[0:00] We're going to be in Judges 6. We're going to start in verse 33, and we're just going to go to the end of the chapter, which gets us down to verse 40, so not very many verses. We're in one of those sections of the Old Testament, which we can actually slow down and not take it in such big chunks.
[0:16] Namely, we're in the story of Gideon. Gideon has more verses attributed to him in the book of Judges than any other judge. I don't want to say that he is our model judge, because we pass our model judge with Othniel, who was the very first judge.
[0:31] He's the model. Anything which follows Othniel in the book of Judges is a lower standard. As a matter of fact, with each judge, we are progressively getting lower and lower and lower.
[0:43] This shouldn't surprise us because the theme throughout the book of Judges seems to be a repetitive theme of not only just a spiral, but a spiral downward. It is not just going around and around. It is also going down and down.
[0:54] It's going down the further it goes around. And we see this even being played out in the lives of the judges themselves. With Othniel, we have a model judge who we don't have anything strange recorded of him.
[1:07] We don't have anything, even the way he fought his battles are not recorded. We just know that the Lord moved him. He went and served the Lord and delivered his people. We move on and we finally get to Gideon and we'll come to others.
[1:20] And we'll get to Samson and we'll really just get to really the fallout, if you will, of the book of Judges. But we can slow down in the story of Gideon because we are told a little bit more about these events and how they happen.
[1:36] And it lets us pump the brakes just a little bit. If you remember, we've already looked at Gideon twice in the sixth chapter. We have seen how the angel of the Lord appeared to him, gave a very clear calling to him.
[1:51] He came to him and said he was the one who was going to be used. God was going to use him to deliver his people from the hand of Midian. We have seen how God not only called him, God validated that call through the acceptance of a sacrifice offered to him.
[2:09] He, the angel of the Lord there, Gideon said, I want to know for sure who it is that's speaking to me. We would call that the testing of the spirits. So he brings an offering and he puts it on a rock and the angel of the Lord touches the rock with a staff and fire springs up and he descends into smoke.
[2:24] We have seen through that encounter that more than likely this is not just an angel. This is God himself speaking to Gideon. Number one, angels don't accept worship and sacrifices or worship.
[2:37] Number two, it says, and God looked at him or the Lord looked at him. So attributes of God are attributed to this angel. We would call that a theophany.
[2:48] It's an appearance of God through a manifestation to his people. We've seen not only that, but God had this calling upon Gideon's life and it's a specific calling, right? Go in the strength of yours and deliver my people from the hand of Midian.
[3:02] That's specific, very clear. And then he validates that over and over to him. He encourages him. Gideon learns a new name of God, which means he's in a deeper relationship with him.
[3:15] And as a result of learning a new name of God, he builds an altar and he names it. This is one aspect in which Gideon is unique. He builds an altar and he names it, the Lord is peace.
[3:28] Yahweh Shalom. He learns this name of God. That he has seen God face to face and yet he hasn't died. And then God builds his faith by telling him to go tear down the altar of Baal that his father had and to cut down the Asherah.
[3:45] And to build a new altar upon that very stronghold, that site. And on that altar to offer a bull, a bull of seven years of age. And to use the wood from the Asherah pole to be the fire for the offering of the bull.
[4:00] We saw the uniqueness in that, in that an altar to Baal would have been an image of a bull. So he uses a live bull to pull down a dead bull. And when he pulls down the dead bull, he builds an altar of stones that's not real pretty.
[4:14] And he cuts down an Asherah pole, which is like a totem pole, and he uses it as firewood. And he sets fire on this altar of stones where this fake bull used to be. And he kills a live bull and he puts a live bull on the altar.
[4:27] And that live bull that he offered as an offering was seven years old. Seven, not only the number of completion, but we also know that they had suffered under the hands of Midian for seven years.
[4:40] So more than likely, that altar had been resurrected for seven years. God was going back for each year, right? Redeeming the time. So he had strengthened him.
[4:52] He encouraged him. Gideon was afraid because he didn't know what was going to happen. You don't just walk into somebody's house and tear down their altar. Now his dad had an altar of Baal on a hill that belonged to the people of the town.
[5:07] So Gideon was afraid of the people of his father's household. He was also afraid of the town's folks, so he did it at night. And the next morning, we have found this great attribute last time we were together on Wednesday nights, is that if we live sincerely in our faith, we'll never be able to keep it private.
[5:25] A sincere faith is never a secret faith because eventually it goes public. So the town's folk get up and they can't help but notice there's no Asherah pole sticking up anymore.
[5:36] There's no pretty golden cow up there anymore. Rather, there's this pile of stones and there's a fire on top of it and smoke is ascending. And they ask around to find out who it is and they say, well, that's Gideon did that.
[5:50] And sure enough, in Gideon's mind, he is going to be stoned and that's what they want to do to him. But Gideon's dad, the most unlikely, stands in the gap and says, are you going to contend for Baal?
[6:00] If Baal is a god, he can contend for himself. So they mock Gideon. And they give him a new name. Jerubbabel, he whom Baal contends with.
[6:12] And that's what gets us to this place. Now that's important. The background is important. Because now we come in to verse 33 where it says, then.
[6:24] See, we need to know what preceded the then so that we can know what led up to the then. Right? Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the sons of the east assembled themselves.
[6:35] And they crossed over and camped in the valley of Jezreel. So the spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon. And he blew a trumpet. And the Abysserites were called together to follow him.
[6:46] And he sent messengers throughout Manasseh. And they also were called together to follow him. And he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali. And they came up to meet them.
[6:57] Then Gideon said to God, if you will deliver Israel through me as you have spoken, behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only and it is dry on all the ground, then I will know that you will deliver Israel through me as you have spoken.
[7:13] And it was so. When he arose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece, he drained the dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water. Then Gideon said to God, do not let your anger burn against me that I may speak once more.
[7:28] Please let me make a test once more with the fleece. Let it now be dry only on the fleece and let there be dew on all the ground. And God did so that night.
[7:39] For it was dry only on the fleece and dew was on all the ground. Judges 6, 33 through 40. Here we see Gideon literally putting out his fleece.
[7:50] And testing to see if what he thinks is about to come about is actually going to come about. Now we do not hold Gideon up as a model of faith. We don't. If Gideon was to be a model of faith, he would be worse than doubting Thomas, right?
[8:04] I mean Thomas of the apostles had more faith than Gideon did. Gideon is not a model of faith. He's not one that we would say, well, we need to follow his example. We don't need to be people of the fleece.
[8:15] We don't need to be people putting out the fleece and seeing this. We don't have here a biblical illustration of how to test the will of God. That's not what that is. But what I want you to see is in this passage an opportunity presented to fulfill one's calling.
[8:29] I know that's a long title, especially for a Sunday night. But it's an opportunity presented to fulfill one's calling. Because while the calling of Gideon was clear and his calling was confirmed, his calling was conditioned with the relationship, his calling was full of conviction that he knew he was going to be built up, his calling had all these attributes.
[8:53] He still had not lived up to his calling. His calling was not to tear down the Asherah pole and the altar of Baal. That was not his calling. His calling was to go in this strength of yours and deliver my people from the hand of Midian.
[9:08] Because it says in verse 14 of the sixth chapter, The Lord looked at him and said, Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian.
[9:18] Have I not sent you? A calling always moves us, right? A calling always moves us to do something that we're not normally fitted to do. A calling always has a specific purpose and a specific point.
[9:31] And here we see his calling. Everything that lived up to this or that happened before this came about was just to reassure or to undergird his calling. It was the groundwork underneath, the things we don't see, the things that are beneath the surface.
[9:46] This was the stuff that was laid as a foundation so that he could stand and do his calling. And now the time has come, the opportunity is there to fulfill his calling.
[9:58] And he should have been ready. He had a clear calling. He had a clear leading. He had a magnificent encounter. He was the most unlikely of people in the most unlikely of places called to do the most unlikely of things.
[10:16] And yet the opportunity to do it is presented before him here at the end of this chapter. The reality is, and we've seen this as we've looked through the story of Gideon, is that God always calls his people for a purpose.
[10:31] Listen, he doesn't call any of us to fill space in history. He calls us to be busy about his work. He calls us for specific reasons. He equips us. When we gather together, those of us that will be there at the retreat, our theme is connected.
[10:48] From the book of Ephesians, Ephesians 4, verse 16, how each part is vital to the body. Each part has a specific calling within the body.
[10:58] And when we read the Ephesians 4 principle, we see the reality that it is the Lord himself who puts the body together. See, people don't just join a church because they think it's a good place to be.
[11:11] People don't just join a church because they like the personalities, or the messages are good, or the messages are bad, or the conditioning of the space is good, or the beautiful building.
[11:23] And that may be what they say, but the reality is, the Bible says the Lord puts his church together. He adds to, he takes away, he, I really believe that.
[11:34] It's a biblical conviction. And he does it for the intent that when someone unites with the body, there's a calling upon that individual's life.
[11:46] And the reason I know this, we have this teaching throughout Scripture of spiritual giftedness, that the moment we come to Christ, we are filled with the Spirit. And being filled with the Spirit, we are empowered by the Spirit for a specific purpose of God.
[12:02] Scripture tells us God has created us for good works, that he had ordained for us before the foundations of the world were laid. It blows my mind that before he said, let there be light, he already knew that someone named Billy Joe Calvert was going to be born, and he was going to call him to preach.
[12:17] It just blows my mind. I mean, I would have never dreamt it. I would have never desired it. I would have never sought it. I would have never thought about it. I would have anything to do but it.
[12:29] But before he spoke it into existence, he had something that he was calling me to do. And the same with each and every one of us. The same with each and every one of us.
[12:42] And the beautiful thing is, is that there's always that moment where the opportunity is presented. The opportunity came to me because the church that I was a member of, that I was a deacon of, that I was serving as a volunteer youth worker of, went through a very terrible time.
[13:05] Our pastor had resigned. We called another pastor. Things didn't work out too well. The church was crumbling. Things weren't going. It wasn't all sunshine and roses around there, right?
[13:16] It was not that wonderful of a time. And we had an interim guy there, Brother Sidney Gibson. Some of you know Brother Sidney. And Brother Sidney licensed me in 2004 to the ministry.
[13:27] And then in 2004, December of 2004, he licensed me officially into the ministry. And I knew I had a calling. He knew I had a calling. But the opportunity wasn't there yet.
[13:39] I had sought and prayed about going to college. And I was going to go up to Clear Creek Baptist Bible College and be a mountaintop preacher. That's where I was going to go learn. I ended up taking classes through Clear Creek. So don't knock it too much.
[13:50] I've taken classes a little bit everywhere. And I was going to go up there. And the reason it appealed to me is because there was nothing there. Right? We went up there I don't know how many times. I'd go spend a weekend up there and just hang out up there.
[14:00] And it was so quiet. And I wanted to do that. But in my house, it wasn't quiet. There were three little kids at the house, right? So the Lord never released me, so to say, to take my young family and move them up to Kentucky, to the hills of Kentucky and the coal mines.
[14:14] He never released me for that. He said, I've called you to preach, but I've also given you a job. So I stayed with the jobs that I had. Even some of them I didn't like. And anyway, this is a big part of my story.
[14:25] And I thought, well, I don't know. Well, then the church I was at, I was just continuing on, continuing on. Brother Sidney's job, his work schedule changed. And he couldn't be there on Wednesday nights anymore.
[14:37] No, Sunday nights. He couldn't be there on Sunday nights anymore. His work schedule changed. Many of you know he works at Bridgestone. He couldn't be there on Sunday nights. Well, the church was desperate. There wasn't but about five or six of us there on Sunday nights anyway.
[14:51] He said, well, Billy Joe, if it's all right, why don't you preach for us on Sunday nights? That's encouraging, right? But there's the opportunity. He says, okay, I'll do it. And then he said, you know what?
[15:02] I can't be here on Wednesday nights either. His work schedule changed. I said, well, we hate to do it, Billy Joe, but we ain't got nobody else on Wednesday nights. Would you do it on Wednesday nights too? You ain't got no teenagers in the youth anyway.
[15:14] Okay, there's the opportunity. So I started preaching on Wednesday nights. It was about six months. That was in December of 2005.
[15:24] December 2005, so about a year to the date. They said, because, by the way, when there ain't but eight people gathered together and they look around and one of you is already licensed in the ministry, they're going to make you do it. Okay?
[15:35] So there we go. There's my opportunity. We go along. It's not until, and I'll never forget it because we're coming up on it. October 15, 2006.
[15:47] October 15, 2006 was the day I was ordained into the ministry. I don't usually make this public, but October's Pastor Appreciation Month, and I always thought it was unique that I was ordained smack dab in the middle of Pastor Appreciation Month.
[16:00] October 15, 2006. And the only reason they'd done it is because I had been preaching Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Sunday, Wednesday evening. So I'd been preaching three times a week since January 2006.
[16:13] And they said, you know what? We never did ordain you. I'd been serving there for 10 months and was not ordained. And they said, well, we need to get a pastor search committee together and decide if we even want you.
[16:25] I'd been serving for 10 months. The chairman of the pastor search committee told me I was too young. I didn't need to be doing it.
[16:37] He voted no. He's a dear friend of mine. You've heard him. Brother Kenneth Swan. You've heard him. He told you guys sitting here, he said, I would have voted no again because at 26, I wasn't ready.
[16:52] But there was the opportunity. And against his good judgment, he said, okay, we'll do it. We don't have anybody else anyway. And that's how God allowed me the opportunity to fulfill my calling.
[17:05] I didn't get this glorious calling from somewhere way out yonder and come welcome them with this, you know, what they call the honeymoon period.
[17:16] I didn't have a honeymoon period. It just wasn't there. It's okay. Each and every one of you have opportunities presented to live out your calling.
[17:27] And Gideon gets his in this passage. See, a few things that remind us of the opportunity. Number one, we'll make these quick.
[17:40] We know the opportunities there is number one because of the enemy's presence. Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the sons of the east assembled themselves and crossed over.
[17:52] What was Gideon's calling? To go in the strength of yours and defeat Midian. And all of a sudden, the very people that he has called to defeat come to him.
[18:03] I mean, the Midianites cross over and come to him. The very thing that God had called him to do, the very people that God had appointed him to go defeat.
[18:14] He didn't have to seek them. They came to him. Now, this shouldn't surprise us because the scripture tells us that they had annual raids. Every year they would come, these camel riding Midianites, and come into their place and ravage the land.
[18:26] And God had called him, had emboldened him, had strengthened him. And now he brought them to him. He didn't have to search them out. He didn't have to go to their place. As a matter of fact, the enemy came into his own territory.
[18:39] The enemy came into his land. Friend, listen to me. As long as the enemy is present, there is opportunity to live out our calling. And the scripture tells us our enemy still ravages around seeking whom he may devour.
[18:54] As long as the enemy is present in our own land, there is opportunity to live out our calling. Because our calling is to always push back the enemy.
[19:06] And the very presence of the enemy is the opportunity he was waiting on. Number two, there is the empowerment of the spirit. So as soon as the enemy becomes present, it wasn't until the enemy decided to cross over the Jordan River.
[19:19] It wasn't until the enemy decided to come and camp out in the Jezreel Valley. But at that moment, listen, his calling was to defeat Midian. He wasn't empowered to defeat them until the enemy was present.
[19:31] At that moment, as soon as the enemy was there, as soon as the opportunity presents itself, it says, So the Spirit of the Lord, capital S, the Spirit of the Lord, that is the Holy Spirit, overcame him.
[19:44] Or came upon him. Some translations say it cloaked him. It clothed him. It literally wrapped around him like a coat. The Spirit of the Lord wrapped over him.
[19:55] Because it is not until the opportunity presents itself and the enemy is present, that then there is the empowerment of the Spirit. The Spirit is going to empower him to fulfill his calling.
[20:08] His calling was not to tear down the altar of Baal. That was his command. His calling was not to offer up a sacrifice. That was a command. His calling was to defeat Midian.
[20:18] And it wasn't until he had the opportunity to defeat Midian that he was empowered with the Spirit. Friend, we are filled with the Spirit. But we need to keep being filled with the Spirit.
[20:30] That command that Paul says, to be filled with the Spirit. The wording is there. To continue to be filled with the Spirit. Someone asked D.O. Moody one time. He was preaching. He was preaching. He kept saying, be filled.
[20:41] You need to continuously be filled. You need to continuously be filled. You need to continuously be filled. And he tells the story. There was a little old lady sitting on the front pew. Had her big Sunday go to meet and hat on. And she hollered at him and said, Why do you keep talking about being filled with the Spirit?
[20:54] You've already got him. I guess you could talk back to preachers back then. It was okay, right? And he looked at her and he said, Ma'am, because I have holes and I leak. I got problems in my life.
[21:06] And that's why we're commanded to be filled. To be filled. To be filled. And that feeling brings empowerment. That feeling brings boldness. And too many people miss this. The reason we see so little empowerment of the Spirit is because we see so little taking of the opportunity.
[21:24] Do you think that the Holy Spirit will empower us to do nothing? No. We are empowered when the opportunity presents itself. And we say we're going to fulfill our calling.
[21:37] So little empowerment. Because so little opportunity ceased. But the time came when the Midianites were present. The calling was there. The opportunity presents itself.
[21:50] So now all of a sudden he is empowered by the Spirit to do it. Number three. Number three. Thirdly. Not only do we see the enemy's presence. The empowerment of the Spirit.
[22:01] We see the encouragement of others. The encouragement of others. Do you remember how we started the story of Gideon? In those days. The Midianites would come in and ravage the land.
[22:13] And that is why they had all these caves dug up in the hillside. Because what would happen is when the Midianites would come in. And the Amalekites and all the people from the east would come in.
[22:24] They would go hide in these caves until they left. Right? And then they would come down and find their land ravished. And all their fields were cut and burned. And all their livestock was carried off. And there were all these strongholds up in the hills.
[22:35] Because we got to go hide. We got to go hide. We got to go hide. These very people that had to go hide. Now all of a sudden. These Midianites.
[22:47] The Amalekites. All these people come. And they're camped out in Jezreel. And look at what the Word of God says. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon. And he blew the trumpet. That is. He sounded the alarm.
[22:58] Now up until this point. When everybody saw them come. They went and hid. Nobody wanted to be there. Around the Midianites. And the Amalekites. But he blows the trumpet.
[23:10] And look at what it says. And the Abysserites were called together to follow him. And he sent messengers throughout Manasseh. And they also were called together to follow him. And he sent messengers to Asher.
[23:21] Zebulun and Naphtali. And they came up to meet them. All of a sudden. Those who were going to the hills and hiding. Are coming out and ready to fight. And all he did was blow a trumpet.
[23:35] Because when God calls us. He never calls us to isolation. He may call us as individuals. But he always calls us and connects us to others. And one of the great opportunities we see in our calling.
[23:49] Is the encouragement that we get from others. There are no stand alone saints. There are no isolated believers. But unfortunately that takes place too often within our bodies. And it's here when we need to sound the trumpets.
[24:03] And we need to be encouraged by the reality. That as we are preparing to live out our calling. People come beside us. Now we would rather do it alone. Some of us say well I don't want to do it with other people. If I do it alone everything will be okay.
[24:15] And I don't have to worry about others. Right but there's no encouragement from that. The Bible tells us that a strand of three is not easily broken. That's why there has to be this togetherness.
[24:27] This one another. Oh I've got a list somewhere. And I'm going to try to find it before our retreat. I went through a class. A biblical counseling class.
[24:38] Is one of my course requirements. You guys will be encouraged. I'm signed up this semester. I'll finally get to take introduction to hermeneutics. Hermeneutics is how to preach.
[24:50] I've only been pastoring for 16 years. And I'm finally going to take a class and figure out how to preach. I'm really excited about that. I'm not joking. I'm pretty excited about it. There's a lot of things I'm sure I've done wrong.
[25:04] I'm not very quick. My seminary is a lot longer than most people. Okay. It takes a long time before I can even take the classes you're supposed to take. I just need to have a little bit of time. But anyway I took one of those classes.
[25:15] And our professor gave us a list of all of the one another's in the New Testament. All of the one another passages. To love one another. To build up one another. To hold up one another.
[25:26] To serve one another. All the one another's. They're there and the one another's are present. Because there is encouragement from others. Think about this.
[25:37] Gideon's calling is to defeat them. Gideon says what can I do? I am from the smallest clan and I'm the smallest of my father's family. What can I do? He can blow a trumpet.
[25:47] And as soon as he blows a trumpet people show up. Now if he'd have blown a trumpet before nobody would have been there. But he blows a trumpet. And everybody comes.
[26:00] They're there. Oh what encouragement this must be. Oh how refreshing this must be. You would think that at this time Gideon would say.
[26:11] You know what? This might just happen. Look at all these people. They used to go in hiding and now they're coming out. The problem is. We haven't even got to verse 36.
[26:24] The problem is. The opportunity is presented itself. And God affirms it by the enemy being there. By the empowerment of the spirit. By the encouragement of others. All these people around him.
[26:36] But we finally get to this last part. Where we see an extended grace. An extended grace.
[26:49] This sixth chapter of the book of Judges. Is so grace filled. And mercy filled. I don't understand how you can open up the Old Testament.
[26:59] And say the God of the Old Testament is a big mean God. Because even in his dealings with Gideon. Gideon deserves none of this. Gets all of this. Gideon's hiding.
[27:13] In the wine of that. Doubting God from the very beginning. God is patient. And waits over an hour probably for him to go prepare this. I mean he prepares a young bull. It doesn't take.
[27:24] By preparing means that bull was walking around in the field just a minute ago. Right? Okay. And he cooks it. And he brings out. It takes some time to do something like that. And he just waits. The angel of the Lord says. I'll wait. And God is patient.
[27:35] He affirms. He gives his clear. And he waits. And he waits. And he encourages. And he encourages. And he builds up. And then all of a sudden the opportunities there. Gideon. You can do what I've called you to do. They're here.
[27:46] They came to you. You didn't even have to go to them. You didn't have to go very far. You know. The spirit is empowering him. And he knows it. Because it's wrapping around him. You know when the Holy Spirit is present. By the way.
[27:57] You know when he's present in the service. You know when he's present in your life. You don't have to. If you ever have to wonder. Was the spirit present? The answer to that is. He wasn't. Okay. If you ever have to ask the question.
[28:08] Then he wasn't. You just know. And he's there. And all of a sudden he blows the sound. He blows the alarm. He sounds the trumpet or the shofar.
[28:19] And people start showing up. And there's all this. The opportunity. And he says. Wait a minute. I've got one more thing I've got to do. One more thing. See we would think Gideon would be ready.
[28:31] But he's not. He says. God if you will. If you're going to deliver. Now even look at his wording. If you will deliver Israel through me. As you have spoken.
[28:43] So he even affirms the reality. This is what God has told him. I mean. He says. Lord. He says.
[28:57] As you've told me. I mean. He's learned a new name of God. He's worshipped God. He's already seen God keep him safe. He's torn down the bell. He says.
[29:07] God. You've told me something. Now. We know we're in trouble. When we come to the place. Where we say. Lord. If you will do what you said. That's.
[29:18] That's a dangerous place to be. There's never. If God will do what he said. Okay. Let's just. Don't put a question mark. Where God's put a period. It's not.
[29:28] If God's going to do it. He is going to do it. But Gideon starts out. And says. If you will deliver Israel through me. As you have spoken. Behold. I'll put a fleece of wool. On the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece.
[29:39] And nothing on the floor. Then I'll. I'll. Believe you. And he gets up next morning. And it's that way. He squeezes the fleece. A whole bowl full of water comes out. Now. The more miraculous event. Is the fact that there is no.
[29:51] Dew on the fleece. And there is dew on the ground. But then. You know. That first. Takes place. And Gideon is like. Okay. Well. That could have been a. You know. That could have been a coincidence.
[30:03] Dew is pretty prominent. In that land. And it's just naturally. Collected to wool. It would have naturally. Fallen there. As opposed to going. Other places. Or at least. It would have stayed there. It would have dried off of the ground.
[30:14] Hardened ground. A little quicker. So it happens. And then. Verse 39. Think any. And said to God. Do not let your anger burn against me. Another warning sign.
[30:24] This ought to be one of those. If you ever have to say. God don't get angry. Don't get angry. Just one more thing. So it shows us. That Gideon knew.
[30:34] What he was about to do. Was wrong. Right. He says. Don't let your anger burn against me. That I may speak once more. And please let me make. Some Bible scholars.
[30:48] Pay very attention. Very close attention to this. Let me make one more test. What was that word that Christ. Repeated back to Satan. When Satan said.
[30:59] If you are the son of God. Go jump off the highest pinnacle. Because it is written. That he will. Give his angels charge over you. And you will not. Cause your feet to stumble. What was that that Christ says.
[31:10] It is also written. You shall not test the Lord your God. The reason Gideon said. Don't be angry. Is because Gideon knew. He was about to ask. To do something. He wasn't supposed to. That is test God.
[31:22] The book of Deuteronomy says. You are not to test the Lord your God. He says. I just got one more test. One more test. God says.
[31:33] Okay. Because he puts the fleece out. And there is dew on the ground. But nothing on the fleece. Now this is amazing. And God brings about. Listen friends. This is an extension. Of gracious mercy.
[31:47] God did not. Have to do that. The opportunity was presented. To fulfill his calling. And Gideon had every right. Whatsoever.
[31:57] To move forward in that calling. And yet he. Stumbled. He. Hesitated. And God. In his grace. Patiently.
[32:09] Waited. And affirmed. Again. And again. God. Gives. Room. For doubts. Doubts. But doubts.
[32:21] Do not diminish. Calling. God gives room. It's called grace. And mercy.
[32:32] For people to doubt. Oh I've doubted my calling. More times than I would like for you to know. More times than I would like for anybody to know.
[32:44] I've doubted. God gives room for doubt. And grace. And mercy. What promise you say. His grace is sufficient for the moment. Right?
[32:56] But doubts. Do not diminish. Or remove calling. Because no matter how long it took. The opportunity was still there.
[33:06] And Gideon still got to go. Whatever it is. He's calling each one of us to do. He gives us room to doubt that. But that doubt.
[33:17] In his grace. In his mercy. Does not remove that calling. It does not. Because the reality is. Is the opportunity still.
[33:28] Presents itself. Let's pray. And then we're going to sing. Lord thank you so much. For your word. Thank you oh God. For the way you speak. To our hearts and minds.
[33:40] Lord we pray. That the truthfulness of scripture. Would captivate our. Lives. That it would move us forward. Through the weak. That we would walk as faithful. Men and women. Living according to the calling.
[33:52] You've placed upon our lives. Lord. Use us as you see fit. For your glory. And yours alone. And we ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[34:32] Amen. Amen.
[35:32] Amen. Amen.
[36:33] Amen. Thank you.
[37:32] Thank you.