> 00:13:46.320 And he said, I will stay till you return. 00:13:46.480 --> 00:13:52.240 Point number four is this our victory is in relationship with God before being used by God. 00:13:52.480 --> 00:13:57.279 And this is just a good time in the middle of this chapter that we can get all the focus put on what's about to happen. 00:13:57.360 --> 00:13:59.279 Is this like Gideon in the fleece moment? 00:13:59.360 --> 00:14:02.639 Like that's the way gets, you know, that's the way it gets played out in Sunday school, right? 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:04.320 It takes over the chapter for us. 00:14:04.399 --> 00:14:07.919 And what we forget is that what we have going here is an ongoing relationship. 00:14:08.240 --> 00:14:13.360 God interacting and relating with Gideon, the weakest of the weakest of the weakest. 00:14:14.480 --> 00:14:22.639 So Gideon, out of this relationship he has with God, then he goes and he acts on what he's been called to do. 00:14:23.600 --> 00:14:27.440 And he goes and he destroys all these altars of Baal that are in the area. 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:31.840 And of course, the men in the town, the next morning they want to go and they kill him and they go to his house. 00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:35.519 And then Gideon's dad, Joash, comes out and says, You're not going to kill him. 00:14:35.679 --> 00:14:38.399 Listen, like you're this God, Baal, doesn't even have any power. 00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:41.120 If this is real God, let him stand up for himself. 00:14:41.279 --> 00:14:45.759 So then eventually the Midianites and the Malachites, they're coming back into the area. 00:14:45.919 --> 00:14:48.320 Gideon goes out, he gets this rage of confidence. 00:14:48.480 --> 00:14:54.080 He goes out, he gathers an army of people to put an end to this rating. 00:14:54.159 --> 00:14:56.399 And then we pick up in verse 36. 00:14:56.559 --> 00:15:03.039 Then Gideon said to God, okay, so he's got these people, he's ready, he's been called, he's in relationship. 00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:10.240 If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. 00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:20.159 If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said. 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:21.279 And it was so. 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:27.120 When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. 00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:32.480 Then Gideon said to God, Let not your anger burn against me, let me speak just once more. 00:15:32.720 --> 00:15:35.360 Please let me test just once more with the fleece. 00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:39.279 Please let it be dry on the fleece alone and on all the ground, let there be dew. 00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:46.559 And God did so that night, and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew. 00:15:46.799 --> 00:15:49.679 So that's the story that tends to take over this chapter. 00:15:49.919 --> 00:15:51.440 An amazing story. 00:15:51.679 --> 00:15:54.240 Really exceptional, it's kind of fantastical. 00:15:55.120 --> 00:15:58.639 It shows that God is active, cares. 00:15:59.360 --> 00:16:05.840 And I think one of the points coming out of this for me is thinking, obviously, like for Gideon, it's like we can associate with Gideon. 00:16:05.919 --> 00:16:09.120 Like it sometimes you read about a leader and you're like, ah, I can't associate with that leader. 00:16:09.200 --> 00:16:12.240 Like he's got his act a little bit too much together, or seemingly does. 00:16:12.399 --> 00:16:13.600 Gideon, not so much. 00:16:13.759 --> 00:16:20.720 Like every time he's called to try to do something, like it's just sort of like weakness, and like I need more assurance and more assurance and more assurance. 00:16:20.960 --> 00:16:25.919 And point number five is this, and I think Gideon felt this, is just we all need a guide. 00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:27.600 Like we're just all looking for that. 00:16:27.679 --> 00:16:28.799 We all want that. 00:16:28.960 --> 00:16:43.440 Last summer we went to Hilton Head for some time over at the beach, and one of the days we spent a day, we're gonna ferry over to Defunsky Island, Defalski Island, the island that's off the coast, Defowski, Defunsky, Defusky. 00:16:43.679 --> 00:16:45.519 Defusky, that was the one I didn't say. 00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:46.799 Brad, you don't know. 00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:48.399 There's no way you know. 00:16:50.320 --> 00:16:53.840 So we were gonna ferry, and then I realized, hey, like, we're in a pandemic. 00:16:53.919 --> 00:16:56.000 We might be able to like private boat this thing, right? 00:16:56.080 --> 00:16:58.159 Like, because of the you know, prices may be really down. 00:16:58.240 --> 00:17:04.799 And so I call around, and sure enough, like the next morning we're on a private boat over to whatever this place is. 00:17:05.039 --> 00:17:11.920 And we get on the boat, and Captain's 65 years old, he's not scared of anything, he's not scared of the pandemic. 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:15.759 I'm pretty sure there's coronavirus everywhere around us, and he's not, he's like, no, we're good. 00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:18.319 We don't, you know, we can hug and kiss if we want to. 00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:20.160 He's not scared of hurricanes. 00:17:20.400 --> 00:17:23.039 There's never been a hurricane to come through there, mess with him. 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:24.079 He's scared of nothing. 00:17:24.160 --> 00:17:26.640 He's low country for 65 years. 00:17:26.799 --> 00:17:27.680 He's been boating. 00:17:27.759 --> 00:17:28.880 He knows these waterways. 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:37.440 And when we take off, it's real clear he knows it because he is flying through all those little waterways and channels of that marsh and all those reeds. 00:17:37.920 --> 00:17:51.440 He's he knows how fast he can go around every single corner, how close he can get so that he has just enough way uh on the other side to swing out before the next a couple of times he's headed right into the reeds, and you think that uh, you know, like do I need to say something? 00:17:51.599 --> 00:17:52.880 You know, is he looking somewhere else? 00:17:52.960 --> 00:17:57.519 And sure enough, right when you get up there, like a little channel shows up and he zips through. 00:17:57.759 --> 00:18:01.759 He knows everything, he knows every sandbar, he knows where the dolphins are gonna pop up. 00:18:01.839 --> 00:18:03.759 He shows where Justin Bieber got married. 00:18:03.839 --> 00:18:06.400 That was the real highlight of the whole thing, was that moment. 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:08.640 He knew it all, right? 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:11.599 And what happened to me in that moment? 00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:15.599 It's the same thing happens to you when you show up and you have a guide. 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:20.799 Like all those logistics of like, like, how are we gonna get over there and everything gonna be okay? 00:18:21.039 --> 00:18:23.839 Like, like it just kind of fades, right? 00:18:24.400 --> 00:18:29.279 Everything that we think we need to control, when you trust in a guide, all that gets to fade. 00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:42.400 It's the same feeling when you go to Home Depot and you you end up over in the hardware section, and you're like, I'm pretty sure the plunger's not in the hardware section, but also don't know where the plunger is, and you ask the guy, hey, where are your plungers? 00:18:42.559 --> 00:18:48.160 And he says, Oh, they're down on row 20, halfway down on the right, the bottom, and you're like, okay, thanks. 00:18:48.319 --> 00:18:51.279 And you start walking, you're like, okay, 20, halfway, right? 00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:53.039 Like, and you're doing that in your head, right? 00:18:53.119 --> 00:19:01.599 And you're you're but you're still a little like anxious because you you know you've been in Home Depot for like 30 minutes before looking for one item, and so you're thinking like this may happen again. 00:19:01.839 --> 00:19:06.480 Now that's real different than if you ask that guy and he walks with you. 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:08.799 You have no anxiety. 00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:10.319 You're like, he's gonna find the plunger. 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:12.480 Like, I'm just walking with him, right? 00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:18.319 It's a total different experience when we have a guide, somebody who's with us. 00:19:18.960 --> 00:19:19.759 With us. 00:19:20.079 --> 00:19:23.279 That's the promise Gideon keeps getting in all of his weakness. 00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:24.160 I'm with you. 00:19:24.319 --> 00:19:25.200 I'm with you. 00:19:25.680 --> 00:19:27.200 Psalm 32, verse 8. 00:19:27.279 --> 00:19:30.240 This is just the the next verse in that Psalm 32 we already read. 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:34.400 This is King David's confessional, and it's coming into the Lord's response. 00:19:34.640 --> 00:19:41.359 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go, I will counsel you with my eye upon you. 00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:47.839 So another translation I read this week says this I will guide you with my loving eye on you. 00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:49.839 Isn't that wonderful? 00:19:50.400 --> 00:19:52.319 That he is with us like that. 00:19:53.359 --> 00:20:06.480 I've heard a lot of people talk about Gideon moments over the years, like I had a Gideon moment, or or you kind of set up a structure with a Gideon moment in your prayer, like, God, if you do this, then I'll do that. 00:20:06.559 --> 00:20:12.480 Or, you know, God, if you don't do this, and like, and that's the way in which how we're gonna know how to make our decision. 00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:16.160 And I would say, like, okay, like, I mean, you can do that. 00:20:16.319 --> 00:20:18.079 I don't know how it's gonna work out. 00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:22.480 Um, I don't know if that's a great, like, kind of like normative process for decision making. 00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:26.640 I tried to get some words around how we seek God's guidance. 00:20:26.799 --> 00:20:28.480 What would be some words for us to get around this? 00:20:28.640 --> 00:20:32.480 Or kind of a handful of sentences here, I'll just read through it. 00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:38.640 Be an ongoing relationship with the Heavenly Father through joyful repentance into Jesus. 00:20:39.680 --> 00:20:48.160 Asking for the Holy Spirit to guide you in mind and heart, in accordance with the scriptures. 00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:50.400 So it won't be not in accordance. 00:20:50.480 --> 00:20:52.640 Like, so those things go together, right? 00:20:52.720 --> 00:20:58.960 Like, so if you're wanting to God's leading me to in like the dot dot dot is like against the scriptures, well, like that's that's just you. 00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:01.119 Like that's you, that's not the Holy Spirit. 00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:06.400 So, in accordance with the scriptures and the wisdom of discerning friends and family around you. 00:21:06.559 --> 00:21:10.720 Now you put all that together, that's really going to help your decision-making process. 00:21:10.880 --> 00:21:16.720 And then you can beyond that, I think it's it's okay to say, like, maybe there's a Gideon moment or two out there for me. 00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:20.400 But that's probably more exceptional than it is normative. 00:21:20.559 --> 00:21:22.240 Today's Pentecost Sunday. 00:21:22.400 --> 00:21:25.440 So it's the 50th day after Easter. 00:21:25.599 --> 00:21:28.480 And the church, we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit. 00:21:28.640 --> 00:21:37.920 That God isn't just active in our world and around us, but we actually have God living in us, the Holy Spirit in us. 00:21:40.480 --> 00:21:52.400 And that is such good news for us because the fleece moment, like the Gideon moments, it teaches us that God cares, God is active, and God does some really cool, amazing, strange, mysterious stuff in this world. 00:21:52.559 --> 00:21:54.640 And that's good for us to embrace. 00:21:54.880 --> 00:21:59.599 But living from fleece moment to fleece moment in faith, like needing that in. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:05.119 In order to make the next decision, or needing that in order to believe enough, that's exhausting. 00:22:05.359 --> 00:22:08.400 Like that's really exhausting to constantly need that. 00:22:08.559 --> 00:22:14.000 And it can be really discouraging to always need the next fleece moment. 00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:19.200 Fleece moments are inspiring, they're real, and they're exceptional. 00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:23.680 But what's more profound is what the fleece moments are built upon. 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:25.759 That's what this story gives us. 00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:30.319 What it's built upon is a foundation that God is in relationship with Gideon. 00:22:30.640 --> 00:22:32.319 He's patient with Gideon. 00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:34.160 He's present with Gideon. 00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:39.119 This weakest man from the weakest tribe, an imperfect man. 00:22:39.759 --> 00:22:50.079 Gospel faith lives astonished at the God who loves us and cares for us, while even being open to these types of fleece moments of God interrupting us in an incredible way. 00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:54.240 When we pray and we sing something like, Come, Holy Spirit, you ever hear that? 00:22:54.480 --> 00:22:55.680 That baffled me for a long time. 00:22:55.759 --> 00:22:56.319 Come, Holy Spirit. 00:22:56.480 --> 00:22:57.599 Does that mean that God wasn't with me? 00:22:57.680 --> 00:22:58.640 Like, was He not with me? 00:22:58.720 --> 00:23:00.160 And then I'm saying, Come to me. 00:23:00.319 --> 00:23:02.720 Like, like what are we saying when we say that? 00:23:03.039 --> 00:23:12.799 It's just a way, it's a poetic way to say, God, interrupt me, disrupt me in all of my weakness, in any of my sin. 00:23:13.359 --> 00:23:17.440 Come into all of that, even while you live in me. 00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:26.720 Come into any of the parts of me that I'm withholding from you and interrupt me and disrupt me in a way, in a way that draws me closer to you. 00:23:28.480 --> 00:23:32.640 And out of that will come a life that is being guided by God. 00:23:32.799 --> 00:23:35.920 The story gives us the good news that I need every day. 00:23:36.079 --> 00:23:36.960 You need every day. 00:23:37.039 --> 00:23:37.440 We need it. 00:23:37.519 --> 00:23:38.079 We need it. 00:23:38.319 --> 00:23:41.519 God doesn't use you because you're strong. 00:23:41.759 --> 00:23:42.720 Isn't that good news? 00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:43.359 The good news. 00:23:43.599 --> 00:23:44.880 Such good news. 00:23:45.359 --> 00:23:47.440 God uses you because he loves you. 00:23:47.599 --> 00:23:49.200 God uses you because he's with you. 00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:51.440 That's what the story of Gideon tells us. 00:23:51.680 --> 00:23:54.640 And he does not love you because you're strong either. 00:23:54.799 --> 00:23:58.079 So he doesn't use you because you're strong, he doesn't love you because you're strong. 00:23:58.400 --> 00:24:01.200 He loves you because you're his in Christ. 00:24:01.920 --> 00:24:10.559 And as we see that we are the weakest of the weakest, as we see that, we get to see that we are loved in all of that. 00:24:10.720 --> 00:24:14.720 And in our weakness, we are made strong because Jesus is enough for us. 00:24:14.799 --> 00:24:15.519 Let's pray together. 00:24:15.759 --> 00:24:17.039 God, thank you for this good news. 00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:20.880 God, we come in this moment and we pray, come Holy Spirit. 00:24:21.599 --> 00:24:24.480 That for so many of us in here, we need guidance. 00:24:24.640 --> 00:24:25.839 We are like Gideon. 00:24:27.920 --> 00:24:29.519 That we need guidance. 00:24:29.759 --> 00:24:32.000 There's a decision to be made. 00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:34.400 There's an intersection. 00:24:35.759 --> 00:24:39.279 And God, would you help us to be in an ongoing relationship with you? 00:24:39.519 --> 00:24:54.559 Joyful repentance, a joyful collapsing into you, seeking, Holy Spirit, that you would guide, searching the scriptures, of making sure what our decision is in line with the scriptures, seeking wisdom of those around us. 00:24:54.720 --> 00:25:00.480 And God, we even open ourselves up to great interruption all around us for you to guide us in the right way. 00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:03.680 God, would you give guidance to those here who need guidance? 00:25:04.480 --> 00:25:15.440 For so many of us in here, we have ignored our own weakness because we think if we confess or admit or face our weakness, we would not be able to handle it. 00:25:15.599 --> 00:25:17.200 We would be destroyed. 00:25:17.839 --> 00:25:25.680 God, thank you that we get these stories, this gospel story, that you come straight into our weakness because we're already weak. 00:25:26.160 --> 00:25:28.880 You have created us beautiful and yet we are imperfect. 00:25:28.960 --> 00:25:30.799 We are sinners in need of your grace. 00:25:31.039 --> 00:25:37.359 And thank you for this good news that we have, the hope we have, that you come into weakness. 00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:44.160 And if you can show up for Gideon, you can surely show up into our lives and our hearts and the needs that we have. 00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:52.160 Help us to lay them before you and the brokenness that's there, that you might give us greater wholeness in Jesus. 00:25:52.400 --> 00:26:02.319 Thank you that we are already yours, already loved, already righteous, and help us to have open hands and open hearts and lives of surrender to you in Jesus' name. 00:26:02.480 --> 00:26:02.880 Amen.