Ep. 6 | Judges 7:10-11

Pastor Clayton and Mr. Dan open up Judges 7:10-11 to encourage parents as they disciple their kids.

This week's "One Faithful Step": Repent. Repent to your spouse if you are married. Repent to your kids, apologize to them, and share the gospel in your repentance. Ask for their forgiveness.

What is The Seed Podcast?

A weekly podcast from Fellowship designed to encourage and equip parents as they disciple their children in everyday life.

Clayton: 00:10

Welcome to the Seed Podcast through Fellowship Bible Church. This devotional was created to encourage and equip parents as they disciple their children in the everyday moments of life. Our vision is to see every generation in the family following Jesus altogether because we believe that God has entrusted parents with the incredible privilege and responsibility of being the primary disciple makers in their kiddos' lives.

Dan: 00:31

Yep. In first Corinthians three six, Paul gives us a beautiful picture of discipleship. He says, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. And as a church, we love planting gospel seeds in your kids' hearts, all the while partnering with you, parent, as you water those seeds every day in your home. And so as we plant and water, we trust that God alone gives the spiritual growth.

Dan: 00:59

Our prayer is that these weekly devotionals would refresh your soul, encourage your heart through God's word, and remind you that while we faithfully plant and water, God alone gives the growth. That's right. So welcome. October. Welcome back.

Clayton: 01:14

It is the month of October.

Dan: 01:15

Gosh. Fall has fallen.

Clayton: 01:18

Maybe. I think so.

Dan: 01:20

Who knows?

Dan: 01:21

It's gonna it's gonna be 95 degrees probably later. Okay. Later. You. That's I'm here.

Dan: 01:29

My name's mister Dan Loney. This is Clayton Hovelka. I'm here. We do this every week day on Tuesday mornings. Tuesdays.

Dan: 01:36

So every weekday... I mean, every week, just once.

Clayton: 01:40

Just once.

Dan: 01:41

Once to leave. Welcome back. Clayton is leading our devotional today, and I would love to pray for us as we get started this morning. Do today. Lord, thank you for a new morning where your mercies are new, where we have breath in our lungs, and we can commune with you and and listen to your word like your word is spoken, and we get to hear from you.

Dan: 02:09

So thank you for this time. Would you speak to us even now? And parents, would you take just a second, just a moment to also pray for yourself that that you would have grace to to comprehend the things of Christ this morning? In Jesus' name. In Jesus' name.

Dan: 02:34

Amen.

Clayton: 02:34

Amen. Hey. We are going to be in the book of Judges. Judges chapter seven verses ten and eleven is the passage. I will read it and then we'll go from there.

Clayton: 02:47

Judges says, but if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant, and you shall hear what they say and afterward your hand shall be strengthened to go down against the camp. Then he, meaning Gideon, went down with Purah his servant to the outposts of the armed men who were in the camp. Now, let me give some context to these passages. Yes, please. Yeah.

Clayton: 03:15

Absolutely. So this is Gideon. We are in the book of Judges and this is God talking to Gideon. Going back to chapter six, Gideon was suffering because of the oppression that he was under from, an opposing group. And he was suffering and he had lots of questions for God.

Clayton: 03:33

And if you read in chapter six, God didn't answer any of his questions in regards to suffering at all. Instead, what God did was speak to who he made Gideon to be. Then a little bit later after that, Gideon tests God, which the Bible is so clear that you should not do. Gideon tests God with a fleece. I'll let you read about that in Judges chapter six at a different time.

Clayton: 03:58

Then in chapter seven, Gideon was in charge of an army of 22,000 people. And God told him, before you go in the battle, I need you to only take 300 men. And naturally there's a whole lot of fear because going to fight a battle with 300 men is not as good as going into a battle with 22,000 men.

Dan: 04:20

Yeah. That that math's

Clayton: 04:21

The up right math ain't math in, but taking steps of faith by God's instruction is better than fulfilling a plan of man's design. So Gideon takes this step of faith. And because he is a human, he's wildly regular. Okay? He is afraid.

Clayton: 04:40

And I want you to notice something in the text. God does not rebuke Gideon because he has fear. God actually creates a provision for his fear. God tells Gideon that if he is afraid, he can take his servant with him named Purah. So Gideon decides to take God up on that offer and take Purah with him specifically because Gideon is afraid.

Clayton: 05:03

That's the passage that we just read in verses ten and eleven. But I also want you to see something else. The step of faith that Gideon is taking, he is doing it afraid, which is like the very definition of bravery. You just do it afraid. Gideon felt the pressure of only having 300 men to fight instead of 22,000.

Clayton: 05:24

But pressure and urgency were not masters of Gideon. God was instead his strength and his portion. Gideon was afraid, but fear did not drive the decisions and thoughts of Gideon that would masquerade as wisdom and self protection. Right? Because having more men in in an army is better than having less men.

Clayton: 05:43

He instead listened to the voice of God rather than the voice of self preservation and trusted the Lord more than he trusted the numbers in his army. And there is an order to all of this. God reminds Gideon of who he is in chapter six. And in that process, God captures his heart, then Gideon tests God to see if this is real, which isn't very good obedience, but it seems to be super normal be a human behavior. Then God, after all of this, asks Gideon to step out in faith, but it was with a promise that God will provide what he needed.

Clayton: 06:21

Now, how does this apply to any of parenting? Parents, this is an example of how God treats and deals with us. So why wouldn't we do this with our kids? That God was patient, God captured the heart of Gideon, God gave lots of grace when Gideon was testing the Lord. And then because Gideon started to understand the character of God, Gideon obeyed even when he was afraid.

Clayton: 06:50

God never used fear and intimidation to get Gideon to take his army from 22,000 all the way down to 300. Instead, God was loving and he was patient and he was kind. Now God was clear, but he was also all of those things. Parents, if God treats us like that, let us by the power of the Holy Spirit parent our kids the same way God parents us. Because if your kid obeys you out of fear and that they are afraid of you, that is not obedience.

Clayton: 07:19

That is survival. Your kids are surviving you. Real obedience is actually produced from love. A biblical example of this is not only the one that we just read about in Judges chapter chapter seven, but there is also a biblical precedence for this in John chapter 14 verses 31 where Jesus says, but I do as the father has commanded me. Now, what does he do?

Clayton: 07:45

How... Where does this command his obedience come from? Scripture says, so that the world may know that I love the father. Jesus obeys the Father because of love. True obedience is from the foundation of love.

Clayton: 08:00

So if you find the dynamics from you to your kiddo is anger, fear, manipulation, and control to try to get compliance from your kids. And it's actually compliance if we're honest, dressed with spiritual language of obedience. The message they hear from you is that they are loved when they obey. And if I don't obey, then they won't love me. And parents, this is the exact opposite of how Jesus treats us because Jesus loves us with a never stopping, never giving up always and forever love.

Clayton: 08:31

Now, and I know you might be thinking, what if I do that and it doesn't work? What if I approach a difficult situation with kindness and patience and grace and I'm calm and... Because you may be used to rising up in anger and getting fearful. Okay. How about this?

Clayton: 08:49

You like Gideon take a step of faith when you're afraid. When you're afraid that it won't work. And the Lord like Gideon will make provisions for you because you will try doing it God's way and my guess it's not going to work right away. But the Lord, the Lord will... The word of the Lord always proves true.

Clayton: 09:12

Always proves true. So parents, let us not just know right theology but actually have us believe right theology and live it out. And if you are a believer and have the Holy Spirit inside of you, parent, listen to me, you can do this because you parenting is not based off of your knowledge or all of your skills. It's based on the power of the Holy Spirit and the Lord that gives wisdom because... And and and you can remember the gospel in all of this because God has more grace than you have sinned and God's love covers a multitude of sins where we feel like we have just messed up really bad with our kids.

Clayton: 09:50

The good news is, is that God's grace covers all of that and love covers a multitude of sins. That's incredible. There's my taking it back to Judges. Dude, that's incredible. What do you mean?

Clayton: 10:05

Pulling parenting principles out of the Old Testament.

Dan: 10:07

Yeah. And, I mean, that was that was thorough. That was Old Testament. That was the gospel. That was parenting advice.

Dan: 10:19

That was confession. All in one. Through the Bible. That was incredible. Because if

Clayton: 10:24

we take time to, like, absorb God's word, we just take some time, God's word has it for us.

Dan: 10:30

And dude, honestly, I love this too because this is applicable to parents with kids in all stages of life. Like, all all these ages from toddler to... Honestly, newborn to graduation. Yes. This is applicable.

Dan: 10:51

That was great. I really have nothing else to say. I'm taking it in

Clayton: 10:55

I'm glad.

Dan: 10:56

As I'm listening to you.

Clayton: 10:57

Oh, that's great.

Dan: 10:59

Okay, man. What's our faithful step?

Clayton: 11:00

We got a faithful step here. So if you find yourself in this place where you know how Jesus treats you and you are not treating your kids the same way that Jesus treats you, friends, would you do this? Would your faithful step this week be to repent? To repent to your spouse if you're married, repent to your kids and apologize to them? God, mean, book of Ephesians is really clear that fathers do not provoke your kids to anger.

Clayton: 11:26

I've personally done this. I have sat down with my kids and I've asked their forgiveness that I have provoked you to anger and I have not encouraged you instead. So I'm asking you to do something that I have already done because I've sinned against my kids. Would you apologize to them? Share the gospel with them in your repentance.

Clayton: 11:43

And then here, ask for ask for forgiveness. And then would you thank Jesus that he is kind and patient and gives you grace over and over and over again and you can do the same?

Dan: 11:59

Hey. I'm gonna... I'm speechless.

Clayton: 12:02

That was good.

Dan: 12:03

Mean, that... This is our best one.

Clayton: 12:04

That's... I'm glad you think so. I'm gonna pray a sound.

Dan: 12:07

I I know the listeners think so too. Okay. There's no one with that.

Clayton: 12:13

That's so fair. Hey, I'm gonna pray. And then, and then we'll close out this week's podcast. God, what can separate us from your love? Can yesterday's failure defeat your mercy?

Clayton: 12:28

Can my weakness exhaust your grace? Can the enemy's accusation overturn the verdict and victory of the cross? No. Jesus, may your strength be known in our weakness, in our parenting and that you would get all of the glory and there would be more of you and less of us. And it's in Jesus' name.

Clayton: 12:51

Amen.

Dan: 12:52

Amen. Hey. Wow. Parents, thank you for spending this time with us today. It is our joy and our privilege to come alongside of you as you faithfully disciple your children in the everyday moments of life.

Dan: 13:06

And just like Clayton reminded us, repenting and asking your child for forgiveness points them to the gospel. It it points to your need for a savior and their need for a savior, and that savior is Jesus. So listen. Remember, the Lord has entrusted you with this incredible calling. He has not called you to change your child's heart.

Dan: 13:31

That is his job. But he has called you to faithfully plant in water and point your kids to Him through those ordinary moments.

Clayton: 13:39

That's right. If today's devotional encouraged you in any way, would you consider sharing it with a friend and another parent? We all need regular reminders of God's faithfulness. You never know how he might use this simple invitation, a simple text to encourage another family. So thank you for joining us as we open God's word together each week.

Clayton: 13:57

We hope you'll come back next week as we continue to be refreshed by the the eternal word of God, encouraged in our calling as parents, and reminded that God is the one who gives the growth. So until then, you keep planting, you keep watering, and you trust God with the growth.