Gideon

Transcript

well good morning everyone

i hope everyone enjoyed the uh beautiful spring day yesterday that was

kind of getting us into the uh the mood here and the birds chirping this morning

so what i'd like to do over the next couple weeks is um

primarily today we're going to look at the state of the nation uh at the time of joshua's death and then we're going to um

lead up to deborah and then ultimately we're going to have a strong focus on gideon his family and uh some of the tie-ins there with the types of christ

and look at the battle with gideon and how that kind of ties in

with some similarities with christ and armageddon but primarily today we're going to focus on the state of the nation and kind of the build up to what things were like when gideon came on the scene and a little bit of the period of the judges

and

just this verse here pardon me my lord it's so you know gideon it's like whoa you're talking to me

i how can i save israel my clan is the weakest in manasseh and i am the least in my family and just the spirit of humility that gideon had and

he's also by some commentary looked at as a reluctant leader

he didn't want the job so to speak

and he didn't see himself as worthy or capable

and i think there's a there's a good excitation there for us i mean we i think feel the same way that we don't feel sometimes capable in our walk in the truth we feel less than sufficient but we look at god's answer here and he says the lord and said i will be with you and you will strike down all the midianites leaving none alive and that confidence that gideon could put his faith and trust in god so it was irrelevant to how gideon felt about himself it was going to be accomplished through the power of god in god's glory

and just a funny story i kind of this you know

aspect of how gideon may have felt a little bit you know the weakest

i last weekend on saturday morning i flew down to uh florida jen and megan were down there so we flew down to try to get a little bit of weekend time in

and i've flown a little bit with kind of covert opening up and you get to the airport nobody's there you breeze through security no problem so i got up at 4 30 at a 7 a.m flight

i get to the airport at six o'clock and i kind of walk down walk in where the terminals are and it is packed it's a mob scene

and the pre-boarding on this flight starts at 6 25. and i'm looking at the security line it's got to be 200 people deep it's you know we've all seen the how long the lines can be

so

i'm in this line i'm waiting i'm waiting it's 6 20 and i think i'm going to have to start cutting people or i'm going to miss my flight like it's either it's either do that or miss my flight so i have to turn into that guy i feel like a total loser i'm going underneath the security things i'm saying you know you know i'm so sorry i'm going to miss my flight i'm so you know i i just feel like you know about this big

uh because we all know that person we look at them like yeah why didn't you get here earlier

so i cut everybody i get up to the front of the line and go to the security guy he scans my stuff and he says oh they jetblue has your birthday wrong and on your ticket in the system so i can't let you through you have to go to the jetblue counter so after having cut everybody i gotta

sloke out you know go to the jetblue counter the line's a mile long so i got to cut everybody in that line you know now it's like 6 40. they fix my date now i got to go back in cut everybody all over again

yeah i know they're all like this guy again

finally long story short i made my flight but i'm thinking you know here's gideon saying uh i don't really think i'm up to the task and we've all we all have that um

you know those feelings in life where we feel a little bit inadequate for the job that's before us but we know um and we'll see where gideon you know how his faith grew as he went through the process

but it's a good lesson for us that god is in control of all things we're weak and it's god that will uh carry us through and certainly you know gideon's response is a good one in terms of you know he didn't say oh i'm so glad the angel showed up i'm the smartest i'm the strongest you know it's a good thing you came for me because i'm gonna be really the one you can you can count on and there's just some good scriptures here for us to look at in relation to our own walk if we look at first corinthians 3 beginning in verse 5 here

and it says what after all is apollos and what is paul only servants through whom you came to believe as the lord has assigned to each his task i planted the seed apollo wanted it but god has been making it grow so neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything but only god who makes things grow

the one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose and they will each be rewarded according to their labor for we are co-workers in god's service you are god's field

god's building and

we all

work together and ultimately we have jobs to do but it's god that is going to

strengthen these things he's going to increase upon the work that he's asked asked us to do

so as we come to um the death of joshua he was probably 110 years old uh at this time when he died

and we're told in joshua chapter 23 after a long time had passed and the lord had given israel rest from all their enemies around them joshua then a very old man summoned all israel their elders leaders judges and officials and said to them i am very old you yourselves have seen everything the lord your god has done to all these nations for your sake it was the lord your god who fought for you so joshua makes a big deal about this understandably he he knows as he says i'm going to go the way of all the earth and he he gathers all the leaders together he pulls everyone together to remind them it is god who's done all these things for you because there were still nations there was still work to be done in the land and joshua wanted to make sure that this work was going to be done and it goes on in verse 4 to say remember how i have allotted as an inheritance your tribes all the land of the nations that remain the nations i conquered between the jordan in the mediterranean sea in the west the lord your god himself will push them out for your sake he will drive them out before you and you will take possession of their land as the lord your god promised you and again we have this focus on god and what he's promised he can always be trusted

and this is what joshua was telling the people he wanted them to think upon these things and you'll be faithful but if you forget these things you will turn away from the truth and how important it is in our own lives to be here today to be reminded of these things and we have this wonderful privilege we can go from genesis to revelations and remind ourselves at any time what god has done not only for the nation of israel but for this world and providing salvation and each one of us personally in our own lives

we can look at first john chapter 4 here

morning sandy

in verse

13. this is how we know that we live in him and he and us he has given us of his spirit and we have seen and testify that the father has sent his son to be the savior of the world if anyone acknowledges that jesus is the son of god god lives in them and they in god and so we know and rely on the love god has for us god is love whoever lives in love lives in god and god in them and so at the time of

joshua's death this is what he asked the children of israel to focus on everything that god had done for them everything that they had been through

in in the new testament we are told the same thing focus on the love of god focus on what he's done for you recognize that you can rely on god and

that he will pull you through whatever circumstance of life you're dealing with

and

joshua goes on to say in his farewell in highlighting a lot of the major events um that happened

to the children of israel to bring it to their

their consciousness i think we can appreciate this

if something's not in the news or in the end of the year they go through like the news stories the top stories for the year and i know for myself i look at you forget that something happened even a major event like oh i totally forgot about that and we see even the news cycle today yeah the war in ukraine was front and center for um you know a couple weeks but then people tire of the same old thing and now they're on to to uh new stories the the slap heard around the world and whatever it might be and that's just the nate the human nature and so joshua's making a point so that their minds can be brought back to all of the wonderful things that that god uh did so it says be very strong be careful to obey so it's not a uh kind of a lazy attitude it's something that needs to be diligently adhered to to be careful about it all that is written in the book of the law of moses without turning aside to the right or to the left do not associate with these nations that remain among you do not invoke the names of their gods or swear by them you must not serve them or bow down to them but you are to hold fast to the lord your god as you have until now and so they were walking well as he says keep doing what you're doing keep on that same path and you will be successful

the lord has driven out before you great and powerful nations to this day no one has been able to withstand you

one of you routes a thousand because the lord your god fights for you just as he promised and this is echoing to us to the kingdom age when it says ten men shall grab on to the skirt of a jew for they'll know that the lord is with them and the nations around them saw that that god supported israel that he drove them out and

they saw that one of you routes a thousand

so it says so be very careful to love the lord your god and that's that's what we try to do every day we try to carefully love the lord our god that's why we're here today but then there's a warning a strong warning that comes in but if you turn away and ally yourselves with the survivors of these nations that remain among you and if you intermarry with them and associate with them then you may be sure that the lord your god will no longer drive out these nations before you instead they will become snares and traps for you whips on your backs and thorns in your eyes until you perish from this good land which the lord your god has given you

i just thought these analogies

that are given here

we would think these would be enough to like yeah don't worry about it i'm not going to go there i'm not going to do that

we're certainly going to keep the lord we're going to be very careful you know this idea of a thorn in the eye we know we've all had an irritant or a scratch on the cornea you can't get rid of that pain it's very um it's such an irritant uh and he brings out these thorn bushes or a snare just imagine an animal and a snare

and

he says in joshua 24 and he says but if serving the lord seems undesirable or unacceptable or have no desire or if it is bad in your eyes and

it's almost as if he's putting such a contrast to them i've driven out all of these nations for you i've brought you to a land flowing with milk and honey but if somehow in your mind you've decided it's unacceptable to serve me you have no desire he says then choose for yourselves this day uh whom you will serve and joshua lists through he says this is what the lord the god of israel says long ago your ancestors and he goes through abraham he goes through the promises he goes through jacob and esau he goes through moses and aaron and how they were delivered from egypt and he says the egyptians pursued you with horsemen as far as the red sea and you cried to the lord and he heard you and he delivered you and destroyed the egyptians

it says you crossed the jordan you came to jericho

and god defeated the amorites the perizzites the canaanites and all these other nations around you and he gave you a land on which you did not toil in cities that you did not build

and the children of israel showed up and they had vineyards and groves and all of these wonderful things

and he says in chapter

24 and verse 14 now fear the lord and serve him with all faithfulness

throw away the gods your ancestors worship before the euphrates river end in egypt and serve the lord

but if serving the lord seems undesirable to you then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve

and we know joshua says but as for me and my household we will serve the lord it seems a very easy

choice to make but we know in our own lives we we struggle as well we can be drawn away there's a lot of distractions

in the world today and we can start out very firm i know in the day of my baptism i remember driving to a um

you know like a week or two after going to wednesday night class and i thought to myself why would i have a sin i'm not going to sin and you just have that zeal but of course we do we get tangled up in things and the children of israel did here as well they they allowed nations or they didn't drive out the nations as they were commanded to but it's also a lesson here that we can recommit because we know as the judges come along

there's always opportunity for change there's always opportunity for us to say you know what i'm going down this path i need to change course i need to

make

you know look at my life and and start doing things differently uh brother jonathan bowen on wednesday night gave a class on the russia situation and he closed out the class by saying now you know we don't know when christ is going to return but now is the time if there's something in your life that you know you needed to change for a long time change it make that commitment so that you can you can get that area out of your life and that's the wonderful thing about the god we serve that the past is the past with him he is a god that truly forgives and puts our sins

as far as the east is from the west there they're gone

we change our walk and start uh making those right decisions and we can look in uh first peter five

it says cast all your well verse six humble yourselves therefore under god's mighty hand that he may lift you up in due time cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you

and

as we discussed in the in in the first slide there with gideon god said don't worry it doesn't matter that you're the weakest it doesn't matter that your family's not the the highest it's going to be me who's ultimately going to going to save you we can look at isaiah 45 as well verse 22 says turn to me and be saved all you ends of the earth for i am god and there is no other

just this wonderful opportunity that we have at any time in our walk just as the children in israel had to change their ways to seek god again and there's a there's a couple of wonderful psalms that touch us on this as well

in psalm 119 verse 59 says

psalm 119 verse 59 i have considered my ways

and have turned my steps to your statutes i will hasten and not delay to obey

your commands and this this wonderful encouragement

morning

this wonderful encouragement that god gives us to to evaluate our lives and that's why we're here today for the memorial to to remember christ to examine ourselves to examine our walks and one last one on this in psalms chapter 22 verse 27 and ultimately this is pointing for forward to the kingdom all the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the lord and all the families of the nations will doubt bow down before him for dominion belongs to the lord and he rules over the nations and this is the message that joshua was trying to get through to the children of israel that they had this wonderful opportunity in mortality to serve god and ultimately they could do it in immortality in in a world that will be subdued from sin in a wonderful kingdom period and life ever everlasting and joshua was really trying to bring this home and of course in the moment it's so easy in the moment i know when i drive home from meeting

a lot of the thoughts i might have during the week that are temptations that i have to kind of fight against when i'm driving home from meeting it's it's easy because it's like i'm spiritually pumped up i'm ready to go i want to do the right thing i want to and i and i think about okay what can i do uh you know to help somebody or it it's a lot easier we're in the moment and pumped up and that's what the children of israel do here then the people answered far be it from us to forsake the lord to serve other gods of course not i'm not

they're saying we're not going to do those things we have the blessings and the curse right before us we're going to we're going to go with the blessings it was the lord our god himself who brought us and our parents up out of egypt in

that land of slavery and performed those great signs before our eyes he protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled and the lord drove out before us all the nations including the amorites who lived in the land we too will serve the lord because he is our god

and so they had this incredible commitment

and it it reminded me of as well back to the day of baptism and i think we can all um hearken back to that day when we

made that commitment when we entered those entered the waters of baptism and just that wonderful feeling we had in in the uh realization of the gospel and the realization of this wonderful plan and purpose that that god has and it's a

a strong point to us today in the commitments that we make one to another it it's easy

or it can be easy with all the distractions around to lose hold of the commitment we've made to the gospel it's a very challenging time particularly for our young people

and

we have a special responsibility to

be true to our commitment because that helps it helps one another when we do that if we are staying on that path people are going to notice that and they're going to be strengthened in their own walk and

it's a wonderful privilege and obligation that we have to

help to be leaders to be true to the commitments we've made and this we can look at first kings 8 verse 61. and may your hearts be fully committed to the lord our god to live by his decrees and obey his commands as at this time and this was the zeal that the children of israel had at this time

ii timothy 2 verse 15 speaks of this as well

and i like how this is put in the niv it says do your best so

it's not asking for for perfection it's do your best and and we have good days and we have bad days but it says do your best to present yourself to god as one approved a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles

the word of truth

and that's that's why we're here today we're trying to do our best and we don't want to be too hard on ourselves when when we uh make a mistake or if we had a bad if we have a bad day we want to be there as supporters and i think this was the message that joshua was trying to deliver as well

do your best there's a lot on your plate with these nations you're coming into a new land there's there's a lot of distractions here do your best uh acts 2 verse 42 talks about this as well

and it's titled here the fellowship of the believers and it is wonderful that we can see everybody's faces today and that we can have fellowship one with another it says they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching into fellowship

in to the breaking of bread into prayers and it says everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles and that's the blessing we have we can read about all of these things and we have these wonderful scriptures to encourage us and give us that example of commitment in these last days

but it didn't take long um

as it there was non-observance they said yeah we're gonna do all these things and then we read in in judges chapter one

but manasseh did not drive out the people of bashian

nor did ephraim drive out the canaanites but the canaanites continued to live there among them neither did zebulun drive out the canaanites neither did asha neither did nafta lie and it says naftali too lived among the canaanite inhabitants of the land so they failed to live up to the commitment that they made and it was a slow process it was like lot you know he

moved his tent down to sodom he didn't just move into the city and you know started being a mover and shaker with everybody and his family and the thousand people that went down there with them it was a slow process where they began to adopt the ways of these nations around them they formed relationships

with them

in just some commentary

on this it says when the israelites entered canaan they found a land of farmers not shepherds as they had been in the wilderness the land was fertile beyond anything the hebrews had ever seen

the canaanite attributed attributed this fertility to their god baal

and that is where the israelites problems began could the god who had led them out of egypt and through the wilderness also provide fertile farms

in the promised land or would the fertility god of canaan have to be honored

maybe to be safe they should worship both and so this could have been something that the children of israel were contemplating they're in the wilderness they're being you know fed manna they go into this fertile land and the people that are there are worshipping bale and asteroth and they're saying no these are the gods that make this land look like this so you need to you need to worship these gods as well

or would the fertility god of canaan have to be honored as well maybe to be safe they should worship both yahweh and baal an intense battle began for the minds and hearts of god's people the book of judges records the ongoing struggle the israelites attraction to and worship of the canaanite gods god's disciplinary response the people's repentance and god's merciful forgiveness until the next time the israelites reach for baal instead of yahweh

and so it's a it's a good excitation there for us that these things didn't happen overnight it was a thought process and we see it in this country and around the world there's there's a challenge that's going on between

fleshly ideas and ultimately we know that god's word will prevail but even even among

the world they fight over which which fleshly idea should be more prominent uh we see it every day on the news and

this was a challenge that the children of israel were face faced with they came into the land and the the tribes were established but they didn't drive out the people as they

were commanded to and so they were mingled among the canaanites throughout the land and and ultimately they paid a heavy price for that and

as as merciful and as long-suffering as god was ultimately he did tell them that they would have discipline if they did not

forsake these other gods

and and he followed through on that

can pause here if anyone has any thoughts comments questions

i thought you're going to have something to say jack

all right

so there was in in the lead up to the judges there was this monotonous cycle and uh i think we know life can become monotonous we can be set in our ways we can have certain habits that are hard to break and it says in judges chapter 2 after that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors another generation grew up who knew neither the lord nor what he had done for israel and it's really a sad commentary because as as parents as grandparents as aunts and uncles the biggest joy that we have is to provide our children and those in the ecclesia with the gospel message for this generation to grow up and not know any of these things

it meant that the job hadn't been done there was there was a falling away and those precepts of reading the word keep them on your mind pray with your children

all these things that were taught

they couldn't be bothered to do them they were busy doing other things and naturally what's the next thing that happens if we pull ourselves away from the ecclesia pull ourselves away from the readings pull ourselves away from being built up in the truth we we tend to go down a path that's much less spiritual and it says the israelites did evil in the eyes of the lord and served baals they forsook the lord so not only did they forsake god which was bad enough they followed after detestable false gods in their practices

and

it says they forsook the lord the god of the ancestors who had brought them out of egypt they followed and worshiped various gods of the people around them and this aroused the lord's anger because they forsook him and served baal and asteroths in his anger against israel the lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them so israel goes from this wonderful state that they're in god's driving out all their enemies he's asked them not to embrace these these these foreign gods one generation passes and they start serving bale and asteroth and now god's not uh driving out the nations and raiders are plundering them so you think they would think you know maybe we gotta change our ways

it says he sold them into the hands of their enemies all around whom they were no longer able to resist so they're now in a a state of weakness

whenever israel went out to fight the hand of the lord was against them to defeat them just as he had sworn to them they were in great distress

back at this time it would have been very easy to see what the gods were baal astarosh you're bowing down they're making sacrifices to these um gods

in it's a very fluid process of of

worshiping idols but we know in our own lives an idol is anything

that takes our time away from god and i don't mean

our day-to-day routines we have to have jobs we have to have certain activities that we do that are profitable for our lives and for those around us

but if we're spending all our time on x activity and it's causing us to not have the time to come into uh the meeting or uh to miss our readings i'm always amazed when we're when we're on vacation and we have the most time it's always at ten o'clock at night where we realize oh we we didn't do a reading today and it's

um

you know sometimes having you know too much free time leads us to uh fill it with all these things that really aren't uh helping us so it's it's a good exercise for us to look at the activities in our lives and are there some things that we could cut out and spend a little bit more time on uh bible study or on uh phone calls or sending cards to our brothers and sisters some some sort of profitable activity that will bring uh glory and honor to god

we can look at uh hebrews 7 verse 25 here

and when we look at this monotonous cycle that the children of israel got into they needed a deliverer and

god had told them the means by which they could be delivered

and when we look in hebrews

we have that same uh

opportunity that same promise from god of a deliverer

and in verse 25 speaking of christ it says therefore he is able to save completely those who come to god through them because he always lives to intercede for them and so as much as god is looking at his people here in this monotonous cycle of sin

he

is going to intercede for them because he's made promises he's going to intercede on their behalf because

he loves his people

but we can also consider how frustrated god must have been to to have done all these things for his children and

they say yeah we're actually going to go uh worship bail we're we're good right now and

you know i have four children

and they're not all perfect

and

it's it can be a frustration sometimes because um you you you give them all these things you lay it out for them and they become adults and they make their own choices and and that's a good thing um you want them to be independent but he is his god who's looking at you know he's bringing him out of egypt you know this long list of things and they turn their back on him and i think we could we could appreciate the frustration

um that that god may have felt here and um

when when evan was in high school he was uh

he he went to a charter school that did grades five through eight and his ninth grade through twelfth was the first high school year at the school and they had a bunch of kids that played soccer together and they were soccer stars they played together since kindergarten they and they did great won all these tournaments but when they started high school they added sports so they added a basketball team and these kids were like you know clumsy out there they couldn't hit go driving down and the ball would you know come off the backboard they they had no gel between them

and um yeah that was fine for the first two years because they had him playing like seventh and eighth graders so they were matching the scores with them but when they got to be juniors and seniors

they were getting crushed they played scituate they were losing by like you know 40 points and evan was a competitive kid and so it bothered him but we talked about you know just try to work on your skills try to make a move do something and there was a game where they were down it was two minutes left they were down by 30 points there's no way they could win the game and evan is still going hard you know driving and

we got in the car afterwards and i was like you know being being a parent you know worried about all these things i'm like yeah i've settled down like you know don't be so competitive at the end of the game like you're going to hurt yourself and you know it went in one ear and out the other next game

same thing 10 seconds left in the game he dives for a ball out of bounds

nails his shoulder into the wall gets hurt we get in the car

and i let a little time pass and i was like didn't we talk about this last week like now you got hurt

and he looks at me dead in the eyes and says dad i know what you're saying is right but i'm just going to do it the way i want to do it it's like all right well at least he's being honest with me and it's almost like that feeling here like the children of israel they

they were going to do it what they wanted to do no matter the discipline no matter what it was that came their way

we can look at one more scripture here in psalm 25 verse 8. i do think he was less aggressive though the next games he really hey we're down by 30. in psalm 25 verse 8 it says good and upright is the lord isn't isn't that a wonderful saying good and upright is the lord therefore he instructs sinners

in his ways he guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way all the ways are of the lord are loving and faithful toward those who keeps the demands of his coven covenants for the sake of your name lord forgive my iniquity though it be great

what a wonderful mindset

for this prayer to be offered there has to be such a humility recognizing that god is upright and he does instruct us and we we do go through certain things in our lives that cause us to uh to consider our ways

and so we might wonder you know why

why would they choose baal and asteroth

over

the wonderful blessings of god and and

we we see here multiple times

this wasn't the first incidence of false worship

it says after the death of joshua the worship of baal and asteroth became a plague upon the israelites and was a recurring problem baal also known as the sun god or the storm god is the name of the supreme male deity worshiped by the ancient phoenicians and canaanites

the ensuing generations forgot the god who rescued them from egypt

and we can we can turn that one up um exodus here 32 verse 7. it happened so quickly after the children of israel came out of the land of egypt in verse 7 there then the lord said to moses go down because your people who you brought out up out of egypt have become corrupt they have been quick to turn away from what i commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf they have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said these are your gods israel who brought you up out of egypt i mean what a terrible thing here god just brings them out of egypt and now they're saying oh this golden calf actually brought us out

um you know this became a chronic problem for israel and some commentary is that it was due to uh what they would call national peer pressure and we'll go through this in high school and different you know areas of our life we want to be like the people around us and we know israel is a peculiar people even in the way that they dress if if you uh see a jewish person uh

in boston or just uh somewhere they stand out there are peculiar people and

that's how god wants us to be a peculiar people that stands out and not for the way that we dress but for the way that we act and uh this idea of peer pressure israel wanted to be like the other nations the other nations worshiped baal and astaroth and so many israelites felt the pull to do the same

and ultimately because of this

israel was scattered in a.d 70. but we know and we've seen in god's mercy that they have been re-gathered on the mountains of israel god saw their suffering

and through all this monotonous cycle of sin

god will be faithful

to to the promise for his name's sake and we can

we're uh running out of time here for this morning's class we can close with um scripture in isaiah 65. verse 23. speaking of of uh ultimately israel

there's a there's a meaning for this today but ultimately in the kingdom age they will not labor in vain nor will they be a children doomed to misfortune for they will be a people blessed by the lord they in their descendants with them before they call i will answer and we're going to see god answer his children as we move through these classes while they are still speaking i will hear the wolf and the lamb will feed together and the lion will eat straw like the ox and dust will be the serpent's food they will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain says the lord so ultimately this cycle of sin will will end once and for all um with the return of christ and at the end of of the thousand-year kingdom but god does hear his people he hears us and it's just a wonderful thing he will hear them while they're yet speaking and we know that god knows our needs

before we even

ask him

so next week lord willing will get into

the need for the judges god raising up the judges and continue on here through gideon

Transcript

so we'll start with a review today um and sister gale made a really nice comment last week when we talked about the monotonous cycle of sin that israel was going through and she said a paraphrase try to get it right um

that you know forgiveness is such a wonderful gift from god

but it's also really the best gift that we can give ourselves and forgiving ourselves and moving on from mistakes in our life is really what we need to do to be successful in the truth if we're going to carry all this baggage or we're going to harbor things it makes it very difficult to

on our walk if we can lighten that load and god wants to do it it's his good pleasure to give us the kingdom it's his pleasure to put our sins behind us as the east is from the west and we see him he works with israel through this even through all of these

downward turns

god is still there even when the people aren't deserving

so i thought that was a really nice comment and something for us to keep in mind because we we will stumble on our way and we we but need to turn and seek forgiveness and and move forward uh supporting one another so we started last week and looked at um

joshua and

the nation

and joshua says to them right before he dies you yourselves have seen everything the lord your god has done to all these nations for your sake it was the lord your god who fought for you reminding them of where they had come

and but if you turn away and ally yourselves with the survivors of these nations that remain among you and you into marry with them and associate with them

then god will no longer drive out these nations

and the people of course said absolutely we will um

we will follow god

and they ran into this chronic problem of of the cycle of sin and idol worship and wanting to be like the nations around them and we can look at first samuel here this was a problem that came in uh with the children of israel from the very beginning when they came out of egypt in first samuel 8 verse 5 we read

and said unto him behold thou art old and thy sons walk not in thy ways now make us a king to judge us like all the nations they wanted to be like the other nations and it was no different here and

later on in that chapter in verse 19 even after pleading from samuel it says nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of samuel and they said nay but we'll we will have a king

over us and and of course they had a king it was god but they they didn't want that that we also may be like all the nations and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles and it was god who was fighting their battles but they they turned from this

um

but nevertheless god's mercy persisted in all this and we see that

it says nevertheless the lord raised up judges which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them and yet they would not harken or listen unto their judges but they went a whoring after other gods and bowed themselves unto them they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in obeying the commandments of the lord but they did

not so so even though god raised up judges no they weren't interested we're going to do our own thing

and when the lord raised them up judges and the lord was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge for it repented the lord because of their groanings

and that when i read that verse it reminded me of christ when lazarus was was dead and he groaned in his spirit because he loved loved lazarus and it was the same sort of groaning a low mournful sound uttered in pain or grief and so god heard their their moaning and by reason of them that oppress them and vex them and he he heard

and it really we see here a stubbornness from the children of israel and it this is not a passive behavior it's showing determination not to change one's attitude or position on something especially in spite of good arguments or reasons to do so it's an inflexibility of someone who's difficult to handle or to manage and perhaps we you know work with somebody like this i know no one in in uh know christadelphian would ever be like this um but you know we we all come across difficult difficult people uh in the workplace that we see kind of a stubbornness and we think you know why are they doing this but you that you're just not in a position to uh to change it so we we must be teachable and

we also realize here that god does hear our prayers even though his children were uh worshiping baal he was attentive to their situation and if we look at proverbs 9 verse 9 here

it says give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet wiser teach a just man and he will increase in learning the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the holy is understanding and my dad richard and i she had a room growing up my dad would come in and wake us up and he'd say rise and shine whether you shine or not it's up to you you know we get so sick of that but you know it was

it was this principle like you know how your day turns out is really going to be up to you you know you you can get up and mope through the day or you can shine and

and do the right things um

let's see proverbs 4 verse 5. get wisdom get understanding forget it not neither decline

from the words of my mouth this idea of of contact with the word seeking for understanding and wisdom so that we don't have to make decisions in crisis we've already um

put the information into our minds we've all we've already understood what god requires from us in a certain situation so that we can

make those right choices proverbs

13 verse 8. the ransom of a man's life are his riches but the poor heareth not re rebuke the light of the righteous rejoices but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out so just this idea of

hearing hearing instruction

being teachable and not being stubborn particularly about poor decisions in our life and the children of israel found themselves in a very difficult situation but yet they still were not open to uh to instruction

this idea of groanings as well it's brought out in uh exodus chapter 2 verse 23. and the children of israel here um

in egypt and it came to pass in process of time that the king of egypt died and the children of israel sighed by reason of the bondage and they cried and their cry came up unto god by reason of the bondage and god heard their groaning and god remembered his covenant with abraham with isaac and with jacob and god looked upon the children of israel and god had respect unto them as we move forward and make our way to gideon it's going to be this covenant whether it's going to be a covenant with baal or it's going to be the covenant with abraham isaac and jacob that that the children of israel

made a promise to follow those two covenants are going to come into opposition and

we're going to see the midianites which means quarrel and we're going to see there's going to be a quarrel between between those covenants but i like this idea of uh

it really points to god's mercy and that he hears our prayers in in psalm 66 and verse 16 come and hear all ye that fear god and i will declare what he hath done for my soul i cried unto him with my mouth and he was extolled with my tongue if i regard iniquity in my heart the lord will not hear me but verily god hath heard me he hath attended to the voice of my prayer blessed be god which hath not turned away my prayer nor his mercy from me just wonderful words to give us hope uh to

to get through our day i like to start if i you know have breakfast say a prayer say a prayer when i get in my car in the driveway and i found myself at times like i'm rushing i'm a little bit late but it's like if you can't a minute just one minute if you're one minute late who's gonna care you have time for the creator of all things and

that's really what our lives are about is making time for each other and making time for

our creator to bring glory on it to his name we can look at first corinthians 13. verse 4. and and this is what god shows to us and in turn he expects that we will show it one unto another charity suffereth long and is kind charity envieth not cherry charity vaunteth not itself is not puffed up does not behave itself unseemly

seeking not her own is not easily provoked thinking no evil rejoices not in iniquity but rejoices in the truth beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things charity never faileth

and

just wonderful words for us to consider in relation to each other sometimes on my way home from work on xm radio i listen to this therapist dr laura i don't know maybe you've heard of her but she has a lot of insightful information whether it's you know raising teenagers or marital advice and you'll have people call in that say you know my marriage isn't going so great and so her advice to these people um

is

well when you wake up in the morning the first thing you need to do is think about what you can do to make your spouse happy and if that's your mindset and you start to do things for them they're going to recognize that and then in turn they're going to start doing the same to you and you know people call in and say you know hey i tried that and it worked great i did this for my husband that he asked for and uh you know his wife will say you know cousin i did this for my wife and it was amazing how quick the the relationship changed and it really

it really encompasses these verses in in uh being charitable uh one unto another galatians 5 verse

22. i'm still waiting on jen though for that you know you hear that honey

uh galatians 5 22 but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance against such there is no law and they that are christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lust and so such a contrast to where the children of israel are at this time and in in um

verse 22 there it says of 21 i also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which joshua left when he died god got fed up he said over and over and over again judges and you repent and then you fall away and i've tried to do all these things i've heard your groanings

and

he says that through them i may prove israel whether they will keep the way of the lord to walk therein as their fathers did keep it or not and so the nations were there so that the children of israel had a choice before them and we as well in our lives have trials of faith and can be tested in our walk james talks about this in james chapter one

in uh verse two

my brethren counted all joy when you fall into diverse temptations and i i don't know about you but i don't consider it joyful when i have a temptation but i know sometimes it's necessary for uh growing and growing my my character knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience but let patience have her perfect work that ye may be perfect and entire

in wanting nothing um

verse 12 as well of that same chapter blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he has tried he shall receive the crown of life which the lord has promised to them that love him and certainly we all would love to just have a life of of ease and um just you know breeze through and and have no problems but it's these problems that sometimes pop up in our lives that cause us to think to reflect to to grow and to draw closer to god to draw closer to one another because we need that support

first peter

as well

jim said he liked my class because i didn't move much so i'm trying to follow through on that again today

first peter 1 verse 6 and 7. wherein ye greatly rejoice though now for a season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptation that the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth though it be tried with fire might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of jesus christ whom having not seen ye love in whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory receiving the end of your faith even the salvation of your soul so this idea that in life we will have trials that we go through

and

during those trials we need to draw closer to god we have to use those opportunities to think about our walk and

to rejoice recognizing that ultimately it leads to the salvation of our souls

now it's interesting there are some commentaries that have deborah and gideon at uh judging at the same time in different areas and we know they did judge in different areas

some people say there was 80 years of peace or there's one 40-year period of peace where

deborah had her battle at mount tabor and gideon was at mount moire and they all kind of happened in a similar time and then there was um then there was 40 years of peace this did come from bible canada though so we'll

you know we'll we'll have it with a uh you know a little bit of um trepidation but i thought it was interesting because

one of the important things in living the truth is providing strength one to another and if whether deborah and gideon were at the same time or deborah was right before gideon would have garnered amazing strength from what deborah did and if they were at the same time and he was hearing these things and it would have given gideon kind of that extra oomph to get out there and do the job that he needed to do with 300 men so it's it's um it's a great lesson for us that

support is so critical uh in our day-to-day activities now

so you can see uh on the lower part of the screen where it names the the judges at this time you can see where deborah was down closer to the dead sea area and you can see where barrack is up near the sea of galilee which is about a 95 mile uh difference and

this was the area that they were judging and you can also see there where gideon was uh probably about 25 miles south

of

uh where barrack is and you on the uh map that has the blue and red line and so forth you can see the key drawn river there you can see mount uh moray which is where gideon would have had his battle with the midianites and just north of that is is where deborah and barrack and the israelites would have had their battle with uh sisera in in their troops

so deborah is is really a fascinating uh judge and prophet and i i do think there was a an immense amount of support that gideon got from looking at this battle

with

with cicero and it says in judges 5 7 the pleasantry ceased in israel they ceased until you arose deborah arose as a mother in israel and it was it's something that my my mom always said to my girls and and to jen was like you know we're we're mothers in israel like we have a responsibility in the ecclesia to show the right example to do the right things like this is this is really a wonderful privilege that we have and this is what deborah was she arose as a mother in israel and it just reminded me of what a difference one person of faith can make one person who stands up god can use just one person to fulfill his purpose and if we think about uh about hebrews 11 you know all of these individuals that are listed

you know in in singular fashion noah abraham moses samson david

it's a good reminder that each of us has an important role to play we are all individually and collectively a light stand for the gospel and it's we don't need to do some big amazing thing um

sometimes it feels like oh well i need to do this and and then that's that's going to really make a difference but i think a lot of times it's just the small things

of each day the care and concern uh for one another our prayers to god supporting those around us preaching the gospel

as we can when we're out and about on our on our daily activities

and the same will be said of us as was said at the end of hebrews in verse 39 all in these all having obtained a good report through faith receive not the promise god having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect and this idea of deborah as a mother in israel we

all expect we're going to be immortalized along with deborah and samson and noah and all of these people listed in the uh faith chapter and so many more and god says he's going to do it all together they're not going to receive immortality before us we're all going to be collectively uh in in this position where

we've obtained a good report through faith we've persevered and we haven't received the promise yet the promise of immortality

and we can look at zechariah 4 verse 10 here

it says in in zechariah 4 verse 10 for who hath despised the day of small things for they shall rejoice and shall see the plummet in the hand of zerubbabel with those seven they are the eyes of the lord which run to and fro through the whole earth so this idea not only does god hear our prayers his eyes run to and fro through the whole earth to work out our salvation to to assist us as he's provided angels for us uh galatians

6 verse 2 tells us carry each other's burdens and so you will fulfill the law of christ and this is what deborah did she could have said i don't have time for this i'm i'm busy way down here by the dead sea i don't have time to go up to barrack and and help out the children of israel why don't they start doing the right thing but she she was there for her fellow brothers and sisters hebrews 13 verse 16 says don't forget to do good

and to share what you have because god is pleased with these kind of sacrifices in matthew 5 verse 16 tells us in the same way let your light shine before people so they can see the good things you do and praise your father who is in heaven and this is what gideon would have seen from deborah this is what the children of israel saw and it motivated them to change their walk and philippians tells us instead of each person watching out for their own good watch out for what is better for others and that's a hard mindset for us to have because naturally we're drawn

to

do what we want i mean jen wanted to stay in florida another month she said i want to be here i don't want to be home with you

[Music] i had to talk her into coming home but um

it's this is the mindset that debra had this is the mindset that that all of the judges had they were in a very difficult situation where they had the nation around them worshipping bail and they had to step in and step up and be that person you know brother spiritual who's like no you guys are all wrong you need to start doing this and it's a very uncomfortable situation to be in but this is what deborah did she was looking out for what is better for others and and certainly that's what our lord and master

did in his entire life

and we can open it up if anybody have any thoughts comments uh

anything

it was from a website in canada that's all yeah it was just that it the information came from canada is it a christodolphine site or just no bible study no yeah just a bible education site okay

um all right so as we as we move on here and look at the importance of of debra

we see that she was called upon by god and it says barrack as we know he wasn't going to go down barrack said to her if you go with me i will go but if you don't go with me i won't go and deborah of course said certainly i will go with you but barack required tangible support

in his walk in the truth and and so often we do and we're going to see gideon require the same type of support when god asks him to act whether it be in asking you know for a sign with the fleece and his sacrifice

um

the casey and rachel flew down to florida a few weeks ago the last week they were there and you probably remember there was a weekend all the flights got messed up and casey calls me in a panic she got this email that she was no longer on rachel's flight like her flight was coming in later and she's like dad you need to call the airlines and let them know

i am not getting on a plane without rachel and i was like okay honey well let's uh let's figure out what's going on here i'm like go talk to mom

but you know this idea barrack needed that support from deborah for him to go up and she provided it and we all have people like that in our lives and that's what the athleisure is all about it's there so we can support one another so when i'm down and you're up i can gain strength from you and vice versa so we see here the support that uh deborah gave um

but it also the the record indicates but because of the course you were taking the honor will not be yours for the lord will deliver sisera into the hands of a woman so deborah went with barrick

there barrack summoned zebulun and naftali and ten thousand men went under his command deborah also uh went went up with them and if we look at um

judges 4 verse 18 here

we see that god is ultimately the one who wins this battle and and the end that cicero uh meets in verse 18 there and jl went out to meet cicero and said unto him turn in my lord turn into me fear not and when he had turned in unto her into the tent she coveted him with a mantle

in verse 21 then jael heber's wife took a nail of the tent and took a hammer in her hand and went softly unto him and smote the nail into his temple and fastened it to the ground for he was fast asleep

so he died

in verse 23 so god subdued on that day jabin the king of canaan before the children of israel in the hand of the children of israel prospered and prevailed against jabin the king of canaan until they had destroyed jabin king of canaan and so all these armies are being drawn together

but yet it's god who's in control and it goes on in judges chapter four to say

when they had told cicero that barracks son of a binom had gone up to mount tabor cicero summoned from hero heth in hagayem to the kishon river all his men in his 900 chariots filled with iron and this would have been

petrifying to the children of israel these chariots of iron they would drive them into battle they would run over uh the soldiers they had no mercy in this this battle here uh was

a kind of a milestone with the children of israel it's it's recalled several times if we look in first samuel

12. verse 9 samuel mentions this

he says and when they forgot the lord their god he sold them into the hand of siser a captain of the host of hazel and then to the hand of the philistines and into the hand of the king of moab and they fought against him and they cried unto the lord and said we have sinned because we have forsaken the lord and have served balaam and ashtaroth and the lord sent jerubal and be dan and jephthah and samuel and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side and ye dwell safely uh in psalms as well psalms for um psalms 83 verse 9 says do unto them as unto the midianites as to sisera as to jabin at the brook of kishon which perished at endor and this was all done for god's glory god was the one in control here in in the 18th verse of that same chapter it says that men may know that thou whose name alone is jehovah at the most high over all the earth

in verse 14 there then deborah said to barack go this is the day the lord hath given cicero into your hands has not the lord gone ahead of you so barrack went down mount tabor with ten thousand men following him at barracks advance the lord routed cicero and all his chariots an army by the sword and cicero got down from his chariot and fled on foot

if you look at the map there you can see the

um the kishon uh river there which is going to play a part in the children of israel winning this battle and just a depiction of these chariots that the israelites certainly didn't have this but they had the lord of hosts on their side interesting to note that this same area has become identified with the high mountain apart into which christ and his disciples peter james and john witness the transfiguration so this same mountain here mount tabor is where they believe the transfiguration took place

this would have been the view out um

view of the jezreel valley from the top of mount tabor so it would have been quite expensive

where this battle would have taken place and this is looking at uh you can see mount tabo there in mount moray so these battles took place uh very close together and it's also in this same area uh mount carmel where elijah was calling for baal and you perhaps he's sleeping so this idea of this battle between baal and the covenant with abraham isaac and jacob it's a long-running theme for the children of israel

and all of this was related to baal worship that that brought all of these events a path to to pass and god shows his power in each one of these events it's it's him that uses whether it's 300 men whether it's a prophet deborah and judge whether it's her faithfulness it's always god's

power and glory that is manifest we could look at isaiah chapter 40 there

in verse 27 why sayest thou o jacob and speakest o israel my way is hid from the lord and my judgment is passed over from my god hast thou not known hast thou not heard that the everlasting god the lord the creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not neither is weary there is no searching of his understanding he giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might he increases strength

even the youths shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fail but they that wait upon the lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as eagles they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint and just a wonderful depiction of god's character he he doesn't faint he doesn't get weary he doesn't get weary of our prayers there's no searching his understanding he's able to give strength to whoever he chooses and we know god rules in the kingdoms of men he raises up the basis of individuals to be rulers

so we go from a situation in the nation of israel in these different pockets

of despair where the children of israel are worshiping false gods and putting their trust in baal and losing every time they go out to fight because god stopped destroying their enemies the children of israel groan

and god hears them and raises up faithful judges to to deliver them and josephus comments on this uh battle because

you have cicera in his ten thousand men in these chariots but the the kidron river is cause it rains out and it's it says uh in verse four here when you lord went out from seer when you marched from the land of edom the earth shook the heavens poured the clouds poured down water the mountains quake before the lord the one of sinai before the lord the god of israel and these chariots were basically flooded out they got caught in all of this um in all of this water and they couldn't move so the children of israel were able to come down and and win the battle and we often see this is what god uses he he parts the red sea he uses uh nature and he he helps his uh children win these fights and this is this is why this battle was uh mentioned in the psalms and why samuel brought it up because it would have been a another reminder to the children of israel how they were delivered uh josephus says so the battle began and when they were come to a close fight there came down from heaven a great storm with a vast quantity of rain and hail and the wind blew the rain in the face of the canaanites and so dark in their eyes that their arrows and slings were of no advantage to them nor would the coldness of the ear permit the soldiers to make use of their swords

while this storm did not so much in accommodate the israelites because it came in their backs they also took such courage upon the apprehension that god was exist assisting them that they fell upon the very mist of their enemies and slew a great number of them so that some of them fell by the israelites some fell by their own horses which were put into disorder and not a few were killed by their own chariots at last sisera as soon as he saw himself beaten fled away and just this idea that the children of israel saw that this was a miraculous event that was happening

that

they

were emboldened in their faith so that they

went after the enemy full force because of what was happening

so to close out this section on um on deborah and to bring our class today to a close as as next week we'll we'll get into the meet of gideon i thought this was a really nice commentary uh from women of the bible and it says in deborah's song of triumph we see a word picture of the lives of the people of israel under the oppression of jabin caribbean ceased to travel those who moved about the country kept in the byways the people of the villages moved into towns for greater protection until you arose deborah arose as a mother in israel so things were in complete disarray and then you had one person one wonderful woman come along to right the ship so to speak this faithful woman became the spur of barracks faith enabling him to overthrow israel's oppresses with god's promise fulfilled and the land had rest 40 years although deborah's strength was the support of barrack's weakness it is barack's name that is included in the list of faithful men and women in hebrews 11. and what more shall i say i do not have time to tell about gideon barrack samson and jephthah who through faith conquered kingdoms administered justice and gained what was promised but what greater accolade could deborah receive than to be known for all time

as a mother in israel what a what a wonderful commendation uh for for this woman and perhaps um

one or two more scriptures here as we close

ecclesiastes 4 verse 9 in relation to deborah and barrack two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor for if they fall the one will lift up his fellow but woe to him that is alone when he falleth for he hath not another

to help him up

we can end our class there any any comments or questions

Transcript

good morning everyone i wanted to start this morning last um sunday the close of our class sister kathy had asked you know what makes a mother in israel or she had inquired about hearing four mothers of israel and

there's there is commentary on this um

it says in one thing so the narratives of genesis 12 50 one thing so the patriarchs of abraham of isaac and of jacob and of their special role as bearers of god's promise to the chosen people

but what of the matriarch sarah rebecca rachel and leah what place do they have in these dramatic sagas of israel's origins and so this is um

historically

the israelites do look at

four mothers of israel and if we look at genesis 17 there and god said unto abraham as for sarah i thy wife thou shalt not call her name sariai but sarah or noblewoman or princess shall her name be and i will bless her and give thee a son also of her yea i will bless her and she shall be a mother of nations kings of people shall be of her and certainly the promises um sarah as a mother of the nation of israel and we we touched on deborah also arose a mother in israel a mother protector and also the point that

all faithful

sisters in christ are mothers in israel they are we we all have that opportunity uh to work together to help the ecclesia to help the household of faith uh in these last days and and there's a nice scripture in isaiah uh 66 verse 13. was starting verse 12 for thus saith the lord behold i will extend peace to her speaking of the nation of israel uh

in the days of the kingdom i will extend peace to her like a river in the glory of the gentiles like a flowing stream then shall yisaki shall be born upon her sides and be dandeled upon her knees as one whom his mother comforteth so will i comfort you and ye shall be comforted in jerusalem and this idea of of god being a mother comforting his nation comforting um

all of us in this in this age to come and even as we work work toward salvation now proverbs 31 as well verse 26 speaking of of a mother in israel strength and honor are her clothing and she shall rejoice in time to come she openeth her mouth with wisdom and in her tongue is the law of kindness she looketh well to the ways of her household and eateth not the bread of idleness and i think about all the all the work that mothers put in really um it's it's incredible i know for for jen just the the amount of uh effort and energy getting four kids up and off to school and guiding them doing the readings every day all of these things that uh mothers take such uh pride in and are such an important uh part

of of um of raising a family and this is what is being talked about here with the with these four mothers in israel

it is interesting that out of this kind of um historically looking at the four mothers of israel there was a movement that was born out of this in israel back in the 80s

jewish mothers were having to send their sons to war in um in lebanon and so they started a movement called the four mothers of israel movement there's also a movie that was done on this

i watched the trailer for it it looked interesting so they they did kind of carry this through and ultimately they changed the history of israel in

working with the israeli government and

having the the israeli nation withdraw from lebanon so just kind of an interesting tie-in to the influence that each of us can have particularly uh mothers and sisters uh for for positive

uh change for positive uh impacts on the lives of of those around us

so just a a quick review from last week we talked about the nation of israel was in a tough strait

but god raised up judges and yet they would not hearken the children of israel was stubborn but god still heard their groanings he was merciful

[Music]

and we talked about how god hears our prayers he heard the children of israel groaning he hears when we speak unto him when we

put our petitions before him and so we should never despair but turn to god in faith and prayer we talked about how they had traded the covenant of abraham isaac and jacob for a covenant with baal

uh and we looked at some principles about how we must be teachable we need to be putting the water of the word in our minds each day and be motivated by those positive principles and we talked about proverbs 9 verse

9 give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet wiser teach a just man and he will increase in learning so we should aim to become wise in the things of god we see the children of israel got got off that path

and we talked about how god left the nations ultimately to try the people to see if they would follow him or if they would follow baal and we talked about our trials of faith and how we will be tested on our walk in the truth uh james 1 verse 12 said blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he has tried he shall receive the crown of life which the lord has promised to them that love him

and we talked about the difference that deborah made one individual who stood up for righteousness one individual who was a strength to the people around her she motivated a nation to make the right uh choices and we have we can have that same impact uh in in our lives and how god can use just one person to fulfill his purpose

we also talked about how it's the small things of

living the truth we don't have to do some big uh event but it's just the small daily interactions that we can have with those around us where we can preach the gospel through our actions

and just i'll tell a story about jim and katie since they're downstairs

when we first uh came and realized there was a community of believers uh jim boyco and katie would um they'd they'd come around to our athleisure to our wednesday night class and we had no idea of all these bible schools we didn't know about uh manitoulin study none of these things were they were all foreign to us even though we were uh christadelphineoclesia

and we got to know jim and katie and of course we all know how jim's a little bit of a psycho about manitoulin and he'll drive up there for a weekend which is you know 30 hours of driving but he invited our girls to go with him up to manitoulin and i'm tying this in with deborah motivating barrack to do the right thing and jen and i were nervous about it but we sent rachel and casey up to me in a tool and with with jim and katie and of course it was an incredibly uh motivating experience for them and and they loved it and they went back several times

and

you know the the benefit that our family got from that is still being seen because we we're actually going up this summer lord willing with megan and we have camper rented and i think jen might be the most excited about it out of all of us because it is camping but um those are the sorts of things that change people's lives that

we can do to help one another live the truth i will say when my girls got home they didn't really want to see jim for a while katie they were fine with but they would you spend you spend that much time in a car with jim

so we looked at in relation to that uh we looked at ecclesias ecclesiastes four verse nine uh two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor for if they fall one will lift up his fellow but woe to him that is alone when he falleth for he hath not another to help him uh so we go from a situation in the nation of israel uh of despair um

and we to the children of israel find themselves crying to god he hears them and once again he drives out uh their enemies and so moving along in the story after uh deborah and and uh barrack we have a time where the canaanites had been subdued in the defeat of sisera and perhaps israel thought you know they had nothing to fear this battle had taken place and they got a little bit

lacks and we're told the children of israel did evil in the sight of the lord and the lord delivered them into the hand of midian seven years

in the hand of midian and it's interesting to note that midian was a child of abraham uh abraham had more sons than just isaac by sarah in ishmael by hagar he had six sons by katura his wife after the death

of sarah we we read this account in genesis 25 verses 1 and 2. it says then again abram took a wife and her name was katura and she beat him zimran and josh

shan and median in midian in ishbaq and shua

and

the sons of midian ifa and efer and hanek and abaya and so forth all these were the children of katura so here you have the midianites now in this in the same part of the land and they're going to come down

and they're essentially making life very miserable for the children of israel it says they prevailed against israel and because of the midianites the children of israel made

them the dens which were in the mountains and caves and strongholds so you have a

unfaithful uh people the midianites who god's using who are also a children a child of abraham uh but not part of the covenant coming down into the land to essentially um motivate the israelites to turn back to the covenant that they made

uh it's interesting that israel had gone after bell beareth or the god of the covenants that baal presided over as we're told here um [Music]

and they had thrown away the covenant made to abraham isaac and jacob and so it says when israel had sown so israel's planting their fields the midianites came up the amalekites which were children of esau so still in that same part of the land and we'll look at a map next and the children of the east when they came up against them and they encamped against them and destroyed the increase of the earth so you have the amalekites you have the midianites right after israel sown their their their crops and everything's ready to be harvest the midianites come down the amalekites come down they take everything uh including the animals they took the sheep so there was in some respects a famine going on in the land they came for their cattle and they were as grasshoppers

uh

for number and so god sent down a covenant child in midian they came as grasshoppers for mult for multitude and we it's interesting that this same uh

phrase or same indication is used in genesis 22. genesis 22 verse 17 speaking of the covenant made to abraham that in blessing i will bless thee and in multiplying i will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is upon the seashore and thy seed shall possess the gates of thine enemies and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because thou hast obeyed my voice and so we have the children of israel not obeying the voice of god and he sends a multitude

down on them in

the name midian means quarrel so we have the quarrel here of two covenants the covenant of baal

in the covenant that god made with the nation of israel and leviticus brings this out in leviticus 26. it says and if you will not be reformed by me by these things but walk

let's back up one verse there it says i will

and destroy your cattle and make you few in number and your highway shall be desolate and if you will not be reformed by me by these things but will walk contrary unto me then will i also walk contrary unto you and we'll punish you seven times for your sins and we see that there this is going on for seven years so god is following through on the punishments they're in caves their highways are desolate their cattle have been destroyed

then will i also walk contrary to you and will punish you yet seven times and will bring a sword upon you that will avenge the quarrel of my covenant and when ye are gathered together within your cities i will send the pestilence among you ye shall be delivered into the hand of your enemy

and when i have broken the staff of your bread so this is hearkening right back to uh leviticus when god laid out if you're going to walk contrary to me these things are going to happen and it and here we're watching it play out

to the nation of israel here but again israel cries unto god

and

he hears them and so terrible were the conditions

in the land that at last in the in the miserable conditions they were in

they finally remembered yahweh their protector

and um

the fact it kind of reminded me of hebrews here where it says they were in dens and caves because you had certainly had faithful

brethren and sisters at this time and in hebrews 11 verse 38 it says of whom the world was not worthy they wanded in deserts in caves of the earth

and those faithful israelites that although they were in the land and they were suffering through this were still calling unto the god of israel

it reminds me too often times in in our lives when things are going well

you know maybe those are the times that we pray more where we're more positive in the truth where we're um

just feel better about life in general and and certainly that's it's reasonable to be that way but i think it's also important that when we fall on hard times when we're

um in a situation

here the children of israel were praying because they were in a tough position but it's always important to remember to pray at all times we're told whatever condition that we're in and it's going to be very helpful for our walk in the truth if we do that

so we can see in the map here the you know gideon's going to be north of this and i forgot the cat thing again to do the pointer but you can see that where the midianites are down there in the in the um south of israel and the amalekites in that area and

up near uh where the negev is a little bit north of that is where gideon is gonna be and so this is they would come into the land they would uh spoil them and just made it absolutely miserable uh for the for the israelites

from verse seven of of uh judges 6 it says and it came to pass when the children of israel cried unto the lord because of the midianites that the lord sent a prophet

it's interesting that this prophet is not named this is someone different than gideon and we're going to see tie-ins here uh gideon as a type of christ it's interesting that a forerunner is sent a voice and that brings us

to thinking about john the baptist coming before christ if we can look here in isaiah 40 um verse 1 come for e comfort ye my people saith your god speak ye comfortably to jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished that her iniquity is pardoned for she hath received of the lord's hand double for all her sins the voice and that's what we have here that the lord sent the prophet not name but it was a voice unto them

the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness prepare ye the way of the lord make straight in the desert a highway for our god

and john chapter 1 brings this out as well

john 1 verse 19. and this is the record of john when the jews sent priests and levites from jerusalem to ask him who art thou when he confessed and denied

not but confessed i am not the christ they asked him what then art thou elias and he said i am not i thou that prophet and he said no then said they unto him who art thou that we may give an answer to them that sent us what say is thou of thyself he said i am the voice of one crying in the wilderness make straight the way of the lord as said the prophet isaiah so the same thing is going on here that the lord sent the prophet not named unto the children of israel which said unto them there was a voice that went out to tell them to make straight pass for your feet thus saith the lord god of israel i brought you up from egypt and brought you forth out of the house of bondage

and i delivered you out of the hand of the egyptians and out of the hand of all that oppressed you and drave them out from before you and gave you their land and i said unto you i am the lord your god fear not the gods of the amorites and whose land ye dwell but ye have not obeyed my voice so you have the voice of god the children of israel are not listening to that he sends a voice

and we look um

in deuteronomy 28 verse 1 god speaking to the children of israel it shall come to pass that if he shall

hearken diligently unto the voice of the lord thy god to observe and to do all his commandments which i command thee this day that the lord

thy god will set thee on high above all nations of the earth and all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee

if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the lord thy god we have the same opportunity to hear the voice of those around us encouraging us the voice of the scriptures that we can read

as much as we want

it also reminded me in isaiah there in chapter 40 where it said that word comforted it it kind of brought me back to mothers in israel i my mother in in mothers are always they're so good at comforting uh their children no matter what age they are their mothers always seem to know the right thing to say to make a situation better and uh i'm 49 not 50 yet still in my 40s here and

i still call my mother when i when i need something or when i need to have that kind patient encouraging uh voice and it's just a wonderful example that's how god is going to comfort his people that's

john was sent as a forerunner to christ to comfort the people that there was a better day coming that the kingdom uh would be established

and there's an excitation there for us as well to hear the voice of scriptures uh that we also

are attentive to it and that word um it it gives the indication of uh be diligent about it certainly be attentive obey the voice of the lord your god to observe or to keep to watch to guard it we should have these things of the truth on our minds meditating upon them and preaching these things

to our children and to those around us when we can show the wonderful

gospel news

uh we can look at john chapter 10 and verse 27 in christ speaking here my sheep hear my voice and i know them and they follow me and i will give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand

my father which gave

me them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand i and my father are one so this idea of this voice we hear christ's voice by um being here today by uh looking forward to the memorial and remembering our savior and continuing a walk

in the truth and proverbs 19 tells us cease to hear instruction my son and you will stray from the words of knowledge and unfortunately that is the position that the children of israel found themselves in at this point in their history but nevertheless god heard their

cry and he sent a voice to remind them of their responsibilities and then he sent

gideon and as the account continues it says and there came an angel of the lord and sat under an oak tree which was an opera that pertained unto joash the ibiza right and his son gideon threshed wheat by or in the translation should really be in the wine press to hide it from the midianites because you know the midianites are coming down into land they're taking uh as much of their crops and animals as they can get so gideon's kind of doing this

in in a way to be slight so that the midianites don't see him it's interesting here we have this angel we know angels uh have appeared uh yet to zacharias to connellius and here gideon has an angel that appears to him under an oak tree and that's telling us something there with this oak tree oak is a symbol of strength

and stability and let's look at isaiah chapter 61 here in relation to this

in verse 3 to appoint unto them that mourn and zion to give unto them beauty for ashes the oil of joy for mourning the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness that they might be called trees of righteousness the planting of the lord that he might be glorified and we see over and over again that oak trees uh a lot of times they're near water which is symbolic of of soaking up the nutrients and roots that grow deeper and deeper in the truth and certainly as we

the more time we spend around the word the deeper our roots will get in the things of god psalms 55 we can we can look at a passage here

psalm 55 22. cast thy burden upon the lord and he shall sustain thee he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved

see

so this idea of of

stability in an oak tree the righteous shall not be moved and this is where the angel comes to speak to gideon now it says gideon was was hiding here

threshing wheat

and the angel of the lord appeared unto him and said unto him the lord is with thee thou mighty man of valor

or the idea of great courage in the face of danger especially in battle

it points out here that gideon is hiding and if we just go forward a couple chapters in judges here

there's good reason why gideon is is feeling this way is there's a history here

with his family in the midianites

if we look at judges

8 verse 18 and we talked last week about the battle uh that took place uh at mount tabor with uh deborah and and barrack and if we look here in judges 8 verse 18 it says

speaking of gideon then said he unto zeba and zalmuna what manner of men were they whom he slew at tabor so at this battle with sisera and they answered as thou art so were they each one resembled the children of a king and he said they were my brethren even the sons of my mother as the lord liveth if he had saved them alive i would i would not slay you so

gideon had family members that were wiped out in that battle

with cicera and all joe ash sons except one it seems had been slain at the battle of tabor

and

yeah we note that here gideon he gets up in the morning he the food is scarce and he's discreet about getting some little a little bit of food for his family

so the angel calls gideon man of valor because he knew his character he was he was a humble man gideon wasn't looking at himself as hey i can go out here and save the nation of israel no he felt hey how how can i do this and god saw that character trait uh within him um

and we we know gideon's response my clan is the weakest in manasseh and i am the least in my family he had no confidence in himself and certainly pointing forward the wonderful uh character and tie-in of christ who also humbled himself and placed his complete reliance on god christ never said of himself that he was going to accomplish this so i'm going to do this thing i'm going to be uh no he always looked to his father we can look at uh luke 9 verse 58 and christ says of himself um you know his in and jesus said unto him foxes have holes and birds of the ears have nests but the son of man hath not where to lay his head and he said unto another follow me

so here's christ the savior of the world he couldn't be any more of an important individual but he had no home probably had one pair of sandals one outfit he didn't know where he was going to be laying his head and

yet he was the savior of the world he wasn't a proud man he wasn't you know going home to his big house every night or you know looking at you know what kind of you know horse can i get myself here and we we live in a materialistic society there's nothing wrong with with the blessings that god has given us uh but he here christ

is he's not relying on materialism he's putting all his hope and trust in his father and gideon did the same thing that's why he said how am i going to do this

uh hebrews

5 verse 7 speaking of christ who in the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared

though he were a son yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered in being made perfect he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him called of god and high priest after the order of melchizedek's melchizedek so we have this wonderful benefit not only of the character that christ showed us in his humility but also this wonderful benefit of salvation because that's what christ decided to do he didn't go off on his own uh path he was mourning by morning he was influenced by the word of his father isaiah 50 as well

speaking of of christ the lord god hath opened my ear and i was not rebellious neither turned thee back i gave my back to the smiters you know the the the misery that christ suffered at the hand of unrighteous people in my cheeks to them that plucked off my hair they would rip the hair of christ's beard out i hid not my face from shame and spitting for the lord god will help me therefore shall i not be confounded therefore have i set my face like a flint and i know that i shall not be ashamed this was the humility that christ showed even to his own physical harm

in just a few chapters forward in

isaiah 53 verse 7. he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb so he opened not his mouth he was

the epitome of humility in the face of being treated so wrong and it's our natural desire as it was christ as well he had the holy spirit without measure he could have flattened all these people but he didn't because that wasn't his father's will and one more scripture in relation to this in philippians chapter 2. philippians 2 verse 8 and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself

and became obedient unto death even the death

of the cross

now it's interesting here gideon

he has he he questions you know when the angel comes and and says hey you're you're a mighty warrior gideon says

oh my lord if the lord be with us why then is all this befallen us and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of saying did not the lord bring us up from egypt but now the lord hath forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the midianites

and the angel doesn't answer this

this question specifically but gideon knew why

the children of israel were in

a straight here if we look at judges 6 25 judges 6 25 and it came to pass the same night that the lord said unto him and we'll we're going to spend more time on this

take thy father's young bullock even the second bullock and throw down the altar of baal that thy father hath and cut down the grove that was by it so gideon knew why israel was not in a good spot the center of bail worship in this district was right in gideon's family his family was the problem they were when you wanted to get up and worship bale you came right down to gideon's house right down to his family's uh property and this is where the the bail worship was done this is where the groves were and though gideon did not worship the pagan god he was threshing wheat right here in the headquarters of of uh baal worship so he knew why uh god was not happy with the children of israel

but we are told as that account continues and the lord looked upon him and said

go in this thy might and thou shalt save israel from the hand of the midianites

have not i sent thee and so gideon here he's he's not trusting in his own strength he's trusting in the power of god

all right so he he is the account continues as he said unto him oh my lord wherewith shall i save israel behold my family is poor in manasseh and the lord said unto him i will be with thee and thou shalt smite the midians as one man so you have the midianites which are as the sand of the seashore without number and gideon is told god is going to work through him to save israel um

and there's there's an illusion here as well

in salvation provided by god in in humility we think about the birth of christ

you

think you know what where could the king of the earth be born like there's no place more noble and if we look at luke chapter 2 verse 6 we're told and so it was that while they were there the days were accomplished that she should be delivered and she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room in the end so the son of god the savior of the world there was no place glorious enough for him and so christ is some interesting uh commentary here it says so why was the savior the king born in a place where animals were kept and why was he then laid in the animal's food trowel surely god's son deserved a high profile birth in the most elegant of surroundings

but instead god's own son made his appearance on earth in the lowly lowliest of circumstances this humble birth conveys an amazing message to creation

instead of coming to earth as a pampered privileged ruler jesus was born in meekness

as one of us he is approachable accessible available

no palace gates by the way to him no ring of gods prevents our approach

the king of kings came humbly

in his first bed

was a manger i think that's pretty astounding when we think about the savior that we have and how he understands us and how he was brought in

and he humbled himself even though he is the savior of the world

this idea here as well it says

the lord said unto him i'll be with you and thou shalt smite the midians as one man.

now we know gideon went up with 300 men and so there were 301 but this idea of one man

is an allusion to

the return of christ with the saints

it's speaking of

one in purpose and plan being on the same page philippians 2 verse 2 brings us out

fulfill ye my joy that ye be like-minded having the same love being of one accord of one mind

and so gideon here it says you're gonna smite as one man all of these people were in unison and so it will be at the judgment er at the return of christ when the gogian host is destroyed it will be as if one purpose one plan is is being fulfilled and that's why the angel says you're going to smite them as one man even though there was 301 in judges 6 verse 17 after

gideon speaks with the angel

he's still not quite sure uh if it actually is an angel and so in verse 17 of that sixth uh sixth chapter

we're told

uh and gideon says and he said unto him if now i have found grace in thy sight then show me a sign that thou talkest with me depart not fence i pray thee until i come unto thee and bring forth my present and set it before thee and he said i will tarry until thou come so gideon's looking for a sign that this really is an angel of god uh and so gideon even during a famine it says and the angel of god said unto him uh take the flesh and the unleavened cakes and lay them upon this rock and pour out the broth and he did so so gideon puts together quite a um

an offering

that was given during a time uh of famine

and there's a there's a few interesting points here um

on on this rock he lays

the

sacrifice upon a rock and if we look at first corinthians

10 verse 1. it says moreover brethren i would not that you should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea and were all baptized unto moses in the cloud and in the sea so as the children of israel left uh egypt they were symbolically baptized on their way out through the red sea and did all eat the same spiritual meat and did all drink the same spiritual rock for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was christ

so here this sacrifice is laid on a rock

and we have our companion passage of this in exodus 17 verse 6. it says behold i will stand before thee there upon the rock and horeb and thou shalt smite the rock and there shall come water out of it that the people may drink and we know moses here on this occasion he struck the rock once symbolic of christ

one sacrifice for all time but in numbers chapter 20 verse 10 we are told and moses and aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock and he said unto them hear now ye rebels must we fetch you water out of the rock and moses lifted up his hand with his rod he smote the rock twice and the water came out and it says god was displead moses didn't follow what he was told to do and he was not allowed to

enter the land

so it says here then the angel

of the lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the flesh in the unleavened cakes and there rose up fire out of the rock and consume the flesh in the unleavened cakes then the angel of the lord departed out of his sight so you have this

offering put on the rock the angel

hits it with the staff

and

it's indicating to us

symbolically the sacrifice of christ

christ was

an offering and he has ascended up into heaven as this fire would have ascended up to heaven as well and so fire it says ran up the channel of the wine press so it would have been on this lower channel it would have gone up through where they uh crushed the grapes and this only happened when something had passed from a lower crush state christ in his uh state of mortality into an elevated state representing uh the work of christ

a high priest and um we can pick up there uh next week there's a few uh scriptures that we can look at in relation to this but we're we're uh running out of time here so uh we'll i'll open it up for any any thoughts or comments

Transcript

all right we can start with a review here um

we talked last week about the quarrel of the covenants the covenant that god and the children of israel had made and the covenant that israel made with baal and leviticus tells us in chapter 26 i will remember my covenant with jacob and my covenant with isaac in my covenant with abraham and god was determined to fulfill his promises to the fathers

um and we also spoke about how when we cry to god he hears us just as the children of israel found themselves in a difficult situation and they cried unto god he was moved uh by israel's request and so god will be moved by our requests as well uh if we're seeking him we're making positive changes in our lives and we spoke as well about the tie-in to john the baptist here that there was a voice that came before christ and there was a voice here that came before gideon and just the symbology here of gideon as a type of christ

in the idea of hearing the voice we want to make sure that we're hearing that voice and we touched on the humility of gideon as well that he was called a great warrior not because he was had his chest puffed out but because he actually didn't trust in his own abilities he trusted in the power of god to deliver israel

we saw that there was an angel that sat under the oak and we talked about the symbol of strength security and stability that that represented in how this is what we have with one another in in the ecclesia the gospel message in these promises that god has made that we know we can uh trust in them we covered the fact that gideon had a history here because his brothers that appears were all killed at the battle of mount tabor where deborah and barak were

and gideon also asked the question why are we in such a predicament but he knew why uh the problem was in his own family in the bale worship you would go to gideon's house to his father's house where they had the grove set up where they had an image set up to bale and

we mentioned uh gideon prepared a sacrifice

when the angel came and the angel touched the flesh offering and fire consumed it and the fire ran from the lower chamber of the wine press up to the upper chamber and then the smoke ascended unto into heaven and we talked about that flesh offering christ his offering and how he went from a lower crush state in uh humility and humanity to ascending up into heaven

immortalized and now at the right hand of god to provide

mediation for each one of us

so with that said um we're also told in that same night that the lord said unto gideon take thy father's young bullock even the second bullock of seven years old and throw down the altar of baal that thy father hath and cut down the grove

that is by it so gideon he got up that morning and all he had on his mind when he woke up was threshing some wheat worrying about the midianites fine finding him and now he's told to destroy the altar of baal uh and build build an altar unto the lord thy god and god told gideon you know do it tonight

so gideon having dedicated himself uh to god he was ready for the task before him and uh it's a wonderful example for us we're we're here this morning we're dedicating ourselves to our walk in the truth dedicating ourselves to one another and it's so much easier to be walking on the the right path when we've dedicated ourselves to god when we're uh when our prayer life is is in a good place so gideon sets out but he doesn't do it himself he takes 10 men with him as it says then gideon took 10 men of his servants and did as the lord had said unto him and a wonderful example for us

we can't do it alone we need each other we need our families we need the community we need our brothers and sisters and gideon knew that he he was a humble man he wasn't uh

you know rushing out there i'm going to do this all myself

and colossians has a nice scripture on this colossians 3 verse 23 says and whatsoever ye do do it heartily as to the lord and not unto men knowing that of the lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance for ye serve the lord christ and this is what gideon was doing with with ten of of these servants

most likely they were uh servants of his fathers not even his servants

but it says because he feared his father's household

he did it at night and it just kind of shows us the challenge even when we do that when we do the right thing sometimes it's hard to stand up for what's right especially in a crowd that maybe may not be receptive to

what we're saying but um you know we can find ourselves doing being a little bit fearful maybe of of living the truth in a certain way and and this is where gideon was at so gideon was told to tear down the altar and build an altar unto the lord and um

if we look at exodus chapter 20. in verse 24. god gives the prescription on how an altar should be made this altar to bale would have been made probably with bricks that they would have made in an oven and it would have been man-made whereas god says an altar of earth thou shalt make unto me and shall sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings and thy peace offerings thy sheep and then oxen in all places where i record my name i will come unto thee and i will bless thee and if thou wilt make me an altar of stone thou shalt not build it of hume stones for if thou lift up thy tool upon it thou hast polluted it so this offering to baal was of man's making whereas god has an altar that he wants that he's been the construction of and it points forward to christ man could not provide salvation god provided salvation and our sacrifices our service our interaction and our involvement with god is not something that we construct it's a blessing and a gift of god that he's provided

to us so it's

it's and we know we're called lively stones that god is is chiseling away at us um

during our days of mortality to refine us so that we're ready to be placed as a stone in that new building that new creation when the kingdom comes

now it mentions here these groves and traditionally they would build groves which were shrubs trees and other plantings

in this word grove is mentioned 41 times in scripture in 40 times it's associated with negative behavior and evil practices but in genesis 2 uh genesis 21 verse 33 which is the first occurrence of the word we are told and abram planted a grove in bersheba and called on the name of the lord the everlasting god so this was the only positive reference to the word grove and and here it gideon tears down the altar to bale then he uses all their groves to offer a sacrifice to god just showing um the power of god and that god was was was i'm going to destroy baal and we're actually going to burn this offering on what they are saying of the groves of baal

there's um in the epistle of john

uh chapter 1 verse 11. this is a good scripture there

actually the third uh

episode here because there is no verse 11 in chapter one

yeah

i got that one wrong

uh in verse 11 behold follow not that which is evil but that which is good he that do with good is of god and he that do with evil hath not seen god and just this reference baal was was uh thrown down ephesians 5 verse 11. and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them and the children of israel were getting a strong lesson uh on this principle and just one more scripture on this in first corinthians 15 and verse 33. be not deceived evil communications corrupt good manners awake to righteousness and sin not and just this idea of our relationships our communications and where we spend our time the israelites were so tied up in in bail worship that this was we're going to see that this is going to be a shock to the system um when

the people wake up the next morning and find out that uh oh gideon tore down the bale covenant and the groves were consumed on the new altar the altar of holiness to god

we're told the men of the city rose early in the morning behold the altar of baal was cast down so these individuals got up early to go worship bail and it's there's a good lesson there for us you know what am i rising up early to do what am i willing to spend my time in early in the morning to get up

is it something that's profitable or are are they things that are just a waste of time and certainly i know in my own life there's plenty of opportunity to get up early and do more bible study and and doing these classes has forced me to do that and it's been a good thing for me because i've had to get up early i've had to spend my time on this and it it's put me in a better frame of mind to live the truth so the men of the city rose early to go worship uh baal and um yeah we see the mindset of the psalmist uh what what did the psalmist do early in the morning in in uh chapter uh 118. psalm 118 verse 24. this is the day which the lord hath made we will rejoice and be glad in it what a wonderful way to start out the day that we have this wonderful gift of health and strength and we can serve god we have we have the opportunity to do that to do good uh

and then there's a warning to us in micah chapter two

uh in verse uh one it says woe to them that devise

uh iniquity and work evil upon their beds these are individuals that are thinking about doing wrong things and they're planning it out for the next day it says when the morning is light they practice it because it is in the power of their hand and we know in our own lives we have to be we have a lot of distractions we have a lot of things that can pull at our uh time and this is what christ did so well when he had a thought of something to do wrong he crushed it right away he never allowed it to manifest

into something that could turn

into sin

and we we have a wonderful example of christ how he spent uh his time how he would keep his mind focused on the father in mark chapter one

in verse 35. speaking of christ and in the morning rising up a great while before day he went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed and simon and they that were with him followed after him and when they had found him they said unto him all men seek for thee so this was christ's habit he would get up early so there were no distractions no disruptions and he would pray and get his mind right for the day

and it's just today we have we get in the car you get the radio you get phone the phone's ringing you're rushing off somewhere you get traffic get all these things that uh can potentially distract us from starting our morning off with a prayer and if we

give that maybe extra time get up a few minutes earlier so we can do that it's going to be profitable for us

it says here that and they said one to another who had done this thing and when they inquired and asked they said gideon the son of joash has done this thing so gideon must have had a reputation because they they didn't take much time to think about who may have done it and just this idea of a reputation we know that having in the proverbs tells us in chapter 22 a good name is more desirable than wealth timothy 3 verse 2 says

and this is important for our service in the ecclesia so an elder must be a man whose life is above reproach he must be faithful to his wife he must exercise self-control live wisely and have a good reputation he must enjoy having guests in his home and he must be able to teach he must not be a heavy drinker or be violent he must be gentle not quarrelsome and not love money also people outside the ecclesia must speak well of him and gideon had this sort of reputation he wasn't worshiping baal he was known among the people to be somebody who was probably annoyed by the habits of the israelites and matthew 5 16 tells us let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven now they saw this good work that gideon did but and it did bring glory to god but the people didn't see that way because it says

they went to joash's house and said bring out thy son that he may die because he has cast down the altar of baal and because he has cut down the grove that was by it and i just love how you know dad's always there for the rescue we know we we know our fathers bail us out of uh bill us out of trouble um

there was

i was i had a motorcycle in high school and um

it wasn't registered and wasn't insured and my father told me don't don't take it out and i was like what does dad know

so i took it out went up to the high school showing off a little bit and when i left the high school i popped the wheelie you know the whole length of the high school well turns out the uh

the coach for the girls softball team was a state trooper and he saw me do it

so next thing i know i got blue lights behind me of course you know

i i think i can get away from this guy 16 and a half you know so i start going down the middle of the road and of course everybody's pulling over for this guy and finally you realize i'm not getting away so i pull over guy comes out turns my motorcycle off throws the keys next thing this four or five town cops show up

next thing i know dad's driving up in his car this is not a good scene

fortunately my dad went to high school with the state trooper

so the the guy was like i'm going to leave this in your hands mr dean i i feel like you're going to do the right thing and uh yeah i sold the motorcycle after that

but you know we we have our relationships and you know fathers are so important in the family unit and for the direction they provide uh to their kids and um you know gideon's father here it says um you know he was there he had his sons back even though it was a difficult time all the people there they want to kill his son it says but joe ash replied to the hostile crowd crowd around him are you going to plead bale's cause

are you going to try to save him

so in other words he's saying the same thing that elijah said when they when they had the altars there you know perhaps your god is sleeping or he's on a far journey or you know you know cry louder and he'll hear you he's saying why do you guys need to handle this gideon just knocked down this powerful god's altar let him deal with it um if if bale really is a god he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar so because gideon broke down bale's altar they gave him the name jerebale let bale contend that day saying let bale contend with him let let bill fix the problem we also saw this um

in acts with gamaliel they they

um we can turn this one up quick it's uh acts 5 verse 36. they they were um it says uh ye men of israel take heed to yourselves what you intend to do as touching these men they were they were annoyed with um

uh with the apostles here for before these days rose up that is boasting himself to be somebody to whom a number of men about 400 join themselves who were slain they came to naught and another one rose up in galilee and now i say unto you refrain from these men and let them alone for if this council or this work be of men it will come to not but if it be of god you cannot overthrow it less happily ye be found even to fight against god and this was the reasoning that um joe ash was using

and

the people they they were satisfied with that okay let's see what bale does and we have the same thing in our day we have the signs of the times and we've we've all had conversations with people around us particularly with with the events taking place in russia and people ask what do you think is this going to settle down is this going to what's going to happen here and we know we can confidently say we don't know the time frame but no it's not going to settle down and

it's interesting this people are well why do you think why do you feel so confident in that and because if it's if it's of man it's not going to happen but if it's of god and we know it is we know there's a kingdom to come we know there is a time of refreshing for this earth in a wonderful time of blessing we can rest confident in that because it's it's of god

uh it says then all the midianites and the amalekites so they kind of heard of this gathering here they they they they knew the altar was uh torn down and it says they gathered together and went over and pitched in the valley of jezreel but the spirit of the lord came upon gideon and he blew a trumpet and abieser was gathered after him now it's interesting here we we know we're waiting for a trumpet to sound uh when christ comes and we we have this symbology here of gideon as a type of christ this uh trumpet uh is blown and then we have these nations come together and he sent messengers throughout all manasseh who was also gathered unto him and he sent messages unto asher and then to zebulun and to naftali and they came up to meet him so you have this trumpet blown and you have

the nation of israel gathered the tribes gathered together as we expect when we hear that trumpet we're going to be gathered together

to judgment

um

let's see here

so we have this aspect of needing to be ready for that trumpet we don't know the day of the hour when christ will return um and we can look at uh yeah first corinthians 15. it says in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump for the trump shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall all be changed for this corruption must put on incorruption and this mortality must put on

this mortal must put on immortality we know there'll be the resurrection and so many wonderful things will happen uh for the household of faith and for this earth when that trumpet is is blown

so gideon is now in the firing line you have all these nations uh being gathered together where you have the amalekites in the midianites and the children of the east gathered together and they're pitching in the valley of jezreel gideon now is uh you know this is where rubber hits the road you know he's been told he's a a mighty man of valor he's going to be able to defeat

these people through the power of god and we can only imagine that gideon probably is quite nervous and it says but the spirit of the lord came upon gideon i just think that's wonderful because god knows exactly what we need and gideon needed the spirit of god right now because of the situation that was before him and it's the same in our lives god is going to provide for us exactly what we need it may not be what we think we need but he's well aware of our circumstances and philippians 4 19 talks about this

but my god shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory in christ jesus now unto god and our father be glory forever and ever amen this is exactly what um god did here for gideon and one more here in second corinthians 9. verse 8 and god is able to make all grace abound towards you and ye always having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work and gideon recognize this he now you know god's spirit was upon him and he was emboldened to fulfill uh the mission that god had put out before him

and this is where we see just how human gideon is just like we are so all of these things have happened he's seen an angel uh he's had this miraculous fire that ascends and takes the flesh offering god spoke to him and gideon says uh if you're gonna really save israel yes and the spirit of god is upon him and he says if you're really going to do it could i just have one more sign here i just need a little bit more and

you know we have the same thing in our lives we have uh prophecy we have the signs of the times we have all these things and sometimes we we might if we could just have a little bit more proof and that's that's what gideon is is thinking here and so he says if i put the fleece on the floor and the do be on the fleece only and let it be dry in the earth

and it was so the next morning and he ringed the dew out of the fleece a bowl full of water and so if we look at what dew is represented of it it's represented of a blessing from heaven and it's most likely the offering that gideon made on the new altar that he built when he cast down bail this is the fleece or the skin from that offering that he put on the threshing floor so if we look at genesis 27 verse 28 it says therefore god will give thee of the dew of heaven in the fatness of earth in the plenty of corn and wine so the dew of heaven is it's a blessing that comes down uh from heaven from god and this one in psalms is really great because it indicates that kind of what's going on here it's talking about resurrection it's talking about immortality

psalms 110 verse 3. thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the mourning thou hast the dew

of thy youth so this idea of resurrection immortality and being

having all of the the strength and vigor that we had in our youth

uh the energy of immortality isaiah also in chapter 35. speaking of of this time it says say to them that are of a fearful heart be strong fear not behold your god will come with a vengeance even god with a recompense he will come and save you then the eyes of the blind shall be open and the ears of the death shall be unstopped then shall the lame man leap is in heart and the tongue of the dumb sing for in the wilderness shall waters break out in streams in the desert in the parched ground shall be a pool in the thirsty land springs of water

so this idea of a time of refreshing zechariah tells us for the seed shall be prosperous the vine shall give her fruit and the ground shall give her increase in the heavens shall give the dew and i will cause the remnant of the people to possess all these things

so it's interesting the fleece

representing christ

has the dew on it but the ground has no do on it and so it's it's indicating to us that this is related to christ receiving immortality uh we it talks in john chapter 1 verse 29 of christ being the firstfruits john 1 verse 29. because this word fleece is used uh this particular word is used seven times and it's only in judges but there's a related word that's used here in john and it's the lamb and it says the next day john seeth jesus coming unto him and saith behold the lamb of god related to this word fleece which taketh away the sin of the world um

and

in first corinthians 20 verse 23. see again there is no first corinthians 20. let's try it no that's not going to work the verse is um christ was the firstfruits and then aft then those after him and so christ was the first one of this creation to receive immortality what's the second thing that gideon asked for he says let the fleece be dry christ is immortal he's our high priest but the dew on the ground we know that we're told we're the we're the dust of the unto dust thou art and to dust shalt thou return well now this dew is on the ground it's on us it's this blessing on the second night

that we are now immortalized so we have this trumpet we have uh this process going on here and as it says and god did so that night for it was dry upon the fleece only christ is our immortal mediator and there was dew on the ground resurrection and immortality of the saints this is the blessing of heaven this dew

that's uh going to to come down upon us and these are just very unusual things for gideon to ask for so uh it just

this made sense to me just digging into it

as the account continues in judges it says then jeremial contends with baal who was gideon and all the people with him rose up early and pitched beside the wall of herod which means the well of tremble trembling and the lord said unto gideon the people that are with thee are too many for me to give the midianites into their hand lest israel vaunt or brag themselves against me saying my own hand to save me so here's poor gideon he's got 32 000 men and now it's like that's too many it's already three to one the the other people are 132 000. uh it says now therefore go to proclaim in the ears of the people saying whoever is fearful and afraid let him return and depart

and

twenty and two thousand people you know walked away and so here you i mean that would have been so disappointing to the soldiers that were left uh and and they would have been very disheartened by that i'm sure but there was a spirit of pride within some of these people that they thought hey if we win this battle it's going to be on us it's not going to be on god and there were also some that were fearful we know in deuteronomy chapter 20 it says uh you know those that are fearful don't go out to battle because they're gonna make the person next to them afraid or if you're newly married uh you stay home for a year to cheer up your wife so there was a principle here that god was enacting um he wanted a certain type of heart a certain type of mindset

that would have was there that trusted in him and not in themselves

in revelations 21 it tells us in verse 7 he that overcometh shall inherit all things and i will be his god and he shall be my son but the fearful and unbelieving in the abominable will not enter the kingdom and and so these people you know uh representing here typical of the judgment seat these people were fearful they didn't actually believe that god could perform what he said he was going to do

and just a few scriptures

for

helping us to trust in god's ability to live us and deliver us in psalms 56 it says be merciful unto me starting in verse 1 be merciful unto me o god for man would swallow me up he fighting daily oppresses me mine enemies would daily swallow me up for they be many that fight against me o thou most high what time i am afraid i will trust in me in god i will praise his word in god i have put my trust i will not fear what flesh can do unto me and this is the mindset that these individuals who walked away they didn't they didn't have it psalms 34 as well verse 4. i sought the lord and he heard me and delivered me

from all my fears and so as much as these individuals were discouraged that stayed they were ready to trust in god uh we have the same uh principle brought out to us in hebrews chapter 12 verses 1 and 2. it says we're foreseeing we are also uh compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us looking unto jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of god

we need to strengthen the things that remain in these last days supporting one another and recognizing we have a wonderful high priest we have a god that will deliver us ultimately from uh mortality and from a world that is in darkness

but it wasn't they hadn't whittled things down enough uh it says that god is going to try i will try them for thee and they're now outnumbered 13 to 1 and god puts together a process by which he tells gideon to judge who will go with him and who will not uh in this word try here it's the same word as purify

the word

in in this idea of how we live our lives we want to live pure lives before god we want to

allow the word to dictate uh the choices that we make

now you would think you know who cares how a soldier drinks is water i just want the biggest the toughest the strongest you know the best weapons but that's not the principle that god put together here and there's some some interesting things here it says so he brought down the people unto the water and the lord said unto gideon everyone that lappeth of the water with his tongue as a dog lapith him shalt thou set by himself likewise everyone that bowed down upon his knees to drink

and you know there with there were 300 men that

took water and they put it to their mouth they didn't they didn't bend their knee they they had an upright stance and so the symbology here for us you can't really get a lot of water from your hand yeah you're gonna have to be doing that a lot to get um

enough water to satisfy your thirst so the principles here are a slow and steady intake of god's word every day we know water is representative of god's word in the action of the hand bringing the word to the mouth it causes us to produce works meet for repentance and the idea of lapping it it's it's contemplation it's pondering the word and it's helping us to be wise in the things of god and these individuals probably waded into the water and they were cognizant of the enemy they were cognizant of the way they needed to live their life and they were looking around while they were bringing the water up

uh

we look if we look at psalms 119 verse 97 oh how love i thy law it is my meditation all the day thou through thy commandments has made me wiser than my enemies for they are ever with me so

david meditating upon god's law he was able to overcome evil thoughts he was able to overcome enemies because

these precepts were were ever with him and that's the idea of this constant steady intake uh of the word this persistent application in an upright stance eyes that are watchful and engaged and alert to living the truth now we have this other group of people that bow down upon their knees to take water and so this idea of bowing down

is they took their eyes off the enemy they weren't focused on the task that was set before him

in this idea of bowing down to the things of the flesh uh they were insensitive and possibly had a reckless attitude to the word of god yes they were drinking but it was it was just in a very haphazard way uh and it did not reflect in them a patent of life that attempted to control uh fleshly nature uh they they were kind of reckless about their walk uh this principles principle's brought out in philippians 2 verse 13. considering putting god's word into our minds for it is god which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure and as we study these things as we put the word of god into our minds god's going to be working with us to to create in us uh a character and a personality that is that is pleasing to him now you know it says by 300 men it's just a representative

number so to speak of those that is are saved there's not a specific number for those that are uh accepted um

but we determine if we're going to be part of that that multitude by our daily lives it's it's up to our choices each day uh and we know the principle in luke 12 in verse 32 it tells us fear not little flock for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom this is what god wants for each of us what he wants um in for all of our lives

and so we can we can wrap uh this morning's class up uh and we'll we'll we're going to skip ahead a little bit here to you have gideon with the 300 men they're up on the mountain range looking down into the valley where the midianites and the amalekites are and this is really a parallel to the battle of armageddon uh and the uh 300 men they have a pitcher of clay in one hand and inside that is a light and what do they do they smash the clay and we know there's reference in scripture that our bodies we're we're clay we're mortal we're we're failing and when they smash that clay it breaks open and what's the a beautiful bright light immortality the glory of the saints that wonderful gift that's going to be bestowed uh upon us so the lamps are now shining and the glory of god

is revealed in us in second corinthians 4 verse 7 it says but we have this treasure in earth and vessels we have this wonderful treasure of the gospel message it's in a it's in a body of mortality that the excellency of the power may be of god and not of us in ezekiel 38 um

we see here that the

enemy got confused it was every man's sword against himself and we have that same reference in in ezekiel 38 and i will call for a sword against him through all my mountains speaking of the time when um

we have the nations come against israel

saith the lord god every man's sword shall be against his brother which is exactly what happens in this account so as we consider the state of the nation as we consider deborah in her wonderful example as we consider that gideon won man it was one then it was 10 and then it was grew bigger and bigger to the extent that it was the entire nation here now chasing after the midianites god has the power to work within all of us and he does and he will and let us never forget that it's god's good pleasure to give us the kingdom

any uh thoughts or comments before we close

thank you

thanks

yeah

some good points jason how uh you know god was uh he was patient with gideon right he let him test him a couple of times instead of just saying just do what i'm telling you to do right right and then he lets him overhear the conversation of the it was the amalekites right the guy has this dream the soldiers yeah right and he says geez you know when he gets the victory right he lets him hear that yeah to give him that courage and encouragement to go forward with the attack with no weapons right right a lantern yeah

they've got weapons but you just you guys just go forward with this so he was always encouraging him and that's that's great right yeah