1 00:00:01,366 --> 00:00:02,566 All right. 2 00:00:02,566 --> 00:00:03,333 Well, again, welcome. 3 00:00:03,333 --> 00:00:05,666 I appreciate you being here this morning. 4 00:00:05,666 --> 00:00:08,666 I'm excited to get back into, the book of judges. 5 00:00:08,666 --> 00:00:11,666 We're going to chapter by chapter, 6 00:00:11,900 --> 00:00:14,500 through the book of judges, 7 00:00:14,500 --> 00:00:17,266 though it's an historical book 8 00:00:17,266 --> 00:00:21,700 about the God's people, who going into the promised Land 9 00:00:21,700 --> 00:00:24,700 and taking possession of it and learning how to enjoy it? 10 00:00:24,933 --> 00:00:27,866 it still is very, very relevant, 11 00:00:27,866 --> 00:00:31,133 very, spiritual and practical lessons for us as well. 12 00:00:31,533 --> 00:00:35,200 And so, I'm excited to that we have the opportunity 13 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:39,033 to open up the Bible, that the Bible is, is I don't know if 14 00:00:39,366 --> 00:00:42,366 if you have as much fun with the Bible as I have. 15 00:00:42,900 --> 00:00:45,533 but it is a lot of fun, 16 00:00:45,533 --> 00:00:47,833 to read it, to understand, 17 00:00:47,833 --> 00:00:51,600 what God is saying to us in the the nuances behind it. 18 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:54,333 Everything God wants to say is very, very plain. 19 00:00:54,333 --> 00:00:57,000 but there are multiple levels to it as well. 20 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:00,000 Someone said this, that the Bible is, 21 00:01:00,233 --> 00:01:02,466 is is. So, 22 00:01:04,666 --> 00:01:06,566 the truth of God and, 23 00:01:06,566 --> 00:01:11,200 revealed in Scripture is so shallow a child can play in it 24 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:15,666 and so deep, and else it can drown in it like, it's just it's just it's beautiful. 25 00:01:16,133 --> 00:01:20,233 And so I appreciate the fact that we gather together on a weekly basis, 26 00:01:21,066 --> 00:01:25,800 to unpack it last week, I went through most of chapter 27 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:29,933 six of judges and introduced you to a man named Gideon. 28 00:01:30,433 --> 00:01:34,400 This week, I'm going to finish chapter six and do chapter seven. 29 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:37,266 There's the tail end of chapter six. 30 00:01:37,266 --> 00:01:39,600 I didn't get to. 31 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:43,966 And for church folks who, who who've grown up in church with with, 32 00:01:44,066 --> 00:01:49,166 with old Bible stories, Gideon will be somewhat familiar, 33 00:01:49,966 --> 00:01:54,000 especially the last part of chapter six that I didn't talk about. 34 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:57,600 For those of you for whom it's not familiar. 35 00:01:58,300 --> 00:02:02,000 I wanted to unpack it for you and give you some things I think that 36 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:06,700 you'll hopefully take with you, in the in the days that are coming, 37 00:02:07,700 --> 00:02:10,400 as both an encouragement, 38 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:13,500 and a source of strength and hope and to build your faith. 39 00:02:13,500 --> 00:02:16,166 So if you have a Bible and brought one with you, judges 40 00:02:16,166 --> 00:02:18,900 six of every last thing that we'll look at is on the app. 41 00:02:18,900 --> 00:02:21,900 You're welcome to turn there as well. 42 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:24,366 but judges six, 43 00:02:24,366 --> 00:02:26,833 God has as led 44 00:02:26,833 --> 00:02:29,833 his people into the Promised Land. 45 00:02:30,533 --> 00:02:33,133 He's given it to them as his gift 46 00:02:33,133 --> 00:02:36,133 that they gained by faith. 47 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:38,700 But it's by their faithfulness 48 00:02:38,700 --> 00:02:41,700 that they will enjoy the promise that God gave. 49 00:02:42,166 --> 00:02:44,000 And the same is true for us. 50 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:48,000 God gives us the promise of salvation that's gained by faith, 51 00:02:49,033 --> 00:02:49,900 not by works. 52 00:02:49,900 --> 00:02:54,900 But we enjoy God's gift of salvation by our faithfulness. 53 00:02:55,900 --> 00:02:58,600 And in judges, as the people were not faithful, 54 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:01,766 they did not enjoy the promise and the gift of God. 55 00:03:01,900 --> 00:03:02,833 Similarly, 56 00:03:04,733 --> 00:03:06,133 if I call myself a Christian 57 00:03:06,133 --> 00:03:11,533 but am not faithful in that relationship and my response to God in his love, 58 00:03:12,033 --> 00:03:15,433 I will not enjoy the promises of God that he's given me. 59 00:03:17,333 --> 00:03:21,600 Also, if I've never bit my lip 60 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:25,500 submission and said, God your God, I'm not, forgive me of my sin. 61 00:03:25,500 --> 00:03:28,233 I want a relationship with you. I believe what Jesus did on the cross. 62 00:03:28,233 --> 00:03:30,933 There's no way that you can 63 00:03:30,933 --> 00:03:33,933 enjoy the promises of God 64 00:03:34,133 --> 00:03:37,300 as he intended his people to experience them. 65 00:03:38,766 --> 00:03:42,133 And so, though the people are in the Promised Land, 66 00:03:42,833 --> 00:03:46,900 there's a lot of enemies of God's people in that land. 67 00:03:48,066 --> 00:03:50,433 And as the people failed to deal 68 00:03:50,433 --> 00:03:55,900 seriously with those people remaining there, as they failed to deal 69 00:03:55,900 --> 00:03:59,100 seriously with them, they ended up living 70 00:03:59,100 --> 00:04:02,333 still under bondage and defeat. 71 00:04:03,066 --> 00:04:04,000 Similarly, 72 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:07,900 if we failed to deal with the enemies 73 00:04:07,900 --> 00:04:12,533 of our spiritual life, sin, we fail to deal sin in our life. 74 00:04:12,566 --> 00:04:14,300 Seriously. 75 00:04:14,300 --> 00:04:17,533 We will also live lives of defeat. 76 00:04:19,766 --> 00:04:21,666 And so we enter this scenario. 77 00:04:21,666 --> 00:04:24,666 We see this man Gideon and God said, Gideon, 78 00:04:25,366 --> 00:04:28,400 I want to deliver you and my people 79 00:04:28,400 --> 00:04:32,333 from those enemies that are ruining their lives. 80 00:04:33,700 --> 00:04:35,700 Gideon and his people have cried out to God. 81 00:04:35,700 --> 00:04:39,166 God understands the the difficulty with which they're living. 82 00:04:39,166 --> 00:04:40,666 The he understands the defeat 83 00:04:40,666 --> 00:04:43,333 they're living under the enemies that are oppressing them. 84 00:04:43,333 --> 00:04:45,833 They cry out to God. God says, thank you for crying out to me. 85 00:04:45,833 --> 00:04:47,766 Of course I will intervene. 86 00:04:47,766 --> 00:04:48,800 Gideon, you're the one. 87 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:50,933 I'm going to do it through. 88 00:04:50,933 --> 00:04:54,500 And immediately Gideon comes up with excuses. 89 00:04:55,166 --> 00:04:58,233 Why, God, you probably choose someone else 90 00:04:59,100 --> 00:05:03,300 of why he's not quite ready, of why he's not quite capable. 91 00:05:03,966 --> 00:05:07,233 And it reminds me a lot of me in or reminds me a lot of you. 92 00:05:07,233 --> 00:05:08,566 And it reminds me a lot of us. 93 00:05:09,766 --> 00:05:12,300 Gideon really does want to be set free. 94 00:05:12,300 --> 00:05:15,733 Gideon really does want to live in the freedom of God's promises. 95 00:05:15,733 --> 00:05:19,700 Gideon really does want to be used of God in significant ways. 96 00:05:19,700 --> 00:05:22,700 But he's fearful, right? 97 00:05:22,733 --> 00:05:25,233 Little unsure, 98 00:05:25,233 --> 00:05:27,866 and reminds me of us 99 00:05:27,866 --> 00:05:31,433 because I believe that most of us really do 100 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:35,700 want all that God has for us. 101 00:05:36,966 --> 00:05:39,466 We want things to get better 102 00:05:39,466 --> 00:05:42,600 and to be better, and to be all that God designed them to be. 103 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:45,600 Our marriages and our families and our it and all that stuff. 104 00:05:46,500 --> 00:05:50,400 But there's part of us that is a little fearful to jump 105 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:51,533 all in with God, 106 00:05:51,533 --> 00:05:54,733 a little fearful, a little hesitant, a little bit of doubt to say, okay, 107 00:05:55,900 --> 00:05:57,366 I want to be a fan of Jesus. 108 00:05:57,366 --> 00:05:58,433 I don't want to be a fanatic. 109 00:05:58,433 --> 00:06:00,400 And so there's there's some of that with us 110 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:04,666 that we're just hesitant to say, okay, Lord, all the way, your way. 111 00:06:05,266 --> 00:06:07,000 Yeah. And so we're Gideon was. 112 00:06:08,300 --> 00:06:11,300 And so though God says, Gideon, you're my guy. 113 00:06:11,566 --> 00:06:13,733 Gideon says, I appreciate the sentiment. 114 00:06:13,733 --> 00:06:15,466 However, 115 00:06:15,466 --> 00:06:19,166 he's not quite sure of himself, nor of God. 116 00:06:20,366 --> 00:06:24,933 And so Genesis star sorry, judges six starting in verse 36. 117 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:27,833 Then Gideon said to God, 118 00:06:27,833 --> 00:06:30,833 if you will save Israel by my hand, 119 00:06:30,866 --> 00:06:33,766 he knows what God told him said, get it, I'm gonna save Israel by your hand. 120 00:06:33,766 --> 00:06:36,700 He says, if you're saved by my hand, as you have said, behold, 121 00:06:36,700 --> 00:06:39,700 I'm laid a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. 122 00:06:40,100 --> 00:06:41,366 Any of your church people? 123 00:06:41,366 --> 00:06:45,266 Have you ever heard the story of getting a man and the fleece laying out a fleece? 124 00:06:45,666 --> 00:06:46,833 A few of you. 125 00:06:46,833 --> 00:06:50,100 Okay, for those of you haven't, this is this is this really famous story. 126 00:06:50,766 --> 00:06:56,333 If there's dew on the fleece alone and it's dry on the ground, then 127 00:06:56,333 --> 00:07:00,166 I shall know that you will save yourself by my hand as you have said. 128 00:07:01,566 --> 00:07:02,933 And it was so 129 00:07:02,933 --> 00:07:06,500 when Gideon rose early the next morning, and squeeze 130 00:07:06,500 --> 00:07:10,333 the fleece, he wrung out enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl of water. 131 00:07:10,666 --> 00:07:13,466 Then Gideon said to God, God, that was fantastic. 132 00:07:13,466 --> 00:07:16,466 However. 133 00:07:16,500 --> 00:07:18,533 Let not your anger burn against me. 134 00:07:18,533 --> 00:07:21,533 Let me speak just once more. 135 00:07:21,533 --> 00:07:24,600 Please let me test just once more with the fleece. 136 00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:27,800 Please let it be dry 137 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:30,800 on the fleece only and all, 138 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:32,566 on all the ground. 139 00:07:32,566 --> 00:07:34,300 Let there be dew. 140 00:07:34,300 --> 00:07:36,833 And God did so that night, and it was dry 141 00:07:36,833 --> 00:07:40,266 on the fleece only, and all the ground there was do now. 142 00:07:40,266 --> 00:07:44,533 So Gideon really does want to do what he really does want to follow God. 143 00:07:44,533 --> 00:07:47,666 He really does want to be obedient and faithful and all that stuff. 144 00:07:47,766 --> 00:07:49,466 But he's just fearful. 145 00:07:49,466 --> 00:07:52,200 He's afraid. He's unsure. And so he says, God, 146 00:07:53,300 --> 00:07:56,066 if you're going to do what you said you would do, 147 00:07:56,066 --> 00:07:58,066 then I'm gonna lay this fleece out. 148 00:07:58,066 --> 00:08:01,500 At night when I wake up, I want the fleece be when the dry and the ground dry. 149 00:08:01,500 --> 00:08:03,266 And God does it. 150 00:08:03,266 --> 00:08:06,333 Would that be enough for me in you to say, all right, I'm. 151 00:08:06,333 --> 00:08:08,666 I'm in. 152 00:08:08,666 --> 00:08:09,600 No. It wouldn't. 153 00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:11,200 You're not any better. 154 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:12,233 I'm not either. 155 00:08:12,233 --> 00:08:15,233 Let's not, like, get all high and mighty right now. 156 00:08:15,500 --> 00:08:17,300 So. So here's here's what. Get it. 157 00:08:17,300 --> 00:08:19,300 And here's what we do. 158 00:08:19,300 --> 00:08:22,033 Well, 159 00:08:22,033 --> 00:08:24,166 maybe I should have reversed it 160 00:08:24,166 --> 00:08:27,466 because fleece absorbs water. 161 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:31,900 And so with the dew on the ground, maybe the fleece just absorbed 162 00:08:31,900 --> 00:08:32,833 all the water from the ground. 163 00:08:32,833 --> 00:08:35,200 And that's why the fleece was written the dry and the ground was dry. 164 00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:38,066 So maybe it really wasn't. God, I was hearing 165 00:08:39,066 --> 00:08:40,833 right? 166 00:08:40,833 --> 00:08:43,333 Maybe I just made 167 00:08:43,333 --> 00:08:46,233 a little bit more convincing. 168 00:08:46,233 --> 00:08:48,000 And so God, understanding 169 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:51,000 our doubts, understanding our fear is super patient 170 00:08:51,233 --> 00:08:54,233 allows Gideon to reverse it. 171 00:08:54,833 --> 00:08:57,100 And so God make the fleece 172 00:08:57,100 --> 00:09:00,100 dry, the ground wet, then all know 173 00:09:01,033 --> 00:09:04,033 and God does it because he is so good. It. 174 00:09:05,100 --> 00:09:07,700 But here's what I know. 175 00:09:07,700 --> 00:09:11,833 Fear is the driving force in Gideon's life. 176 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:16,033 He's scared. 177 00:09:16,033 --> 00:09:19,033 When God first called him, he was scared. 178 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:21,766 Threshing, 179 00:09:21,766 --> 00:09:22,966 threshing went out the winepress. 180 00:09:22,966 --> 00:09:23,800 We talked about that. 181 00:09:23,800 --> 00:09:26,800 It was a it was because he was scared of the Midianites. 182 00:09:28,966 --> 00:09:31,233 Fears driving. 183 00:09:31,233 --> 00:09:34,233 And when fear is at the helm, 184 00:09:35,400 --> 00:09:39,066 we spend our lives questioning God. 185 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:43,866 When fear's driving the bus, 186 00:09:43,866 --> 00:09:46,866 all we do is look for U-turns. 187 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:48,833 I want to go a different way. 188 00:09:48,833 --> 00:09:50,800 I want to do it differently. I'm afraid. 189 00:09:55,066 --> 00:09:56,100 This passage, I 190 00:09:56,100 --> 00:09:59,100 think, has been so misunderstood by church folks, 191 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:03,300 and I want to explain to you in a way, I think, that that honors 192 00:10:03,900 --> 00:10:07,100 what we know of God in Scripture and honors our response 193 00:10:07,100 --> 00:10:10,100 to him. 194 00:10:10,566 --> 00:10:12,100 This passage has been understood 195 00:10:12,100 --> 00:10:15,100 by my church people because they've been taught this way 196 00:10:15,700 --> 00:10:17,800 that says, God, 197 00:10:17,800 --> 00:10:19,466 I need to determine your will. 198 00:10:19,466 --> 00:10:21,833 So I'm going to put out a fleece. 199 00:10:21,833 --> 00:10:24,833 So give me a sign so I will know your will. 200 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:27,633 You understand how that plays? 201 00:10:27,633 --> 00:10:30,666 And at the surface of what that looks like, what Gideon's doing. 202 00:10:31,400 --> 00:10:34,400 But that's not what he's doing. 203 00:10:34,666 --> 00:10:37,666 Gideon already knew the will of God. 204 00:10:39,433 --> 00:10:40,733 God's will 205 00:10:40,733 --> 00:10:43,966 was to save his people through Gideon. 206 00:10:44,266 --> 00:10:47,266 Though, God's will wasn't in question. 207 00:10:49,633 --> 00:10:50,366 Gideon 208 00:10:50,366 --> 00:10:53,633 was not seeking a determination of God's will. 209 00:10:53,733 --> 00:10:57,100 Gideon was seeking a confirmation of God's presence. 210 00:10:58,900 --> 00:11:01,833 That's the difference. 211 00:11:01,833 --> 00:11:03,033 And when church people 212 00:11:03,033 --> 00:11:06,033 say, God, I need a sign from you about your will. 213 00:11:06,033 --> 00:11:07,366 God says, no, I have. 214 00:11:07,366 --> 00:11:10,366 Oh, you already know my will. 215 00:11:10,533 --> 00:11:13,200 The fact is that most people in church 216 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:16,200 know more of the will of God than what they do. 217 00:11:18,133 --> 00:11:19,433 Right. 218 00:11:19,433 --> 00:11:23,600 Our issue is not knowing what we ought to do according to God's will. 219 00:11:23,600 --> 00:11:26,666 Our issue is trusting enough to do it. 220 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:31,966 And so Gideon is not seeking a determination of the will of God. 221 00:11:32,133 --> 00:11:36,466 He is seeking the confirmation of God's presence because Gideon will know 222 00:11:36,466 --> 00:11:39,466 that God, if you are with me unmistakably, it's 223 00:11:39,466 --> 00:11:42,466 going to be okay. 224 00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:45,800 And I suggest that's where you and I are. 225 00:11:49,433 --> 00:11:52,600 To say, God, I need a sign from you about your will. 226 00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:54,900 I need guidance in the form of a sign. 227 00:11:54,900 --> 00:11:58,833 We have to be very, very, very careful because Jesus will later say a wicked 228 00:11:58,833 --> 00:12:01,866 and adulterous generation asks for a sign. 229 00:12:05,266 --> 00:12:05,766 We have to be very 230 00:12:05,766 --> 00:12:08,766 careful about this whole sign thing. 231 00:12:09,766 --> 00:12:12,866 While the Holy Spirit will come upon Gideon, 232 00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:16,700 we, after the cross and Pentecost, 233 00:12:16,700 --> 00:12:19,700 have been given the Holy Spirit within. 234 00:12:20,433 --> 00:12:23,066 And so the Christ follower, the disciple, 235 00:12:23,066 --> 00:12:28,466 the apprentice of Jesus, ought not ask for guidance, 236 00:12:28,466 --> 00:12:31,800 because God will say, I have given you the guide. 237 00:12:34,500 --> 00:12:37,000 You don't need to ask me for guidance 238 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:41,333 through a sign I have given you the guide within you. 239 00:12:41,533 --> 00:12:46,300 Another name of the Holy Spirit is our guide, and if we have been given 240 00:12:46,300 --> 00:12:51,933 God the guide within us, why would I be so frail in faith? 241 00:12:51,933 --> 00:12:55,800 To think I need a sign from God about guidance? 242 00:12:58,533 --> 00:13:00,400 You understand? 243 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:02,400 And so our issue 244 00:13:02,400 --> 00:13:04,933 is learning to tune our ear, 245 00:13:04,933 --> 00:13:09,866 to hear the voice of God, our guide, the Holy Spirit. 246 00:13:12,400 --> 00:13:13,200 So we don't have to 247 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:16,366 seek for signs and confirmations of his. 248 00:13:16,366 --> 00:13:19,166 Will you follow me so far? Oh, yes. 249 00:13:19,166 --> 00:13:22,166 Oh, yeah. Oh. 250 00:13:23,500 --> 00:13:24,733 So God is patient 251 00:13:24,733 --> 00:13:28,166 and gracious and is patient with Gideon like he's patient with us. 252 00:13:29,200 --> 00:13:31,266 He says, I'm going to speak to you again about my will. 253 00:13:31,266 --> 00:13:34,400 You already know it, but I will confirm my presence with you. 254 00:13:34,833 --> 00:13:37,033 And that's what he does for Gideon. 255 00:13:37,033 --> 00:13:39,400 And so then in verse in chapter seven, 256 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:43,566 then Zerubbabel, which is another name for Gideon and all the people 257 00:13:43,566 --> 00:13:47,133 who were with him rose early and encamped beside the spring of Herod. 258 00:13:48,066 --> 00:13:53,100 And the camp of Midian was north of them by the hill of Mora, in the valley. 259 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:56,100 The Lord said to get him, 260 00:13:56,100 --> 00:13:59,733 the people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, 261 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:04,666 lest Israel boast over me, saying, my own hand has saved me. 262 00:14:04,833 --> 00:14:07,766 So Gideon musters the forces, 263 00:14:07,766 --> 00:14:10,266 and he gets all the guys ready to fight, 264 00:14:10,266 --> 00:14:15,566 and we will learn that he has 32,000, men ready to go to battle. 265 00:14:15,900 --> 00:14:18,800 32,000 the problem? That's a lot of people. 266 00:14:18,800 --> 00:14:21,866 But the problem is the Midianites have mustered their forces 267 00:14:21,866 --> 00:14:27,633 of 135,030 2000, compared to 135,000. 268 00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:30,533 Do you see the problem? 269 00:14:30,533 --> 00:14:33,533 You see the problem. 270 00:14:34,500 --> 00:14:38,600 So those of you who didn't go to one of the Madera high schools, 271 00:14:38,966 --> 00:14:42,533 what what would be the the mathematical ratio 272 00:14:42,566 --> 00:14:48,033 35,000 compared 135,104 to 1. 273 00:14:48,033 --> 00:14:49,233 A marine got that? 274 00:14:49,233 --> 00:14:52,233 That is impressive. 275 00:14:52,633 --> 00:14:52,866 Yeah. 276 00:14:52,866 --> 00:14:55,866 It's a 4 to 1 ratio. 277 00:14:56,300 --> 00:14:58,800 That's not very good odds right. 278 00:14:58,800 --> 00:15:00,600 Going into battle a 4 to 1 ratio. 279 00:15:00,600 --> 00:15:03,600 Now you ask a marine is like yeah no problem. 280 00:15:07,166 --> 00:15:08,700 4 to 1 ratio. 281 00:15:08,700 --> 00:15:10,500 And God says get in. 282 00:15:10,500 --> 00:15:11,866 You got a problem. 283 00:15:11,866 --> 00:15:15,200 What what is the problem that God identifies for Gideon? 284 00:15:15,500 --> 00:15:16,866 Yes. Men. 285 00:15:16,866 --> 00:15:19,833 That Gideon has too many four. 286 00:15:19,833 --> 00:15:22,166 It's a 4 to 1 ratio. 287 00:15:22,166 --> 00:15:23,766 How are you going to tell me? 288 00:15:23,766 --> 00:15:26,433 I have too many. 289 00:15:26,433 --> 00:15:28,000 Listen, 290 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:30,000 most of us get in these times, 291 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:33,733 and maybe some of you are in these times when you feel completely outnumbered, 292 00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:37,966 when the cards stacked against you are too many, too 293 00:15:37,966 --> 00:15:42,100 powerful, too big, and you're crying for more. 294 00:15:42,100 --> 00:15:46,433 More resources, more time or energy, more, more your God, I need more. 295 00:15:46,466 --> 00:15:48,400 You haven't given me enough, right? 296 00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:49,933 The task reform is too difficult. 297 00:15:49,933 --> 00:15:51,466 Listen, here's what we have to understand. 298 00:15:51,466 --> 00:15:54,566 That difficulty must only be measured by the one doing the work. 299 00:15:58,033 --> 00:16:00,566 If the battle were completely up to get in his men. 300 00:16:00,566 --> 00:16:01,866 Yeah, it's difficult, 301 00:16:01,866 --> 00:16:05,066 but difficulty must only be measured by the one doing the work. 302 00:16:05,066 --> 00:16:08,066 Who is doing the work of this battle, Gideon or God 303 00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:11,400 shows a 4 to 1 ratio. 304 00:16:11,400 --> 00:16:13,433 Too difficult. 305 00:16:13,433 --> 00:16:17,266 Listen, as long as you and I fight our battles 306 00:16:17,266 --> 00:16:19,600 in our own strength, with our own resources 307 00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:23,833 and our own strategy, with our own knowledge, it's too much, 308 00:16:24,500 --> 00:16:25,800 it's too difficult. 309 00:16:25,800 --> 00:16:29,866 And that's why we feel overwhelmed and discouraged and tired 310 00:16:29,866 --> 00:16:33,533 and exhausted and defeated because we're trying so hard 311 00:16:33,533 --> 00:16:36,800 to muster our strength and muster us to do it. 312 00:16:38,566 --> 00:16:41,466 And it's too difficult. 313 00:16:41,466 --> 00:16:43,933 But when difficulty is measured by the one doing the work 314 00:16:43,933 --> 00:16:47,633 and we submit and say, okay, God, I am incapable, 315 00:16:48,933 --> 00:16:51,933 you are my only. 316 00:16:52,900 --> 00:16:54,666 My only option. 317 00:16:54,666 --> 00:16:57,300 Now the tables turn 318 00:16:57,300 --> 00:17:00,433 because now the difficulty is measured by the one doing the work. 319 00:17:02,133 --> 00:17:05,133 You understand and. 320 00:17:06,033 --> 00:17:08,133 And so 321 00:17:08,133 --> 00:17:09,966 now therefore, proclaiming the ears 322 00:17:09,966 --> 00:17:13,433 of the people, saying, This is God to get him to tell the people. 323 00:17:13,433 --> 00:17:16,533 So get tells the people, whoever is fearful and trembling, 324 00:17:16,533 --> 00:17:20,300 let him return home and hurry away from Mount Juliet. 325 00:17:20,466 --> 00:17:25,366 So then 22,000 of the 32,000 returned 326 00:17:25,366 --> 00:17:28,500 home, and Gideon was left with how many? 327 00:17:29,600 --> 00:17:32,600 10,000. 328 00:17:33,033 --> 00:17:35,733 Okay, guys, we're going to go to war. 329 00:17:35,733 --> 00:17:38,733 If you're afraid, you can go home. 330 00:17:38,766 --> 00:17:41,666 22,000 leave. 331 00:17:41,666 --> 00:17:44,666 Listen, this is what God does. 332 00:17:44,866 --> 00:17:47,200 He gives his people tests of faith. 333 00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:52,200 The opposite of fear is not courage. 334 00:17:52,200 --> 00:17:55,200 Biblical. The opposite of fear is faith. 335 00:17:55,466 --> 00:17:58,233 And so when he says, if you're fearful, leave. 336 00:17:58,233 --> 00:18:02,066 I don't want you here in this work. 337 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:03,866 What he's doing is giving them 338 00:18:03,866 --> 00:18:06,866 not a test of courage is giving them a test of faith. 339 00:18:06,900 --> 00:18:10,733 And God will always lead us to these positions of being outnumbered 340 00:18:10,733 --> 00:18:13,900 and overwhelmed, to give us tests of faith. 341 00:18:19,433 --> 00:18:22,933 When Gideon tells the guys, if you're fearful, leave. 342 00:18:23,066 --> 00:18:25,966 What he's doing is what God said to do. 343 00:18:25,966 --> 00:18:27,633 Back in Deuteronomy 20. 344 00:18:27,633 --> 00:18:30,033 I think verses five 629, 345 00:18:30,033 --> 00:18:33,900 God gave his people for reasons they didn't have to go to battle. 346 00:18:34,433 --> 00:18:36,633 One of them was, according to Deuteronomy 20, 347 00:18:36,633 --> 00:18:39,400 if you build a house, if you just built a house 348 00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:41,666 and are called up for service, you don't have to go serve 349 00:18:41,666 --> 00:18:44,366 because it would be horrible if you went to war and died 350 00:18:44,366 --> 00:18:45,566 and someone else got to live in your home. 351 00:18:45,566 --> 00:18:47,666 So go home, enjoy it for a little while. 352 00:18:47,666 --> 00:18:50,700 You know, you just moved to Riverstone just for fun and, 353 00:18:50,966 --> 00:18:52,366 curse out your neighbors. 354 00:18:52,366 --> 00:18:55,500 The second reason why you didn't have to go to battle 355 00:18:55,666 --> 00:18:59,900 is if if you planted a vineyard and the Bible says in due time 20 356 00:18:59,900 --> 00:19:01,733 if you just a vineyard, you don't have to go to war, 357 00:19:01,733 --> 00:19:03,166 because then if you died, someone else 358 00:19:03,166 --> 00:19:06,166 would eat your grapes in your oranges, and that would just be a barn. 359 00:19:06,600 --> 00:19:09,900 The third reason is you didn't have to go to war is if you got married 360 00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:11,800 and God was like, look. 361 00:19:13,900 --> 00:19:17,333 Nobody wants to get married and not enjoy their honeymoon. 362 00:19:17,333 --> 00:19:21,533 And so if you just get married, like, you don't have to go fight 363 00:19:21,533 --> 00:19:24,666 because your wife is going to be at home really frustrated and upset. 364 00:19:24,866 --> 00:19:28,566 And by the time you do come home, she's not going to be very happy with you. 365 00:19:28,566 --> 00:19:30,533 So just go home, take care of her. 366 00:19:30,533 --> 00:19:32,400 You know the fourth reason 367 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:35,400 why God said you don't have to go to war is if you're afraid. 368 00:19:35,666 --> 00:19:39,700 And the reason why God said if you're fearful you don't have to go is so that. 369 00:19:39,700 --> 00:19:43,800 And the Bible says, And I'm 20, otherwise your fear 370 00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:46,800 would infect the rest of your company. 371 00:19:48,466 --> 00:19:51,466 Here's what we have to understand. 372 00:19:51,766 --> 00:19:54,333 Fear and faith are both very contagious. 373 00:19:56,700 --> 00:19:58,133 And so when God says, I'm 374 00:19:58,133 --> 00:20:01,366 going to move, I want those who are want to move with me, to come with me. 375 00:20:01,366 --> 00:20:04,200 Everybody else, stay away. 376 00:20:04,200 --> 00:20:09,400 Because he knew if he allowed 22,000 fearful, unfaithful hearts 377 00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:12,700 to be amongst the 32,000, it would turn all 32 away. 378 00:20:14,333 --> 00:20:16,700 You understand? 379 00:20:16,700 --> 00:20:19,233 That's why some of you need to change your friends 380 00:20:19,233 --> 00:20:22,233 and your groupings. 381 00:20:25,133 --> 00:20:28,133 Because you're spending way too much time 382 00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:32,800 with fearful, doubting, unfaithful people. 383 00:20:34,233 --> 00:20:37,233 And you know the effect that has on you. 384 00:20:38,266 --> 00:20:41,266 Right. 385 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:43,800 So it says you're afraid. 386 00:20:43,800 --> 00:20:45,633 Go 10,000. 387 00:20:45,633 --> 00:20:47,000 Remain 388 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:49,500 against 135,000. 389 00:20:49,500 --> 00:20:51,833 What's the ratio, marine one. 390 00:20:51,833 --> 00:20:54,833 Yeah, well I would say 14 to 1, but we can disagree on it. 391 00:20:55,433 --> 00:20:58,433 14 to 1. 392 00:20:58,700 --> 00:21:01,033 Or the odds getting better or worse. 393 00:21:01,033 --> 00:21:03,300 And what's God doing. 394 00:21:08,666 --> 00:21:11,066 On the Lord said to Gideon the people are still too many. 395 00:21:11,066 --> 00:21:13,866 Come. Whoa whoa whoa, hold on. 396 00:21:13,866 --> 00:21:16,000 You're going the opposite direction. 397 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:19,533 God, I agree to follow you, and stuff's getting worse. 398 00:21:20,066 --> 00:21:22,800 I be obedient, and stuff's getting more difficult. 399 00:21:22,800 --> 00:21:25,300 Ever been there? 400 00:21:25,300 --> 00:21:27,666 God, I'm doing what you asked. 401 00:21:27,666 --> 00:21:30,666 Why are you turning the fire up 402 00:21:31,333 --> 00:21:34,333 right. 403 00:21:34,433 --> 00:21:37,466 Take them down to the water and I'll test them for you there. 404 00:21:37,466 --> 00:21:42,600 And anyone whom I say to you, this one shall go with you shall go with you. 405 00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:48,600 And anyone of whom I say to you, this one shall not go with you shall not go. 406 00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:52,133 So he brought the people down to the water. 407 00:21:52,666 --> 00:21:57,000 And the Lord said to Gideon, everyone who laps the water with his tongue, 408 00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:01,933 as a dog does, you shall set by himself. 409 00:22:01,933 --> 00:22:06,000 Likewise everyone who kneels down to drink 410 00:22:07,266 --> 00:22:08,166 gods give it. 411 00:22:08,166 --> 00:22:09,000 Here it is. 412 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:11,700 When I was a little boy, my parents did a great job 413 00:22:11,700 --> 00:22:13,400 at taking us to church and telling us Bible stories. 414 00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:15,700 This was one of the stories that that our parents taught 415 00:22:15,700 --> 00:22:18,700 us, and I had a question like, what is God doing here? 416 00:22:19,500 --> 00:22:22,500 Like, you got to send these guys to boot camp to get them ready. 417 00:22:23,066 --> 00:22:26,066 Now, when my daddy was in a marine Corps boot camp 418 00:22:26,233 --> 00:22:29,233 did not consist of how do you drink water? 419 00:22:30,533 --> 00:22:33,533 That seems what boot camp is for these guys. 420 00:22:33,733 --> 00:22:36,733 And I was really like, what is this? 421 00:22:36,833 --> 00:22:38,866 This is why the Bible didn't make sense to me. Like it does. 422 00:22:38,866 --> 00:22:41,466 This is ridiculous. Let me tell you what's going on. 423 00:22:41,466 --> 00:22:44,766 God was giving his people the test of readiness. 424 00:22:44,766 --> 00:22:47,300 He had already given them the test of faith. 425 00:22:47,300 --> 00:22:51,000 I know you're fearful, but will you be faithful now? 426 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:52,300 He's giving you the test of readiness. 427 00:22:52,300 --> 00:22:54,133 And this is how this this is what was going down. 428 00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:58,233 He's got all these guys, 429 00:22:58,233 --> 00:23:00,000 and he says, I want you to take him down to the river 430 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:03,000 because they're thirsty and watch how they drink. 431 00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:04,666 They've got two options. Drink. 432 00:23:04,666 --> 00:23:08,100 One is drinking like a dog does when he gets down 433 00:23:08,100 --> 00:23:11,100 on all fours and drinks like this. 434 00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:14,966 But if you have a dog, is how they drink right? 435 00:23:16,233 --> 00:23:18,266 He says, some of you guys are going to be out there 436 00:23:18,266 --> 00:23:21,900 and they're supposed to verify and they're thirsty and they're drinking. 437 00:23:23,366 --> 00:23:26,400 Some of them are going to scoop the water 438 00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:30,300 and they're going to drink out of their hands, 439 00:23:30,300 --> 00:23:31,966 right? 440 00:23:31,966 --> 00:23:34,133 That's how they're going to do it. 441 00:23:34,133 --> 00:23:36,600 What's the difference? 442 00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:39,600 We're getting ready to go to war. 443 00:23:39,633 --> 00:23:41,966 Am I ready to fight? 444 00:23:41,966 --> 00:23:44,366 No, I'm a dead man. 445 00:23:44,366 --> 00:23:47,000 I got no idea what's going on around me right 446 00:23:48,133 --> 00:23:48,300 then. 447 00:23:48,300 --> 00:23:51,300 If I fight with swords, how am I going to grab my sword? 448 00:23:52,033 --> 00:23:54,900 Whereas this. 449 00:23:54,900 --> 00:23:56,566 But now I'm alert. 450 00:23:56,566 --> 00:23:58,433 Now I'm ready. 451 00:23:58,433 --> 00:23:59,900 I see what's going on. 452 00:23:59,900 --> 00:24:01,500 I'm not surprised by a thing. 453 00:24:01,500 --> 00:24:04,500 If I need to draw my sword, I can draw my sword. 454 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:06,133 Do you see? It is doing. 455 00:24:06,133 --> 00:24:07,633 He's giving them a test of ready. 456 00:24:07,633 --> 00:24:09,600 Are you ready? 457 00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:11,966 You might believe you might have things with me, 458 00:24:11,966 --> 00:24:14,966 but you're not ready. 459 00:24:19,166 --> 00:24:22,166 Set. Are you ready? 460 00:24:26,166 --> 00:24:29,166 It's the same thing as us. 461 00:24:29,633 --> 00:24:30,733 Are you, in a word, to you? 462 00:24:30,733 --> 00:24:33,600 Where are your eyes? Open. 463 00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:36,233 Are you surprised by how I don't see it? 464 00:24:36,233 --> 00:24:36,500 Come on. 465 00:24:36,500 --> 00:24:39,500 I'm not here. 466 00:24:44,566 --> 00:24:46,066 There's an offer named Cooper, 467 00:24:46,066 --> 00:24:51,100 and he said people live in four different colors white, yellow, orange and red. 468 00:24:52,600 --> 00:24:55,500 And people who live in the white. 469 00:24:55,500 --> 00:24:56,700 They're these type of people. 470 00:24:56,700 --> 00:25:13,700 See, if you've seen them. Yes. 471 00:25:16,766 --> 00:25:18,300 Clueless. 472 00:25:18,300 --> 00:25:21,700 Do you ever see people walking around town like that? 473 00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:24,566 Walk around school one where I work 474 00:25:24,566 --> 00:25:27,566 at home with the people they're supposed to love. 475 00:25:28,166 --> 00:25:32,133 Whenever I'm out around town and I see people walking like this, 476 00:25:32,300 --> 00:25:35,366 I make sure I get right in front of them and start walking right towards them, 477 00:25:35,833 --> 00:25:38,833 because I can't wait to run into them. 478 00:25:39,633 --> 00:25:41,666 Friggin head down generation 479 00:25:41,666 --> 00:25:46,233 living in the white, completely oblivious to what's going on around them. 480 00:25:46,400 --> 00:25:49,400 And when they live like that, when you live like that 481 00:25:49,500 --> 00:25:53,300 and something happens, you're dead. 482 00:25:53,700 --> 00:25:56,700 Yeah, it's not. 483 00:25:59,266 --> 00:26:02,400 And so one thing is, author says that we need to be people who live in the yellow. 484 00:26:04,166 --> 00:26:06,300 We're alert. 485 00:26:06,300 --> 00:26:08,266 You notice things, 486 00:26:08,266 --> 00:26:11,033 you see, who sit sitting where, 487 00:26:11,033 --> 00:26:14,000 see who's carrying what. 488 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:16,266 You notice. 489 00:26:16,266 --> 00:26:19,166 And they're not surprised. 490 00:26:19,166 --> 00:26:22,166 That's what God was doing. 491 00:26:22,733 --> 00:26:25,566 Live attentively. 492 00:26:25,566 --> 00:26:26,900 Understand what the Scripture says. 493 00:26:26,900 --> 00:26:28,800 So we don't wrestle primarily against flesh and blood, 494 00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:31,800 but against rulers, authorities and powers who don't sleep. 495 00:26:33,333 --> 00:26:36,133 It's a constant. 496 00:26:36,133 --> 00:26:38,500 But greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. 497 00:26:38,500 --> 00:26:41,366 You don't have to be fearful, but you got to be aware. 498 00:26:41,366 --> 00:26:43,500 Yeah. Amen. 499 00:26:43,500 --> 00:26:45,533 There's a lot more going on than what we see. 500 00:26:45,533 --> 00:26:47,566 And if all we see is all that we see that 501 00:26:47,566 --> 00:26:50,566 we're missing a lot that we should be seeing. 502 00:26:56,033 --> 00:26:57,200 Like I said, my daddy taught me 503 00:26:57,200 --> 00:26:59,500 that principle a long time ago, and I still remember it. 504 00:27:01,666 --> 00:27:04,800 Someone said this, and many people take a lot of unnecessary time 505 00:27:04,800 --> 00:27:09,566 with necessary things to be alert for your heart. 506 00:27:09,966 --> 00:27:11,700 Be ready. 507 00:27:11,700 --> 00:27:14,400 Have a sense of urgency, 508 00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:16,700 not panic and not rush, 509 00:27:16,700 --> 00:27:20,366 but alertness and urgent, especially regarding 510 00:27:20,366 --> 00:27:23,366 spiritual things. 511 00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:27,600 And the number of those who lapped 512 00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:30,600 putting their hands to their mouths was 300 men, 513 00:27:30,600 --> 00:27:33,600 but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. 514 00:27:33,633 --> 00:27:37,566 And the Lord said to Gideon, with the 300 men who left, 515 00:27:37,566 --> 00:27:42,133 I will save you, and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go. 516 00:27:42,133 --> 00:27:43,400 Every man to his home. 517 00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:47,166 So the people took the provisions in their hands and their trumpets, 518 00:27:47,400 --> 00:27:51,333 and he sent all the rest of Israel, every man, to his tent, 519 00:27:51,466 --> 00:27:56,700 but retained the 300 men from 32,000 down to how many? 520 00:27:57,900 --> 00:28:03,533 300. Now, finally, 521 00:28:04,766 --> 00:28:07,000 God's in a position to get the glory. 522 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:08,833 If they would have wanted a 4 to 1 ratio, 523 00:28:08,833 --> 00:28:11,833 they all thought, yeah, well, we're pretty darn good fighting men. 524 00:28:15,466 --> 00:28:15,766 You know what 525 00:28:15,766 --> 00:28:19,166 the ratio was now 300 to compare 235,000.00 526 00:28:20,100 --> 00:28:23,100 and 450 to 1, 527 00:28:24,766 --> 00:28:26,433 450 to 1. 528 00:28:26,433 --> 00:28:27,566 That's the odds. 529 00:28:27,566 --> 00:28:31,800 So I mean the Spartans couldn't even get this done right? 530 00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:35,600 This is Sparta. 531 00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:41,400 450 to 1. 532 00:28:42,566 --> 00:28:44,533 If you ever felt like those are your odds 533 00:28:44,533 --> 00:28:47,533 that. 534 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:52,966 And the captain Midian 535 00:28:52,966 --> 00:28:56,300 was below him in the valley that same night, the Lord said to him. 536 00:28:56,300 --> 00:29:00,300 Arise, go down against the camp, for I've given it into your hand. 537 00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:03,733 But if you are afraid, Gideon, because he knows us. 538 00:29:05,733 --> 00:29:07,666 If you're afraid, 539 00:29:07,666 --> 00:29:12,100 if you're afraid to go down in the desert, go down into the camp with your servant, 540 00:29:13,166 --> 00:29:16,200 and you shall hear what they say. 541 00:29:16,300 --> 00:29:19,300 And after afterward, your hands 542 00:29:19,300 --> 00:29:22,300 shall be strengthened to go down against the camp. 543 00:29:22,433 --> 00:29:25,033 Then he went down with Pourra, his servant, 544 00:29:25,033 --> 00:29:28,200 to the outpost of the armed men who were in the camp, 545 00:29:28,933 --> 00:29:33,533 and the Midianites, and the Amalekites, and all the people of the east 546 00:29:33,533 --> 00:29:38,100 lay along the valley like locusts in abundance, and their camels 547 00:29:38,100 --> 00:29:42,733 were with outnumber as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance. 548 00:29:44,233 --> 00:29:46,666 God says, Gideon, if you're still afraid, 549 00:29:46,666 --> 00:29:49,333 take your servant and go down to their camp. 550 00:29:49,333 --> 00:29:51,766 And what does Gideon do 551 00:29:51,766 --> 00:29:52,800 or take? 552 00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:55,266 Servant goes down. What's that mean about Gideon? 553 00:29:55,266 --> 00:29:58,266 He's still afraid. 554 00:29:58,866 --> 00:30:01,900 Why don't you think at some point you have enough? Say. 555 00:30:01,900 --> 00:30:03,366 Okay, well. Let's go. Right. 556 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:09,666 We're the same. 557 00:30:09,666 --> 00:30:12,166 God answers one for God steps and does one thing. 558 00:30:12,166 --> 00:30:15,166 And immediately for God. I'd. 559 00:30:17,800 --> 00:30:20,400 He's still fearful. 560 00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:23,133 Overwhelming odds. 561 00:30:23,133 --> 00:30:26,133 And God is so good and so. 562 00:30:28,300 --> 00:30:29,733 Look at this. 563 00:30:29,733 --> 00:30:32,366 When Gideon came down to the camp, 564 00:30:32,366 --> 00:30:35,533 behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade. 565 00:30:36,333 --> 00:30:39,200 And he said, behold, I dreamed a dream. 566 00:30:39,200 --> 00:30:43,900 And get this a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, 567 00:30:43,900 --> 00:30:47,733 and came to the tent, and struck it, so that it fell, 568 00:30:47,733 --> 00:30:53,100 and turned the whole thing, the whole tent upside down, so that the tent laid flat. 569 00:30:53,466 --> 00:30:55,166 And his comrade answered, well, 570 00:30:55,166 --> 00:30:58,833 this is no other than the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of Israel. 571 00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:02,200 God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp. 572 00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:03,633 So God says, get it? 573 00:31:03,633 --> 00:31:06,966 If you're still afraid, I want you to go right now and listen. 574 00:31:07,100 --> 00:31:09,333 And he gets there right at the moment 575 00:31:09,333 --> 00:31:12,366 where one of the midnight soldiers is telling another soldier 576 00:31:12,366 --> 00:31:15,600 about a dream he had of a barley loaf rolling down the hill, 577 00:31:15,833 --> 00:31:17,866 crashing into the tent and leveling the tent. 578 00:31:17,866 --> 00:31:19,500 God's timing is so good. 579 00:31:21,700 --> 00:31:24,533 He got get into where he needed to be right at the right moment 580 00:31:24,533 --> 00:31:27,533 to bolster his faith. 581 00:31:28,866 --> 00:31:31,133 Why is it significant that it was a barley loaf 582 00:31:31,133 --> 00:31:34,133 rolling down the hill? 583 00:31:34,300 --> 00:31:35,600 Barley was the bread 584 00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:38,600 that you fed your livestock, not your people. 585 00:31:39,200 --> 00:31:42,766 It was the bread of the poorest, of the poor, of the poor. 586 00:31:43,366 --> 00:31:46,800 What was Gideon's initial excuse when God said, I want to use you? 587 00:31:47,100 --> 00:31:49,233 He said, I have no value. 588 00:31:49,233 --> 00:31:54,100 I'm the least and most insignificant of all the people in my family. 589 00:31:54,400 --> 00:31:58,700 And my family is at least the most insignificant family in the entire tribe. 590 00:31:58,800 --> 00:32:02,966 And our tribe is the least, most insignificant tribe of all 12 I, 591 00:32:03,800 --> 00:32:05,800 I have no value. 592 00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:08,800 I can't do this. 593 00:32:08,933 --> 00:32:11,200 So God is addressing his initial concern. 594 00:32:14,766 --> 00:32:16,800 I'm gonna take a barley loaf. 595 00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:20,300 That which in your eyes has no value is of no consequence. 596 00:32:21,600 --> 00:32:23,566 And that's why I'm going to use it. 597 00:32:23,566 --> 00:32:26,566 Was Gideon. 598 00:32:27,333 --> 00:32:30,333 God is so good. 599 00:32:31,700 --> 00:32:32,733 And so look at what he does. 600 00:32:32,733 --> 00:32:36,000 He gets this word like he's like, okay, I got my God, I got God, I got 601 00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:39,066 as soon as Gideon 602 00:32:39,066 --> 00:32:43,200 heard this telling of this dream and this interpretation, he. 603 00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:46,200 What he worshiped 604 00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:49,200 and the return of the camp of Israel and said, arise. 605 00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:51,900 For the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand. 606 00:32:51,900 --> 00:32:54,900 Listen. 607 00:32:56,033 --> 00:32:57,666 We have to become worshipers 608 00:32:57,666 --> 00:33:00,666 before we can be warriors. 609 00:33:02,766 --> 00:33:04,333 We have to become worshipers 610 00:33:04,333 --> 00:33:07,333 before we become warriors. 611 00:33:07,833 --> 00:33:08,966 It's not about the fight. 612 00:33:08,966 --> 00:33:11,966 It's about the worship. 613 00:33:12,900 --> 00:33:13,933 I like to say it like this. 614 00:33:15,100 --> 00:33:16,400 Public victories are 615 00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:19,400 results of private devotions. 616 00:33:21,166 --> 00:33:23,600 Most people just work on the the public. 617 00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:24,266 I got to get better. 618 00:33:24,266 --> 00:33:27,266 I got to be. 619 00:33:27,333 --> 00:33:30,333 This has to happen first. 620 00:33:31,566 --> 00:33:34,566 This has to happen first. 621 00:33:38,233 --> 00:33:40,333 Our private or public victories 622 00:33:40,333 --> 00:33:43,566 will be the result of private devotions. 623 00:33:44,866 --> 00:33:46,766 After I've worshiped, 624 00:33:46,766 --> 00:33:49,766 after I've done time with Jesus, then I can find. 625 00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:54,233 When I fight for your marriage, 626 00:33:54,233 --> 00:33:57,233 it's going to be after you've worshiped, 627 00:33:57,900 --> 00:34:01,333 after you've devoted yourself to God in His Word. 628 00:34:02,100 --> 00:34:03,233 You want to fight for your family. 629 00:34:03,233 --> 00:34:05,166 It's after you worship. 630 00:34:05,166 --> 00:34:08,166 It's after your devotions. 631 00:34:08,400 --> 00:34:10,900 Do you understand? 632 00:34:10,900 --> 00:34:14,100 Gideon got all this confirmation from God and he didn't go fight. 633 00:34:14,100 --> 00:34:17,100 He went to church. 634 00:34:17,833 --> 00:34:20,500 I'm proud of you for being here. 635 00:34:20,500 --> 00:34:23,666 This is your prayer preparation for your battle this week. 636 00:34:25,366 --> 00:34:28,366 Your public victories will be a result 637 00:34:28,633 --> 00:34:31,633 of this. 638 00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:37,133 But look at the art 451. 639 00:34:37,266 --> 00:34:40,266 This is what God often does. 640 00:34:41,100 --> 00:34:44,233 He often God often stacks the deck against us. 641 00:34:44,366 --> 00:34:46,766 Makes the odds worse and worse and worse. 642 00:34:46,766 --> 00:34:51,200 When we pray for better odds, God says, that's not my way. 643 00:34:52,533 --> 00:34:55,300 My way are worse odds for you. Why? 644 00:34:55,300 --> 00:34:58,500 Two reasons to reveal our faith or lack of it. 645 00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:03,600 And to require us to live by faith. 646 00:35:06,866 --> 00:35:09,000 Not to live by the confidence 647 00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:12,133 in our strength or the confidence in the numbers. 648 00:35:14,666 --> 00:35:15,600 All through the Bible, 649 00:35:15,600 --> 00:35:18,600 this is what God does. 650 00:35:19,433 --> 00:35:22,433 God went from 4 to 1 with Gideon 651 00:35:23,166 --> 00:35:26,166 all the way down to 450 to 1 odds. 652 00:35:26,766 --> 00:35:29,133 You go later in the Bible, 653 00:35:29,133 --> 00:35:31,733 Elijah with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. 654 00:35:31,733 --> 00:35:35,833 If you include the prophets of Baal and the prophets of Asherah, 850 to 1. 655 00:35:37,166 --> 00:35:37,800 If you 656 00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:41,633 look at the way God's math and ratios work starts at 4 to 1, goes 657 00:35:41,633 --> 00:35:45,900 to 451, goes to 851, and then by the time Jesus gets here 658 00:35:45,900 --> 00:35:51,133 was his disciples Post-Resurrection he says, I'm with you and I'm sending you. 659 00:35:51,233 --> 00:35:52,266 You'll be my witness. 660 00:35:52,266 --> 00:35:54,600 Here's the very end of the age. 661 00:35:54,600 --> 00:35:57,600 Those ratios at that time. 662 00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:04,266 11 to 300 million. Wow. 663 00:36:05,666 --> 00:36:08,966 That's a 1 to 27 million ratio. 664 00:36:09,700 --> 00:36:12,933 Look at God's math from 4 to 1 665 00:36:12,933 --> 00:36:16,066 450 to 1 850 to 1 666 00:36:17,466 --> 00:36:18,000 to one. 667 00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:21,300 For every 22,000,027 million. 668 00:36:24,866 --> 00:36:27,866 That's God's math. 669 00:36:29,966 --> 00:36:31,766 Why does God keep him moving 670 00:36:31,766 --> 00:36:34,766 the odds that way against us? Why? 671 00:36:37,100 --> 00:36:40,100 Because he keeps proving himself. 672 00:36:42,166 --> 00:36:44,966 To go from 4 to 1, down to 2 to 1. 673 00:36:44,966 --> 00:36:45,833 What are you getting weaker. 674 00:36:50,733 --> 00:36:53,733 Right. 675 00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:55,633 Remember, difficulty is measured 676 00:36:55,633 --> 00:36:58,633 by the one doing the work. 677 00:36:59,566 --> 00:37:01,500 One for every 27 million. 678 00:37:01,500 --> 00:37:03,300 Ain't tough for God. 679 00:37:03,300 --> 00:37:05,233 He's the one doing the work. 680 00:37:05,233 --> 00:37:09,400 So when the odds feel like it is overwhelming God against me, 681 00:37:09,466 --> 00:37:11,000 God says, I know it is 682 00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:15,200 because I want you to come to terms with what your faith is and what it isn't. 683 00:37:15,266 --> 00:37:20,966 And I want you to come to terms of submitting to me for. 684 00:37:28,766 --> 00:37:29,733 If you're being forced 685 00:37:29,733 --> 00:37:32,733 to rely only on God, guess what? 686 00:37:32,966 --> 00:37:35,533 Rely on God alone. 687 00:37:35,533 --> 00:37:38,533 If you're being forced to rely on God alone, rely on God alone. 688 00:37:39,833 --> 00:37:42,833 It's pretty simple. 689 00:37:43,966 --> 00:37:45,700 We keep thinking and praying 690 00:37:45,700 --> 00:37:48,700 that God will give us better odds. 691 00:37:48,700 --> 00:37:50,400 And God says, I don't want you to have better odds. 692 00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:51,700 I want you to have a little bit of faith. 693 00:37:54,066 --> 00:37:54,900 Because a little bit of faith. 694 00:37:54,900 --> 00:37:57,900 I'll move a mountain. 695 00:37:58,166 --> 00:38:01,166 Right. 696 00:38:03,933 --> 00:38:05,033 I need to fight a 300 man 697 00:38:05,033 --> 00:38:08,366 into three companies and put trumpets in the hands of all the all of them. 698 00:38:08,366 --> 00:38:11,600 And empty jars with torches inside. 699 00:38:12,933 --> 00:38:14,700 Each man has two hands. 700 00:38:14,700 --> 00:38:15,900 He's been given two implements. 701 00:38:15,900 --> 00:38:17,466 What are they? 702 00:38:17,466 --> 00:38:19,566 A trumpet and a torch with. 703 00:38:19,566 --> 00:38:21,000 With the jar. 704 00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:24,000 Where's the sword? 705 00:38:26,600 --> 00:38:29,233 It's not listed. 706 00:38:29,233 --> 00:38:29,966 They got two hands. 707 00:38:29,966 --> 00:38:33,633 They got a trumpet and a torch covered up in a jar. 708 00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:37,933 And he said to them, look at me. Use. 709 00:38:37,933 --> 00:38:40,933 Gideon says, look at me and do like, do what I do 710 00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:46,366 when I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do when I blow the trumpet. 711 00:38:46,866 --> 00:38:49,866 I and all who are with me then blow the trumpet. 712 00:38:49,866 --> 00:38:54,266 And on every side of the camp, and shout for the Lord and for Gideon. 713 00:38:55,200 --> 00:38:58,200 I love this about leaders. 714 00:38:58,766 --> 00:39:01,466 Leaders lead from the front. 715 00:39:01,466 --> 00:39:04,466 They don't command from the rear. 716 00:39:04,800 --> 00:39:06,600 Leaders are the tip of the spear. 717 00:39:06,600 --> 00:39:09,600 Leaders say, do as I do, 718 00:39:10,033 --> 00:39:13,033 not just what I say. 719 00:39:13,233 --> 00:39:15,000 That's the role of leaders. 720 00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:18,000 That's the role of leadership. 721 00:39:21,200 --> 00:39:22,366 Watch what happens. 722 00:39:22,366 --> 00:39:25,166 So Gideon, of the 100 men who were with him, 723 00:39:25,166 --> 00:39:29,300 came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle of us. 724 00:39:29,300 --> 00:39:29,666 Watch. 725 00:39:29,666 --> 00:39:31,666 So right as they had had 726 00:39:31,666 --> 00:39:34,666 and had just set the watch as they were changing the guards, 727 00:39:35,700 --> 00:39:38,966 and they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in heads. 728 00:39:39,033 --> 00:39:42,033 What was then thought inside the jars, the torch. 729 00:39:44,533 --> 00:39:45,666 Then the three companies 730 00:39:45,666 --> 00:39:48,666 blew the trumpets and broke their jars. 731 00:39:48,666 --> 00:39:50,833 They held in their left hand the torches 732 00:39:50,833 --> 00:39:53,833 and in the right hands the trumpets to blow. 733 00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:57,466 And they cried out, A short for the Lord and for Gideon. 734 00:39:57,466 --> 00:40:00,600 And every man stood in his place around the camp, 735 00:40:01,500 --> 00:40:03,900 and all the army ran. 736 00:40:03,900 --> 00:40:05,300 They cried out and fled. 737 00:40:06,333 --> 00:40:06,700 You got 738 00:40:06,700 --> 00:40:10,500 Gideon's 300 men around the the rim of the camp. 739 00:40:10,500 --> 00:40:14,433 The mediums and markets are all down below and in the middle of the night. 740 00:40:14,433 --> 00:40:15,566 Write offs and change the guard. 741 00:40:15,566 --> 00:40:18,200 All of a sudden crash of the jars. 742 00:40:18,200 --> 00:40:21,233 All these torches illumine and the trumpets sound. 743 00:40:21,400 --> 00:40:25,633 And it looks to the enemies down below as if they are surrounded 744 00:40:25,633 --> 00:40:28,800 by hordes of armies. 745 00:40:31,900 --> 00:40:33,833 When did get in his men ever draw 746 00:40:33,833 --> 00:40:36,833 their sword? 747 00:40:38,333 --> 00:40:41,333 God wanted to make it so crystal clear. 748 00:40:43,666 --> 00:40:46,033 This is about me. 749 00:40:46,033 --> 00:40:48,800 It's not about your ability. 750 00:40:48,800 --> 00:40:50,666 I'm with you. 751 00:40:50,666 --> 00:40:52,866 Don't be afraid. 752 00:40:52,866 --> 00:40:55,866 In the midst of your fear, be obedient. 753 00:40:56,100 --> 00:40:59,100 I got this. 754 00:41:02,300 --> 00:41:05,300 They lose their minds. 755 00:41:05,433 --> 00:41:08,100 When they blew the 300 trumpets, the Lord set 756 00:41:08,100 --> 00:41:11,100 every man's sword against his comrade. 757 00:41:11,133 --> 00:41:13,800 And against all the army. 758 00:41:13,800 --> 00:41:15,800 They slaughtered each other 759 00:41:17,100 --> 00:41:18,266 without Gideon and his 760 00:41:18,266 --> 00:41:21,266 300 men doing the thing. 761 00:41:21,666 --> 00:41:24,666 And that day, God won a great victory. 762 00:41:25,500 --> 00:41:30,266 Not because Gideon was fearless, but in the midst of his fear. 763 00:41:30,266 --> 00:41:32,966 He was obedient 764 00:41:32,966 --> 00:41:35,100 to understand. 765 00:41:35,100 --> 00:41:36,866 And he didn't fight or complained 766 00:41:36,866 --> 00:41:39,866 against God, stacking the odds against him, 767 00:41:40,166 --> 00:41:43,166 he said, okay, God, that's how are you going to play this one? 768 00:41:43,200 --> 00:41:45,133 What do you want from me now? 769 00:41:45,133 --> 00:41:47,133 Okay, God, that's how you're going to play this one. 770 00:41:47,133 --> 00:41:48,700 What do you want from me now? 771 00:41:48,700 --> 00:41:50,600 Okay. God, that's how you're going to play this one. 772 00:41:50,600 --> 00:41:52,966 What do you want 773 00:41:52,966 --> 00:41:55,966 from me now? 774 00:41:58,566 --> 00:42:01,766 The great victory that God gained that day was great, 775 00:42:01,766 --> 00:42:04,766 but it was going to create a lot of internal problems. 776 00:42:05,266 --> 00:42:07,466 And chapter eight is all about that. 777 00:42:07,466 --> 00:42:11,033 You see, when Gideon garners to garner his people to go fight, 778 00:42:11,033 --> 00:42:15,700 he left out the largest and most powerful of the northern tribes. 779 00:42:15,700 --> 00:42:16,800 He didn't invite them to fight. 780 00:42:19,233 --> 00:42:20,000 And because our 781 00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:23,000 egos are so wrapped up in ourselves, 782 00:42:23,966 --> 00:42:25,800 the fact that they weren't invited, 783 00:42:25,800 --> 00:42:28,800 it triggered them. 784 00:42:33,066 --> 00:42:36,066 And because they weren't asked to be a part of the battle, they got jealous 785 00:42:36,633 --> 00:42:39,300 because they were ignorant, arrogant, 786 00:42:39,300 --> 00:42:42,300 and their feelings got really hurt. 787 00:42:42,733 --> 00:42:45,733 Let me just tell you this, my friends. 788 00:42:45,966 --> 00:42:48,966 Jealous people with hurt feelings 789 00:42:49,200 --> 00:42:52,200 rob everybody's joy. 790 00:42:56,266 --> 00:42:59,266 They'll work it out. 791 00:43:01,533 --> 00:43:02,400 But that's for next week. 792 00:43:02,400 --> 00:43:02,733 Chapter it. 793 00:43:02,733 --> 00:43:05,733 I want you to read it this week. 794 00:43:06,133 --> 00:43:09,133 For us, as we wrap this up, 795 00:43:09,233 --> 00:43:10,400 I want to ask you this. 796 00:43:10,400 --> 00:43:13,800 Have you consider does it feel like you're just up against it? 797 00:43:16,600 --> 00:43:19,900 Whatever it is, are the odds forever 798 00:43:19,900 --> 00:43:22,900 not in your favor. 799 00:43:24,066 --> 00:43:27,066 You have to know who God is. 800 00:43:28,733 --> 00:43:30,166 If you're going to have hope of surviving it. 801 00:43:32,000 --> 00:43:34,866 See, disciples know this. 802 00:43:34,866 --> 00:43:37,000 Followers of Jesus know this. 803 00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:40,000 Apprentices of Jesus know. 804 00:43:41,266 --> 00:43:44,266 That he is a God who is capable of anything. 805 00:43:45,900 --> 00:43:48,900 Go ahead, God, stack the odds 806 00:43:49,400 --> 00:43:51,166 you're doing the work. 807 00:43:51,166 --> 00:43:53,300 It's okay. 808 00:43:53,300 --> 00:43:55,766 Disciples, apprentices of Jesus know 809 00:43:55,766 --> 00:43:58,933 that he's a God who will give us tests of faith, and we need him. 810 00:43:59,666 --> 00:44:01,800 We need him. 811 00:44:01,800 --> 00:44:05,200 He'll put us in positions to be fearful because he wants to reveal the faith 812 00:44:05,200 --> 00:44:08,200 we have when we don't have. 813 00:44:10,800 --> 00:44:12,000 Disciples of Jesus. 814 00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:16,200 Apprentices of Jesus know that he's a God who will give us tests of readiness. 815 00:44:16,500 --> 00:44:19,166 Pay attention. 816 00:44:19,166 --> 00:44:22,166 Are you aware? 817 00:44:22,333 --> 00:44:23,500 Of what's going on around you? 818 00:44:23,500 --> 00:44:26,500 Not just in the physical world, but spiritually as well? 819 00:44:27,566 --> 00:44:30,066 Disciples of apprentices just know this. 820 00:44:30,066 --> 00:44:32,400 He's capable of anything, but it's going to put us in positions 821 00:44:32,400 --> 00:44:36,300 and test our faith and faith and and put us in position to test our readiness. 822 00:44:38,266 --> 00:44:40,200 And so 823 00:44:40,200 --> 00:44:42,633 disciples of Jesus, 824 00:44:42,633 --> 00:44:45,633 well, you must be a worshiper before you become a warrior. 825 00:44:48,666 --> 00:44:51,666 But we have to be people of worship. 826 00:44:53,400 --> 00:44:55,933 And prayer and Bible reading and 827 00:44:55,933 --> 00:44:58,933 and the internal stuff 828 00:44:59,100 --> 00:45:02,100 where this becomes the priority, 829 00:45:03,400 --> 00:45:05,533 not your strategy, 830 00:45:05,533 --> 00:45:08,533 not your numbers. 831 00:45:10,666 --> 00:45:13,633 Well, we we have to realize that our public victories 832 00:45:13,633 --> 00:45:16,633 will only be a result of private devotions. 833 00:45:18,833 --> 00:45:20,633 You want to win. 834 00:45:20,633 --> 00:45:23,433 You want your marriage, your family, 835 00:45:23,433 --> 00:45:26,433 your finances. 836 00:45:26,466 --> 00:45:28,333 You want where you invest your time and your energy. 837 00:45:28,333 --> 00:45:31,333 It starts here. 838 00:45:32,133 --> 00:45:35,133 Before it's ever seen out there. 839 00:45:35,900 --> 00:45:36,666 Disciples. 840 00:45:36,666 --> 00:45:39,666 Apprentices of Jesus understand 841 00:45:39,800 --> 00:45:42,800 that we rely on God alone. 842 00:45:43,200 --> 00:45:46,200 To whom else are you going to go 843 00:45:46,300 --> 00:45:49,300 right? 844 00:45:49,300 --> 00:45:52,300 Aren't your prayer? 845 00:45:55,400 --> 00:45:57,133 God, you are a good God. 846 00:45:57,133 --> 00:45:58,533 Good, good. 847 00:45:58,533 --> 00:46:02,100 And I thank you for what you've given us in your Word 848 00:46:02,633 --> 00:46:07,000 that shows us your heart, that helps us understand your ways. 849 00:46:07,700 --> 00:46:10,133 So that you are not a mystery anymore. 850 00:46:10,133 --> 00:46:11,666 Though you are mysterious, 851 00:46:12,966 --> 00:46:15,733 you and your ways are not a mystery 852 00:46:15,733 --> 00:46:16,800 that we can know you. 853 00:46:16,800 --> 00:46:18,600 We can know them. 854 00:46:18,600 --> 00:46:21,000 I thank you for your word, 855 00:46:21,000 --> 00:46:24,400 and I thank you that you love us enough to remain faithful 856 00:46:24,400 --> 00:46:27,400 to who you are and to those you have called 857 00:46:28,533 --> 00:46:31,900 God. There are some of us in this place that are fearful. 858 00:46:32,433 --> 00:46:35,433 There are some of us in this place that have very little faith, 859 00:46:37,333 --> 00:46:41,100 that all we see are the odds stacked against us, 860 00:46:41,466 --> 00:46:46,066 the odds stacked against our marriage, the odds stacked against our health, 861 00:46:46,066 --> 00:46:50,400 the odds stacked against our future, the odds stacked against our family. 862 00:46:50,400 --> 00:46:53,400 The odds stacked against. 863 00:46:54,300 --> 00:46:56,900 And for some, that is so overwhelming 864 00:46:56,900 --> 00:46:59,900 and so fearful. God, 865 00:47:00,233 --> 00:47:03,233 they just don't know what to do. 866 00:47:05,533 --> 00:47:08,200 And I thank you that you understand that about us, 867 00:47:09,233 --> 00:47:12,600 and that with mercy and patience 868 00:47:13,466 --> 00:47:16,033 you call us, even 869 00:47:16,033 --> 00:47:19,233 in the midst of fear and doubt, 870 00:47:19,500 --> 00:47:23,366 to take one step of obedience at a time. Yes. 871 00:47:24,000 --> 00:47:29,533 Yes, father, I believe that you have spoken to us what your will is. 872 00:47:29,533 --> 00:47:32,533 We're not asking to know more. 873 00:47:33,066 --> 00:47:35,000 What we are asking for 874 00:47:35,000 --> 00:47:38,000 is confirmation of your presence 875 00:47:38,366 --> 00:47:41,800 and your power with us and within us. 876 00:47:44,000 --> 00:47:47,000 Holy spirit, you are our guide. 877 00:47:48,700 --> 00:47:51,700 Guide. You, 878 00:47:51,833 --> 00:47:54,833 God, you are the God who is with us. 879 00:47:55,633 --> 00:47:58,633 Confirm that for us 880 00:47:59,766 --> 00:48:01,700 and we will take. 881 00:48:01,700 --> 00:48:04,133 I challenge you just to make this commitment to God right now. 882 00:48:04,133 --> 00:48:06,833 I challenge you to make this commitment to God. 883 00:48:06,833 --> 00:48:09,833 I promise to make 884 00:48:10,000 --> 00:48:13,000 imperfect steps of obedience. 885 00:48:14,866 --> 00:48:17,000 God, I'm not going to tell you that I'm going to be perfect. 886 00:48:17,000 --> 00:48:18,133 I'm not. 887 00:48:18,133 --> 00:48:23,066 But I will promise I will take imperfect steps of obedience as 888 00:48:24,433 --> 00:48:25,600 best I can. 889 00:48:25,600 --> 00:48:28,600 You know? 890 00:48:29,066 --> 00:48:29,733 And, father, 891 00:48:29,733 --> 00:48:33,900 as you see us, as we show you that we trust you 892 00:48:34,700 --> 00:48:39,433 by even our imperfect steps of obedience, would you move your hand 893 00:48:40,533 --> 00:48:43,533 in spite of the overwhelming, not 894 00:48:43,566 --> 00:48:46,566 would you move your hand 895 00:48:46,700 --> 00:48:49,700 in mighty and unmistakable ways 896 00:48:50,400 --> 00:48:52,900 to confirm who you are 897 00:48:52,900 --> 00:48:57,733 that we've seen in Scripture, and to do what you've done in the past? 898 00:48:57,900 --> 00:49:00,200 The stories that we heard in their days. 899 00:49:00,200 --> 00:49:02,466 May they be the stories that we tell in ours. 900 00:49:02,466 --> 00:49:04,066 You hear? 901 00:49:04,066 --> 00:49:07,066 We trust you. 902 00:49:07,066 --> 00:49:07,733 That's what we got. 903 00:49:07,733 --> 00:49:10,733 No one else to trust. 904 00:49:12,333 --> 00:49:13,633 Do what only you can do. 905 00:49:13,633 --> 00:49:16,533 And for that God, we give you things. 906 00:49:16,533 --> 00:49:17,400 In your name I pray. 907 00:49:17,400 --> 00:49:19,466 Amen. 908 00:49:19,466 --> 00:49:21,966 Listen, I love you, I love. 909 00:49:21,966 --> 00:49:23,300 Open the Bible with you. 910 00:49:23,300 --> 00:49:25,400 The Bible is fun, isn't it? 911 00:49:25,400 --> 00:49:26,333 Any fun? 912 00:49:26,333 --> 00:49:28,566 Yeah, it's good stuff, man. 913 00:49:31,033 --> 00:49:33,900 So listen, judges eight, next week, 914 00:49:33,900 --> 00:49:36,366 we'll do our best to get through that and see what God gives us a little bit. 915 00:49:36,366 --> 00:49:38,666 And we'll get on to chapter nine and ten as well. 916 00:49:38,666 --> 00:49:40,766 It's pretty interesting. Okay. 917 00:49:40,766 --> 00:49:42,300 All right. 918 00:49:42,300 --> 00:49:44,466 Kind of song alley that you were 919 00:49:44,466 --> 00:49:47,466 Zoe singing actually that was Jeff singing. 920 00:49:47,666 --> 00:49:49,766 They're going to help. I hope so.