God’s Assistance: Gideon

Yesterday’s ser­mon has me still pon­der­ing, con­tem­plat­ing, and wait­ing for God to speak clearly to me. So I really don’t have much to say today. I will post my ser­mon notes as I took them on my iPhone (using the WordPress App which is becom­ing a well rounded blog­ging tool).

The Israelites are sur­rounded by oppres­sive ene­mies. And God chooses the weak­est per­son in the weak­est tribe of Israel to res­cue them. God assisted the Israelites in a totally dif­fer­ent and unex­pected way. First, God expected Gideon to do most of the work. God did the mirac­u­lous parts that Gideon couldn’t do. But we must be will­ing to do our part.

1 God will be with you — Judges 6:11–12 [show]Judges 6:11–12 [11]Now the angel of the LORD came and sat under the tere­binth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beat­ing out wheat in the wine­press to hide it from the Midianites. [12]And the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.” (ESV)
. What would God call you? God has a lot big­ger plan a for us than what we do. Instead of reject­ing the call of God Gideon drew closer to God. Sometimes it may feel awk­ward. It can also be hard. Get rid of idols. Let Him come close.

2. God will build our faith. At Gideon’s weak­est point God called him Mighty war­rior. Fleeces, enemy camp inci­dent. But at some point you have to take that step of faith. God will keep build­ing your faith as we per­sue Him.

3. God will tell you what to do and come to your aid as you obey. Go in the strength you have. Don’t rely on what you have rely on God. What God tells us to do may not be easy, it may be very hard. But obey­ing results in God’s assistance.

To hear God: read the Bible, pray, and lis­ten to God as you pray, seek guid­ance from other Christians, pastors.

Pastor Bart chal­lenged us with a lot. The most impor­tant chal­lenge was to lis­ten to God. What is God call­ing us to over­come? What enemy do we face that we may even be hid­ing from like Gideon was hid­ing from the Mideonites?

Right now, I just don’t know. I feel… with­out direc­tion, with­out a God given direc­tive, with­out pur­pose. And so my desire this week is to lis­ten for God’s voice.