I Am With You Always

Show Notes

Judges 6:7–24 (Listen)

7 When the people of Israel cried out to the LORD on account of the Midianites, 8 the LORD sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. 9 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 their land. 10 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.”

The Call of Gideon

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.” 13 And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 14 And the LORD¹ turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” 15 And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” 16 And the LORD said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” 17 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. 18 Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.”

19 So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah² of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them. 20 And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” And he did so. 21 Then the angel of the LORD reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight. 22 Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the LORD. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face.” 23 But the LORD said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” 24 Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD and called it, The LORD Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.

Footnotes

[1] 6:14 Septuagint the angel of the Lord; also verse 16
[2] 6:19 An ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters

(ESV)

What is Sermons from Redeemer Community Church?

Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.

Joel Brooks: 00:00

If you would, I I invite you to open your Bibles to Judges chapter 6. It's the 7th book in your Bible. If you need to borrow a Bible, there's some on the back table, or you could just take it home with you. If you really wanna cheat, it's there in your worship guide, the text for tonight. Judges 6.

Joel Brooks: 00:22

I'm gonna begin reading in verse 7. 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 and said to them, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel. I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage, 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 their land. And I said to you, But you have not obeyed my voice. Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belongs to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press to hide it from the Midianites.

Joel Brooks: 01:19

And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, the Lord is with you. Oh, mighty man of valor. Gideon said to him, please, sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all the wonderful deeds that our father recounted to us? Saying, did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?

Joel Brooks: 01:42

But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian. And the Lord turned to him and said, go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Do not I send you? And he said to him, please Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.

Joel Brooks: 02:12

And the Lord said to him, but I will be with you and you shall strike the Midianites as one man. 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. Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you. And he said, I will stay till you return. So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from a ephah of flour.

Joel Brooks: 02:42

The meat he put in a basket and the broth he put in a pot and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them. And the angel of God said to him, take the meat and the unleavened cakes and put them on this rock and pour the broth over them. And he did so. Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of his staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes.

Joel Brooks: 03:15

And the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, alas, oh, Lord God. For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face. But the Lord said to him, peace be to you.

Joel Brooks: 03:35

Do not fear. You shall not die. Then Gideon built an altar there to the lord and called it the lord is peace. Pray with me. Our father, we are gathered here together to give you praise.

Joel Brooks: 03:58

As we heard earlier, prayed. None of us stand here in our own merit. We claim only the merit of Jesus Christ. And we ask now that through your spirit, that you would open up our dull hearts and minds to receive your truth. Lord, we need to hear words from life, words of life, and that comes from you.

Joel Brooks: 04:21

So I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But Lord, may your words remain and may they change us. I pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. I have a confession to make and I want to be, I want to be completely honest about this.

Joel Brooks: 04:46

There are times that I wish I was doing something else. I'm not sure if you've ever felt that way before ever had those, those kinds of stirrings come up within you. I bet you have. Sometimes even though you know where you're, where, where God wants you, and you're doing what you believe God's called you to do, you can, you can just get a little overwhelmed. It could get a little tired.

Joel Brooks: 05:17

And so you start daydreaming about other things and what it'd be like to do other things. And this happens to me. For me, the image I have is just, there are times that I long to sit in the shade of a tree that someone else has planted. I just, I just long to, you know, just sit in a tree that I had nothing to do with, you know, and, Lauren and I might occasionally talk and just say, you know, wouldn't it be great to just go to this, this huge, you know, mega church where it's just super established and we could just go, we could be anonymous, sit in nice seats, sing songs, leave, go home, turn on the ball game and just rest. We have these thoughts.

Joel Brooks: 06:16

I've been talking to Tyler Fuqua over the phone. Tyler's in Peru right now. He's already been there 2 weeks. He's going to be there 2 more weeks trying to build a boy's home in the middle of the jungle there. Let me just tell you, he is in so far over his head, it's ridiculous what he is trying to do.

Joel Brooks: 06:37

And it would be hard to organize construction here in the states for this. It's a large project. It's, it's, there's a 100 acres. It's a large boys home. He's a student.

Joel Brooks: 06:49

He's trying to figure out the whole government structure, organization structure there. All the red tape you have to cut through and we're talking and you could just tell, it's like, I wish I didn't have to start this. I could just sit under the shade of somebody else's tree, but here he is growing this. He's doing what the Lord has called him. And so, and so I have those thoughts.

Joel Brooks: 07:13

Some, and I think we all have those thoughts. Some, but here's the reality, wherever you are in life, wherever you live, God has called you to be salt and light in a dying world. God has given you a task. Whether you are a planter, whether you are a waterer, God has given you a mission for where you're to work and you're to bring life into this world. You're to help build his kingdom.

Joel Brooks: 07:43

You're commanded to make disciples of all men. And often this task is going to be greater than your abilities. There's times when you're going to be fearful, anxious, stressed, and you're going to begin dreaming about maybe some greener pastures. And I hope that the text tonight encourages you. Want to look at the story of Gideon found in the book of Judges.

Joel Brooks: 08:13

First off, the term judge is kind of an obstacle. Don't picture a guy in a black robe, you know, with a gavel. This is a temporary leader that God raises up to deliver Israel. This comes at a time in Israel's history where God has delivered the Israelites from the bondage of Egypt. He has taken them over into the promised land.

Joel Brooks: 08:37

So 400 years of slavery delivered 40 years of wandering in dry desert. Then finally, you know, a few more years of crossing the Jordan, conquering people, settling into the land, and they are finally, finally there. They finally have their, you know, their little white picket fence. They've got their, their good school systems. They've got their neighborhoods revitalized.

Joel Brooks: 09:03

Boys homes built. They have all the shade from all the other trees. It's finally it's there. They don't have any unbelievers living with them anymore. You know, everybody on their street sings the same songs, has the same faith, goes to synagogue together.

Joel Brooks: 09:24

And so now they can finally sit and they could just rest. And when they do that, a strange thing happened. In their rest and their comfort, as they set up their, you know, hammocks and sipping their lattes by the Jordan River. That's my image. God no longer becomes a necessity.

Joel Brooks: 09:56

He doesn't, he's no longer a necessity. He's, he's just a good option. They no longer have to have him. He was no longer the sustaining bread. God was more thought of as like the little cherry on top of their dessert.

Joel Brooks: 10:12

It's a good option. We don't have to have it. And so God brings in pain. God brings in suffering into their life to remind them of their need for him. I've heard it said that God shouts to us or whispers to us in our pleasure.

Joel Brooks: 10:25

And he shouts to us in our pain. And so he brings pain in here so they could hear his voice again. So they could call out to him, which is what they do. And God sends a deliverer. He raises up Gideon to come and to deliver them just like Moses had delivered them.

Joel Brooks: 10:47

And there's more written about Gideon in the book of Judges than any other judge. And so it's kind of a good paradigm for us to see how God saves His people and how He uses them. The story begins with the angel of the Lord coming to Gideon. When you, when you read that the angel of the Lord, that's that's the Lord himself. Anytime is the angel of the Lord.

Joel Brooks: 11:09

And that's why sometimes the language is just, the Lord is saying this. Sometimes it's the angel of the Lord, but this is the Lord coming down in human form right here. Look at verse 11 Says, now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belongs to Joash that Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the lord appeared to him and said to him, the lord is with you, oh mighty man of valor. This is setting itself up to be a comedy at this point.

Joel Brooks: 11:50

This is really funny here. I mean, Gideon, you would thresh wheat on top of a mountain so the wind could blow the chaff, but Gideon, he's not at a threshing floor, he is in a wine press, hiding from people. He doesn't want the Midianites to come into raid and to take what he has. And so he is a scared man. And yet the angel comes from and greets him and says, the Lord is with you.

Joel Brooks: 12:13

Oh, mighty man of valor. I mean, kind of, you know, you picture Gideon kind of looking around like you're, you're talking to me. Is this like a sick joke that you would say this? And when you read this, there's a temptation to think God is mocking Gideon, just using sarcasm. And there's actually some commentaries that said, that's exactly what's going on, but I don't think that's the case.

Joel Brooks: 12:39

What's happening here and what will prove to be true is when God looks at Gideon, he doesn't just see who he is now. He sees who he will become. He sees how he will be used. He sees his potential and he knows that he's going to become a mighty man of valor. When God, God calls us to a task, it's not because he's looking down on us and is impressed.

Joel Brooks: 13:08

You know, he's not like, Hey man, look at that Joel there. Gosh, he's, impressed. You know, he's not like, hey, man, look at that Joel there. Gosh, he's gosh, he's got so many gifts, man. I wonder if I could use that.

Joel Brooks: 13:17

That's not no. God, we are who we are because God declares that. He declares what will be, and you will be a mighty man of valor, and Gideon is going to become that through God's declaration. All of this begins rubbing Gideon the wrong way. Especially the part about the Lord being with him.

Joel Brooks: 13:40

And so look at verse 13. Gideon said to him, please, sir, saying, did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt. Now the Lord has forsaken us and given us in the hand of Midian. Gideon looks at his circumstances, and he says, hey, sir, look around. All right.

Joel Brooks: 14:13

Just, just, just take a look around. If, if God was with me, do you think my life would look like this? Do you think I would be in this place? I wouldn't be working this hard. Do you think I would live in fear all of the time?

Joel Brooks: 14:27

Every moment, please. All those incredible stories that I heard growing up. Yeah. I heard those stories and you know what they are? They're fairy tales.

Joel Brooks: 14:39

Because the God that I heard, maybe my parents tell me about the God that I have read about. I don't see that God anywhere. Now, I I don't know if you've ever felt like that. Likely, you have. Likely you have.

Joel Brooks: 14:58

That when you take a look at the God of the Bible, and you see all that he has done. I mean, miracle after miracle, I mean, like partings of the Red Sea plagues, manna from heaven, always providing. And you look at that God, and then you look at your own life. You, you see this disconnect. You're like, where is that God in my life?

Joel Brooks: 15:30

That's you're tempted to think that's just, that's just fairy tales. And so you begin doubting whether all the things you grew, grew up hearing, all the things you've read are really true. And here's God's response in verse 14. And the Lord turned to him and said, go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Do I not send you?

Joel Brooks: 15:58

Once again, this is hilarious. All right. So God answers Gideon's doubt by completely ignoring his question. I I mean, he asked this question and God just completely ignores it. You know, we're asking God, God, if you're real, why is there so much suffering?

Joel Brooks: 16:12

Why is my life looking like this? And God says, go in this might of yours. What? Well, once again, he he's declaring how he sees you. Says, this is how I see you.

Joel Brooks: 16:28

This is what will happen. Don't look around at your circumstances. I'm declaring to you who you are. There is no doubt in his mind that you will be fearless, that you will be strong. There's doubts all in our minds, but there's not any doubt in God's because he can create light out of darkness.

Joel Brooks: 16:51

And so it's going to happen. And just let me say, at this point in Gideon's life, I'm not even sure if he is a believer. We find out, next a little bit further down in the story that he grew up in a household that had idols there for everybody to come and worship other idols at his house. So if, if he is a believer, it's very nominal faith, very small faith, maybe faith of a mustard seed. Never do we find him excited about what God is declaring.

Joel Brooks: 17:27

And so after he hears that declaration, he asked God this question. God gives them a non response. Now objections start coming from Gideon. Look at verse 15. Verse 15, he says, please Lord, how can I save Israel?

Joel Brooks: 17:45

Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. Gideon says, I'm not of the right social status to do what you're calling me to do. I come from a weak clan, and let's be honest, I'm the weakest in the clan, and he's not just being, you know, false humility here. We can look at his life. He's telling the truth.

Joel Brooks: 18:14

Today, this objection will be played out along the lines of, all right, Lord, I hear a calling, but I don't really have the right qualifications, the right background for this task. I don't have the right education. I don't have enough money. I don't come from the right social class. This is a task for some respected, wealthy, knowledgeable person with a lot of connections.

Joel Brooks: 18:43

So God's response in verse 16 and the Lord said to him, but I will be with you. In some ways, this is also a non response because he doesn't really address those issues. It's just like, yeah, but I'm going to be with you. And this is one of the most important promises that we can ever have that God will be with us. When God says that he will be with Gideon, he's, he's really saying this, getting, getting, I'm hearing your objections.

Joel Brooks: 19:18

I'm hearing all this just, Hey, don't think so highly of yourself. You're really a non factor in this equation. Alright? It's not like I'm going to lean on you. I'm going to be with you.

Joel Brooks: 19:33

This is kind of image that I have in my mind when I think of this. The year after I graduated from college, I went to Jamaica on a mission trip, not your nice Jamaica, your, your slum Jamaica. And, one night I decided to go out into the town and we're in the middle of just nowhere, but there was a town we knew that was somewhat nearby. And so I decided to go there with one of my friends, a guy named Andy Lauer. And, he was a cheerleader at Georgia.

Joel Brooks: 20:04

And by that, I mean, he was a boy cheerleader. The guy was massive, absolutely massive. He, he had more muscles in his ears than I had my whole body. And, and so we were walking down and we hear music. And so we kind of follow the music and finally we find our way in this town and it is a ghost town.

Joel Brooks: 20:23

We're wondering where is everybody? And we're just walking around and we walk around the corner and there is a street party. There's about 200, 300 people in the street, all dancing to music. And it was like a bad movie scene. The moment we rounded the corner, the music stopped and everybody turned and looked at us and it was just total dead silence.

Joel Brooks: 20:46

We're like, what the heck are we doing here? And I was like, we're like, just, we'll just keep walking and we're nodding. We're saying, Hey, nothing, no reaction from anybody. And so we get to the middle of all of these people here, and they're just looking at us and I'm, I'm just kind of getting close to Andy and, and Andy, he grabs a kid and and the kid's like looking at him with like all bright eyed and people are just about to come in. He says, make yourself straight straight.

Joel Brooks: 21:10

Kid makes himself straight. And he throws the kid up and he just balances them. He It just starts balancing him like this. And he goes, And then everybody's just looking at so serious and they go, yeah. And they all cheered and people started, they started doing flips down the street.

Joel Brooks: 21:26

They started doing handstands. It became basically a talent show in the middle of there. But I was just along for the ride. There was nothing that, I mean, it's not like I can say, Hey, yeah. You know, you don't don't mess with me.

Joel Brooks: 21:42

Nobody's even looking at me. They're looking at mister muscle. And that's, that's what God is when He comes alongside. You know what? You're a non factor in this equation.

Joel Brooks: 21:54

Can you just kind of be quiet and let me, let me handle it. You're you're along for the ride as we do this ministry together. That's what's happening here. All that matters is whether the Lord is with Gideon or not. The Lord's first words to Gideon in verse 12, where the Lord is with you.

Joel Brooks: 22:15

And then now he says, I will be with you. So he is with you and he will be with you. And when I was studying this text, I, I decided to look up every time in scripture that God says, I will be with you, and I am with you. And I thought it was going to be a really long exhaustive study. There will be 100 of these, in the old Testament and there's not.

Joel Brooks: 22:45

God says, I am with you only 12 times in the old Testament. And he says, I will be with you only 9 times. That's it. So 21 times, some of those are in the exact same stories. He declares, I will be with you to Isaac as Isaac is in the middle of a famine.

Joel Brooks: 23:06

And he's trying to decide where to go in Genesis 26, Genesis 31, he says, I will be with you to Jacob. As he had just told Jacob to go and meet his brother Esau, who was trying to kill him. He says it to Joshua, I will be with you right before Joshua was about to go into the promised land. And so you have those instances like that, where God is basically giving a task and then he says, I will be with you. And 8 of those 9 are all task oriented.

Joel Brooks: 23:35

One of them is semi task oriented. Now, the I am with you, I want us to take time to walk through all 12. It's going to take just, just a moment. We're going to walk through all 12 times in scripture that God says, I am with you. The first is in Genesis 26.

Joel Brooks: 24:02

It's Isaac. He keeps digging wells, and people keep taking them from him. He digs another well, people take. He digs another well, take because nobody recognizes that he owns the land, that God gave it to him. And that he's trying to be salt and light, and he is trying to to form God's people.

Joel Brooks: 24:18

And God says, behold, I am with you, and I will keep you wherever you go. And I will bring you back to this land. Sorry. Sorry. I am the God of Abraham, your father.

Joel Brooks: 24:30

Fear not for I am with you, and I will bless you, and I will multiply your offspring for My servant Abraham's sake. The next comes in Genesis 28 when Jacob is scared to death and he's fleeing from Esau. He has never prayed at this moment in his life. He's been nothing but a liar and a cheat, and he's running away and he falls asleep, kind of collapses. And God appears to him and says this behold, I am with you and I will keep you wherever you go.

Joel Brooks: 25:03

And I'll bring you back to this land for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. The next is in Isaiah 41. This is when Babylon has come to destroy Israel and God speaks through the prophet Isaiah saying this, you are my servant. I have chosen you and not cast you off. Fear not, for I am with you.

Joel Brooks: 25:29

Be not dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous hand. Later in Isaiah 43, he says this, because you are precious in my eyes and honored.

Joel Brooks: 25:42

I love you. I give men in return for you. People in exchange for your life. Fear not for I am with you. The next 6 come from the book of Jeremiah.

Joel Brooks: 25:58

So, half of all of them come from Jeremiah. When God calls Jeremiah to be a prophet, he's young, he's inexperienced, he's scared out of his mind. So in Jeremiah 1:8, God says, don't be afraid of these people for I am with you to deliver you. Later in verse 19, he says, yes, they're gonna fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the Lord to deliver you. God has to remind Jeremiah of this again later in Jeremiah, or in chapter 15.

Joel Brooks: 26:34

He says, and I will make to you this people, a fortified wall of bronze. They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you For I am with you to save you and deliver you, declares the Lord. So our three times here, he's reminding Jeremiah that he is with him. He's not to be scared. He is with them.

Joel Brooks: 26:56

He's going to save them. Now the other three times, Jeremiah tells this message to Israel. Israel's been taken into captivity. They're frightened. They're scared.

Joel Brooks: 27:04

Their whole life has fallen apart. And God says this in chapter 30, I am with you to save you, declares the Lord. And I will make a full end of the nations among you whom I've scattered. Later in chapter 42, he tells the people of Israel, do not fear the king of Babylon, whom you are afraid. Do not fear him declares the Lord for I am with you to save you and to deliver you.

Joel Brooks: 27:34

I will grant you mercy. And again, in 46, he says, fear not. Oh, Jacob, my servant declares the Lord. I am with you. I will make a full end of all the nations to which I've driven you.

Joel Brooks: 27:49

But of you, I will not make a full end. And then many years later after after the captivity and the Israelites return back and they realize Israel is in shambles. They're, they're scared out of their minds. How how's God going to protect them? How are they going to make a living?

Joel Brooks: 28:10

The land's been decimated, and now they're trying to rebuild a temple. And we read this, then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord spoke to the people with the Lord's message. I am with you declares the Lord. And the final one is in Haggai 2, when he encourages Zerubbabel to finish the temple, despite all of his fears, despite all of the obstacles, he says this, yet now be strong, oh Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, oh Joshua, son of Zechozadak, the high priest.

Joel Brooks: 28:46

Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work. Work. For I am with you. Alright.

Joel Brooks: 28:57

That's all 12. Why did I take time to walk through every time God has said in the old testament that he is with us? He says, I am with you. It's because I want you to see a pattern and I hope you saw it. Every time he says, I'm with you is because the people are scared out of their minds.

Joel Brooks: 29:24

They are oppressed. They are fearful and they feel so vulnerable and weak. And most of the other times when he says, I will be with you, it's in the same situation. Plus he's given them a task to do. So, God promises to be present with us.

Joel Brooks: 29:43

Do during these times, he says, I want you, you know, yes, you feel weak. Yes, you're scared of your out of your mind, but don't look around you. I know there's no evidence at all that I am here, but I am with you. Despite what your eyes see, despite what you feel, I am with you. Therefore, whatever I call you to do will succeed.

Joel Brooks: 30:10

Now, in light of all of this, I want you to hear the task that Jesus gives the church. I'm with these only 2 times in the new Testament, and we're gonna, we're gonna look at one of them here in Matthew 28, what we know as the great commission. As Jesus is ascending, he's tell tells his disciples in Matthew 28, we read this. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, and of the son, and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

Joel Brooks: 30:56

And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. I want you here to hear that in light of all those other times that God has said he is with us. He's with people. When Jesus is saying this here, you know what he's implying? I know the task is enormous.

Joel Brooks: 31:23

I know you feel weak. I know you feel scared out of your mind. I know you're unqualified. I can hear every one of those objections, but know this, I am with you. I'm with you.

Joel Brooks: 31:42

And this is different than all the other I am with you's. He adds one word to it. I am with you always. I will never ever leave you. You see, there's this, there's this question that as you go through judges that keeps popping up in my head, it's you find it in the end of the story we just read.

Joel Brooks: 32:07

It's when Gideon finally perceives, oh my gosh, I was just talking to the Lord. And it kinda hits him, and he realizes he was pretty rude. And and he's like, he knows what happens to people who talk to the Lord. They die. And that's when God says, no.

Joel Brooks: 32:27

Peace be to you. Don't fear you shall not die. And it says, Gideon built there to the lord and called it the lord is peace. And that's the first time we have in scripture. The lord declared to be peace or shalom.

Joel Brooks: 32:45

But Gideon knows his sin. We don't even know if he's a believer here, really. He's being called to be a judge, but now he's standing before the judge. How, how does this, how can God declare peace to him? And we know this, and when Gideon is pointing us forward to the Prince of peace, he is pointing us forward to Jesus.

Joel Brooks: 33:04

And this might sound cheesy here, but this, this hit me so hard this week. We do sit in the shade of another tree. We do. We go to the cross and we sit in the shade of that tree and we find rest. Colossians 120 says Christ reconciled himself all things, whether on earth or heaven, making peace by the blood of the lamb.

Joel Brooks: 33:35

And so God does declare to us that peace through the cross. We do rest there and that's why God can say, I am with you always, always. And I hope you find this an encouragement. Whatever task God has called you, that, yes, you're unqualified. Yes, you're probably fearful, but you know what?

Joel Brooks: 33:59

You're not that important. You're kind of a non factor in the equation. God is with you, so don't lose heart and do what he has called you to do as the church. Pray with me. Lord Jesus, we thank you for the cross, and we get to sit under the shade of that tree.

Joel Brooks: 34:29

We don't have to work and to work and to work and to work, and it'll all be fruitless. We get to rest in the finished work of Christ. And you've given us your spirit and you will never leave us. And God, you have not given us your spirit for us to sit for us to remain fearful. You've given us your spirit to complete the task that you have given us to go and to make disciples of all men.

Joel Brooks: 35:04

And And so I pray that we would run-in that commandment with all of our heart and our soul. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus.