Gideon

turn your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 11 Hebrews chapter 11 as we continue our series on broken how that God heals broken people and that God also uses broken people and so we want to continue this study through Hebrews chapter 11 and we're going to be looking at verse number 32 Hebrews chap 11 and beginning with verse number 32 the Bible says what shall I more say for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and of Barack and of Samson of jeffa of David and also of Samuel and of the prophets so here as Paul gets down to the towards the end of the chapter he is running out of time and he's trying to bring in a few more names that they would remember and be able to apply them in the study of

their lives to our hearts and so today we're going to look at the first one in this list and that is Gideon now Gideon is another what I call a coloring book character and that is if you grew up in church and you went to Sunday School uh somewhere in that process you were taught the Bible stories and with the Bible stories you were usually given a coloring sheet and so for example with Noah you had a coloring sheet with the ark and the animals and Noah there uh if you learned about Daniel you had probably Daniel and the Lion's Den and then if you learned about Moses is probably a coloring sheet of the baby and the little Ark the little basket in the water and uh there's certain things that

kind of stick with our mind with these stories and and so when we think about Gideon what's the first thing that we think about we think about the fleeces that he put out uh the two fleeces to determine the will of God and and that's a that's a great story and a lot we can learn from that story but there's much more to the story than just that Gideon was one of the judges of Israel and Israel had many judges during this time period what would happen is Israel would get backsliding and then they would be conquered by another nation and then they would cry out to God because of the oppression and God would send a judge a leader to lead them out of that Pro out of that problem that they were in

and they would get right with the Lord uh for a little while and then they'd be right back backsliding again the whole process would start over again and Gideon was one of those judges that God sent to rescue the nation from the midianites who had been coming in they were a very powerful nation and come in Israel over and over again and conquered them and taken all of their food and left them with basically nothing hiding in caves and and and that's where we find Gideon is that he was uh he was hiding uh they would come in what they would do is they would wait until this the harvest season and then they would attack the nation of Israel during Harvest and then they would take away all the

food and and so Gideon was trying to save some of the food so he was threshing the wheat by The Wine Press now normally when you thresh wheat you throw it up in the air and the wind blows away the chaff and the wheat falls back down to the ground that's how you get rid of all the bad part of it and save the good part and and normally you do that in a high spot where there's a good Breeze Blowing by but Gideon was doing it down by the wine press out of sight so that the midianites wouldn't see him doing it and he'd be able to maybe save some of the wheat and that's where God shows up and uh the first thing that God does here if you turn over to Judges chapter 6 Judges chapter 6 in the Old

Testament Genesis exilus viticus Numbers Deuteronomy Joshua and then judges right before the ver and 2 Samuel and first second Kings and first second chronicles right there in your Bible Judges chapter 6 we we see the story here and uh and in verse number verses number 7-9 through 10 God sends a prophet to the nation and then in verse number 11 it says There came an angel of the Lord and whenever you see the phrase the the angel of the Lord that is referring to uh the Old Testament uh appearance of Jesus Christ in the flesh and so we have here the angel of the Lord and sat under an oak which was an Oprah that that pertaineth on pertained onto joash the abite and his son Gideon threshed Wheat

by the wine press to hide it from the midnites and the angel of the Lord appeared unto him and said unto him the Lord is with thee thou might Mighty Man of Valor now you got to kind of picture this in your mind on Wednesday night I'm teaching on how to study your Bible one of the things you want to do is try to visualize these Bible stories as real people and real situations almost like in your mind you're watching a movie and you kind of see Gideon here he's hiding from the midianites he's trying to thrust what little weed he has left and and get it all cleaned out so he can hide it somewhere and and uh he's doing this and and he's afraid of being attacked by the midianites and then all of

a sudden he looks over and there's a tree nearby and sitting under the tree is the Angel of the Lord now at this time he didn't know that this was God but uh he saw someone sitting under the tree I can just kind of imagine Jesus sitting there in a nice easy uh lawn chair and got a glass of iced tea and watching uh Gideon thresh the wheat and sweating away and just kind of looks over and says hey man of Valor you know uh mighty man of Valor and Gideon's looking around saying who's he talking to cuz that's not me uh he was hiding and and you can imagine the picture here what's going on and uh and it says the Lord is with thee thou Mighty Man of Valor now when God calls us he calls us not

because of who we are but because of who he is put a marker if you would in Judges chapter 6 cuz we're going to come back there a couple of times but turn over your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 1 Corinthians chapter 1 God does not call us for who we are he calls us for who he is in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and beginning with verse number 26 it says for you see your calling Brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called but God had chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and God had chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are Mighty and base things of the world the things which are despised God

chosen yay in things which are not to bring to not things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence but of him are you in Christ Jesus who of God has made unto you unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification Redemption that Accord is written he that glor let him glory in the Lord and so God calls Gideon not because he was a mighty man of Valor but because God was going to use him to be a mighty man of Valor and God doesn't call us for who we are God calls us for who we can be in Jesus Christ now God is first of all calling you for salvation the first thing that Gideon said uh to the angel in back in Judges chapter 6 and verse 13 it says and Gideon said unto him oh my Lord

if the Lord be with us why then is all this befallen us and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of saying did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt but now the Lord have forsaken us and delivered us in the hands of the midianites he said God where are you in all of this and he was blaming God for their troubles their troubles was because of their own sin their troubles because they had turned away from God and they needed to turn back to God and perhaps that you that's you today but maybe you need to turn to God for salvation the Bible says in Romans chapter 10: 9 and 10 that if Thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and Shall Believe in thine heart that God has

raised the dead Thou shalt be saved for with the heart man believeth un righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation in Romans 10 10 13 it says for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved you know Jesus called out to Gideon and Gideon needed to call out to Jesus Christ and you need to call out to Jesus Christ as your savior it starts with salvation if God is going to use you you've got to be one of his you've got to be his child you got to be his uh his his believer in him you know these these people they were far from God in their works but even if they started doing all the right things that didn't make him right with God in Ephesians chap 2 and

veres 8 and9 it says for by grace are you saved through faith then not of yourselves it's the gift of God not of works as am man should boast Israel was not saved by being Jews they were not saved because they were religious they were saved they when they trusted in God the Savior when they trusted in the Messiah and you and I are also saved when we trust in Jesus Christ when we call upon him into our heart into our lives and today no matter what you're going through in your life and sometimes it may see where is God in all this well God is right there and waiting for you to call out to him because he is waiting for your call to come into your heart and your life and to be your savior and to

take away your sin and to give you eternal life and if you're here today and you're not saved you need to start by putting your faith and trust in him but if you are as a Christian you want to be used by God then you need to understand that God is calling you you see uh Gideon was there hiding away God calls him th Mighty Man of Valor and I'm sure Gideon had some kind of a statement like who me uh look at Judges 6: 13 and 14 we read verse 13 look at verse 14 the Lord looked upon him and said go and this thy might and th shall save Israel from the hand of the midianites have not I sent thee you see God called him and God sent him in Isaiah chapter 6 and verse number 8 the Bible says also I

heard the voice of the Lord saying whom shall I send and who will go for us said said I here am I send me and God called Gideon and God is also calling you and God is calling me to go and to do his will to go and to do what he calls us to do to go and to tell the world about Christ to go and to to live for him and to and and to serve him in any way that we can and we need to be willing to be used by God God is calling you and you need to say here am I Lord send me I'm the one that wants to go for you you see God is looking for some mighty men and mighty women of God in Ezekiel CH 22 and verse number 30 it says and I sought for a man among them that should make up the Hedge and stand in the

gap before me for the land that I should not destroy it but I found none you see it's sad that God cannot find a man or a woman who will stand up for him that will do what he calls us to do and we need to be like Gideon we're not Mighty Men of Valor we're not strong in ourselves but we are Mighty in our God and we are Mighty in our Lord and we need to answer the call and say Lord here am I I am willing to go I am willing to stand in that Gap I'm willing to do what you want me to do and know God will be with you if you'll answer his call in Judges chapter 6 and verse number 15 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 see Gideon said I I I can't do this and so often as a pastor when I ask people well can you serve the Lord can you teach a class can you go out soulin you can you do this or do that they'll say well I just can't do that and Gideon had his excuses he kind of sounded like Moses with all of his excuses and and in Zechariah Chapter 6 and verse number four the Bible says then he answered spake unto me saying this is the word of the Lord unto zerubabel saying not by might nor by power but by my spirit sayith the Lord of hosts God is not going to use you because you're great God is going to use you because he's great and you see the less you are the greater your God is and we

need to be realized that we can be used by God not because we are so mighty not because we are so great it's not because we are so talented but we can be used by God because God is so great and he will take his power and use it in our lives and so we need to answer the call of God and God is looking for men and God is looking for woman right here at Ohana Baptist Church that will step up and say you know what here am I I may not be the smartest I may not be the most talented I may not be the one that has all of these abilities but I can be used by God in his power and his might and his strength but in order to do that you've got to get rid of the idols you see when we think of Gideon we

think of the fleeces but long before the fleeces uh God told Gideon you need to get rid of the idols before I can use you look at Judges chapter 6 and beginning with verse number 25 it says ni to pass that same night that the Lord said unto him take thy father's young bulock even the second bulock of seven years and throw down the altar of baale that thy father hath and cut down the Grove that is by it and build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock in the ordered place and take the second bulock and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the Grove which thou H which thou cut down then Gideon took 10 men of his servants and did as the Lord had said unto him and so it was

because he feared his father's household and the men of the city could not do it in the day that he did it by night God said listen Gideon I want to use you to do something great but before I can use you I need you to to take down those Groves and those Idols you know Israel from the time of Judges all the way till 2 Chronicles they struggled with Idols it was a constant Battle of getting rid of the idols they'd get rid of them they'd come back they'd get rid of them they'd come back and this was a constant problems now you say well I don't don't have that problem today I don't have any idols on my shelf but you know they're Idols of the heart in Ezekiel chter 20 and verse number 16 it says

because they despised my judgments and walked not in my statutes but polluted my sabbaths for their High their heart went after their idols and you and I today we also have our Idols you know Idols are images and when you think of the word images what the word do you think of imagination you see our Idols are in our imagination turn over to Romans chapter 1 Romans chapter 1 we don't have physical idols on a shelf today but we have Idols that we have built up in our heart that we built up in our imagination in Romans chapter 1 and beginning with verse number 21 it says because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations

their foolish heart was darkened professing themselves to be wise they became fools and changed the glory of the uncorruptible god into an image made like to corruptible man into birds and forfoot beasts and creeping things wherefore God also ha given them up onto uncleanness through the lust of their own Hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves who change the truth of God into a lie and worship and serve the creature more than the Creator who's blessed forever amen and I wonder do you have Idols in your own heart do you have images in your own mind that you need to tear down that you need to take away what are the images in your heart in Genesis 6 and verse 5 the Bible says

and God saw the wickedness of men was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually does that not describe our society today every imagination of the heart is on the internet every imagination heart is out there in the world and for a lot of us it's right there in our own heart as well we have Idols of bitterness we have Idols of Envy we have Idols of sexual thoughts we have Idols of fantasy of Anger of Pride all of these are Idols that we need to tear down in our life we need to bring our imagination under control imagination is a good thing it's a great thing but we need to bring it under the control of the Holy Spirit the Bible says

in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse number five casting down imaginations and every High thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God and bring into captivity every thought to The Obedience of Christ if God is going to use you in his service and you need to bring your imagination under control and you need to to cast out these imaginations these things these evil thoughts in your heart and your mind um in Proverbs 4:23 it says keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life and for many of us the reason we can't serve God is because we're not guarding our heart we're not controlling our imagination we're not controlling our thoughts in our lives there's

many different kinds of Idols that we worship and so in Romans chap 2 and: 22 it says that thou sayest a man should not commit adultery does TH thou commit adultery thou that abhor Idols does thou commit sacrilege you see those of us that would say we're against idol worship yet we have many Idols in our lives go over to 1 Corinthians chapter 6 last week we looked at Rahab and we talked about the idol of sex uh for many people this is the idol that controls them that they worship in their lives in 1 Corinthians chapter six and beginning with verse number nine it says know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God be not deceived go neither fornicators nor idolators nor

adulterers nor feminite nor Abus themselves with mankind nor thieves nor Covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortion so inherit the kingdom of God and then skip down to verse number 15 know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ sh I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of Harlot God forbid what know ye not that he which joined to Harless one body for two sayth these shall be one flesh but he that is joined unto the Lord is one Spirit flee fornication every sin that a man doeth is without his own body but he that committed fornication sinth against his own body what know ye not that your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which you have

of God and you're not your own for you're bought with a price therefore glorify God in your body and your spirit which are God's in our world today uh images of sex are everywhere no matter where you turn on the TV on the internet walking through the store it it's a constant bombardment we are bombarded with images of sex and they become the idols of our day and and we need to realize that uh you know most Pagan Worship in the Old Testament these worships that they were guilty of most of it was involved sex uh many their their Temple workers were sex workers and and many of their images were sexual images and and we're guilty of the same thing today because we have allowed sex to become our

Idol and we worship those images and we need to to tear those down in our lives because they affect you in ways that no other sin affects you as I said last week all sin has consequences but the the sin of fornication the sin of pornography the sin of sex outside of marriage is one that will affect you physically emotionally mentally and spiritually for your entire life and so we need to tear down those altars uh another altar is the altar of covetousness in Colossians 3:5 it says mortify Therefore your member which are upon the Earth fornication uncleanness inordinate affection evil concupisent and covetousness which is adult idolatry uh covetousness is idolatry the love of money is the

root of all evil it tells us in 1 Timothy chapter 6 and when you are are driven by wanting money and more and more and more money there's nothing wrong with getting a good salary there's nothing wrong with being paid well there's nothing wrong with investing for the future uh those are not wrong things but when we have this love Love of Money when money becomes Our God and we don't have time to go to church and we don't have time to pray or to read our Bible and we don't have time for our families we've allowed money to become Our God or the love of things in Luke 12 and verse number 15 he said unto them take heed and beware of covetousness for a man's life consists not in the abundance of

the things which he possesses we live in a world where You' got to have the latest the greatest the best of everything it's like when the new iPhone comes out the the lines a mile long uh you've got to have the latest x Xbox you got to have the latest of this and that and the other thing and and we're so we we worship things we've got to have them and and you walk in the average person's house and you look at the house and you'd say that the TV is their Idol because it's the center of everything in their house and you look in that house and and and all their things are are what they worship and we need to be careful and tear down those those uh Idols of covetousness and then there's also

entertainment in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse number 7 it says neither be ye idolators as were some of them as it written the people sat down to eat and drink and Rose up to play you know idolatry involved a lot of uh a lot of uh Worship in the sense that they had would have parties and they would have dances and all the rest of those things and and these became part of their idol worship and today it's all about entertainment I I I want to watch this I want to do that I want to play this game and we spend most of of our time if you started adding up your time during the week much of your time is spent in entertainment because you're bowing down at the altar of entertainment that's

your image that's your idol and we need to tear down those Idols then there's the idol stubbornness and Rebellion turn over to 1st Samuel chapter 15 1st Samuel chapter 15 and look at verses 22 and 23 just shortly after judges is 1 Samuel chapter 15 in verses 22 and 23 it says in Samuel said hath the Lord as great Delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of Rams for Rebellion is is a sin of Witchcraft and stubbornness is Iniquity and idolatry because thou Hast rejected the word of the Lord he has also rejected thee from being King King when we rebel against God when we're not willing to

submit to the Lord and we have stubbornness and and uh it becomes an idol in our lives is as bad as idol worship and so we need to to let go of that that stubbornness and we need to let go of our pride in Ezekiel chapter 14 and verse number six it says therefore say unto the house of Israel thus sayith the Lord God repent and turn yourselves from your idols and turn away your faces from all your Abominations in Proverbs 165 it says everyone is proud in heart is an Abomination to the Lord th thou hand join in in hand you shall not be unpunished folks what happens is is Gideon God said to Gideon before you can be a mighty man of Valor before I can use you to save Israel you need to tear down

the altars you need to break up those images and those idols and and folks in our lives the same thing is true if you want to be used by God you've got to tear down the idols in your life you got to tear down those images your imaginations the things that you've allowed to take control of your thoughts and put the Holy Spirit back in control in your life so what do you do with your Idols in 2 Chronicles 14 we're told to to tear them down to break them up turn over there with me if you would 2 Chronicles uh chapter 14 and verses 2-5 2 Chronicles chapter 14 beginning with verse number two the Kings of Israel had the same problems as the judges some were good some were bad when they were good

the nation would get good and then they' go bad again and it says here asau who was one of the good Kings says in verse number two it says and asau did that which was was good and right in the eyes of the Lord is God and he took away the altars of the strange gods in the high places and break down the images and cut down the Groves and command the Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers and do the law of the commandment and he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places the images and the kingdom was quiet before him you see you got to take them away you got to break them down you got to cut them up you got to get rid of them you got to cast them away as it told us back in

Corinthians um to take them away means to separate to come out from among them be a separate sayith the Lord of hosts you got to flee from them in sec in 1 Corinthians 10:14 wherefore my dearly beloved flee from idolatry folks we've allowed this to inch its way into our lives and we've just got to cut it off we've got to get rid of it we've got to throw it in the garbage we' got to run away from it we've got to realize that this there are strange gods and in second Chronicles 14:3 for he took away the altars of the strange gods in Joshua 24:15 it says if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord choose you this day whom you will serve whether the gods which your fathers served that were the

other side of the flood or the gods of the amorites whose lands you dwell but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord you need to take make a choice am I going to serve God am I going to live for God you got to get rid of the high places the high places in the Old Testament and 2 Chronicles 14:5 it says also he took away all out all the cities of Judah the high places and the images and the kingdom was quiet before them a high place is anything with a higher place in your life than God a high place is anything with a higher place in your life with God if if you'll do whatever it is instead of read your Bible instead of praying if you'll do it instead of going to church that's a high

place when it takes priority over God in your life in Matthew 6:33 it says seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you and are the things in your life that are taken in a higher place than God that are more important in your life than God these are the areas that they struggle with in Israel the high places were one of the areas they struggle with the most they'd get rid of the idols they get rid of the altars but they they didn't always get rid of the high places and and we need to realize that we've got to get rid of those high places that are taking over in our lives we got to break down the images in Exodus 232 24 Thou shalt not bow

down to their gods nor serve them nor do after their works but Thou shalt utter overthrow them and quite break down their images we need to break them down we need to burn them up uh we need to get rid of them in Matthew 5:29 it says If thy right eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee for it is profitable the that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell now God's not ta telling us to pluck out our eyes but God is telling us you need to get drastic some of you need to get drastic with that computer some of you need to get drastic with the video games some of you need to get drastic with the sports or whatever else it might be because

it's just taken over in your life it's become a high place it's become a priority even over God in Psalms 51:17 it says the sacrifices of God are broken Spirit a broken and contrite heart oh God thou will not despise and we need a heart that is broken before God that a heart is broken because of our sins then we need to cut down what are called The Groves The Groves were places of sexual immorality in 2 Corinthians 711 it says behold the self same thing that you sorrowed after Godly sord what carefulness it wrought in you yay what clearing of yourselves yay what indignation yay What Fear yay what V desire yay what Zeal yay what revenge and all these things you have proved yourself be clear

in these matters we need to get these things out of our Lives God said Gideon I can't use you until you tear down the altar I can't use you until you Bow Down and Worship me and I take over those high places in your life and I am the one that you are see speaking first in your life in 1 John 5:21 the Bible says little children keep yourselves from Idols amen and you and I need to realize that if we want to be used by God if we want to be a Mighty Man a mighty woman of God it's not how great we are Gideon was hiding from the midianites he was afraid but God chose him because God said I can use you and if you allow me to have the high place in your life if you allow me to be the most important

person in your life I can use you to save Israel and I can use you for my purpose and that's what you and I need to realize I want you to go back to the Book of Judges as we close this up and that is that like I said earlier what we're most familiar with in Gideon's life is the fleece you know he wasn't sure if God really was going to use him or not and so he said God I'm going put out a fleece and one time if there's water on the fleece but nowhere else and next time but there's water everywhere else but not on the fleece the do in the morning and and he uses a test to God and and and I'm not I don't know that Gideon was necessarily wrong sometimes we wonder if this is really of God and

this is what God wants me to do and sometimes it's good to to put out a fleece and sometimes it's good to to check on what God wants to do but this wasn't the only time in fact Gideon three different times had to question God uh if you look at Judges chapter 6 and verse 17 and he said unto him if now I have found Grace in thy sight then show me a sign that thou talkest with me so right away he says God is this really true then you're going to have to prove yourself to me and he got an offering and God uh consumed the offering with fire to show them this was truly God that he was talking to and so right away he questioned God and then in Judges chapter 6 and veres 36- 40 we have the story of

the fleece and it tells us that he put a a fleece of wool on the floor and if the D be on the fleece only uh then I would believe it's of God but that wasn't enough so again the next day he said now I'm going to put it out there to flee not on the then I'll believe it's of God and he tested God again and and then later on in chapter 7 and veres 9-1 11 uh Gideon didn't test God but God figured all right Gideon I I know you struggle and so I'm going to go ahead and give you a proof again it says in verse number nine it came to pass the same night and the Lord said unto him arise get thee down before the host unto the host for I have delivered uh it into your thine hand and if thou fear to go

down go thou with Pharaoh thy servant down to the the host and thou shall hear what they say and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down before the host then when he down with it f his servant onto the outside of the of the Armed men that were in the in the host they went down there and they overheard them talking about how they had the dream that they were going to be defeated and all the rest of it but you see here Gideon struggled with his faith and yet in Hebrews chap 11 he's called a great man of Faith folks you and I we struggle we we struggle with things in our own life don't we we struggle when things get hard and we all we want to do is want we want to hide we want to

bury our head in the ground we want to we don't want to deal with the problem we struggle because we have these idols and images in our lives that have taken control we need to tear those down and we struggle because we doubt God and sometimes I think is as much as we doubt God we also doubt ourselves how could God use me I I don't think I can do that I don't have enough faith and that's why I believe that CH that Hebrews chapter 11 is such an important chapter because here God takes people like Gideon the Mighty Man of Valor that was hiding from the enemy and he says I can use you not because you're so great but because I'm so great but I can't use you if you don't tear down the idols if

you don't get rid of the images if you don't take control of your imagination yes we struggle and doubt God but ultimate we need to obey and Gideon obeyed the Lord and God gave him a great Victory you know the story with 300 he defeated an army of 15,000 and that was of God and God can also give you the victory in your life whatever you're going through