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The Story of Gideon – The Making of a Hero

Sermon Text: Judges 6 and 7

“In those days Israel had no king. Each man did what he considered to be right.” ( Judges 21:25)

“Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys.  They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the LORD for help.” ( Judges 6:3-6)

“Gideon, go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” “But Lord,” Gideon asked, “How can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I am the least in my family” (Judges 6:14-15).

"But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian” (Judges 6:13)

“I will be with you and you will strike down the Midianites as if they were but one man” (Judges 6:16).

What is unthinkable and undoable on my own becomes unstoppable when it’s God and me.

“Tear down your father's altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. Then build a proper kind of altar to the LORD your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering. So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the LORD told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the men of the town, he did it at night rather than in the daytime” (Judges 6:25-27).

“If Baal is really God, Baal can take care of himself. Let him take care of himself.” (Judges 6:27)

“if you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised—look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.” (Judges 6:36)

“There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go….Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel down to drink.” Three hundred men lapped with their hands to their mouths. All the rest got down on their knees to drink. The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands.” (Judges 7:4-7)

SLC 684 gene on chromosome 17q12.

I am bigger than your problems. I am bigger than your failures. I am bigger than your regrets, many though they may be. I am bigger than your sin and guilt. If you will let me, if you will try me, if you will open the door of your heart, I will come into your life and I will be your forgiver, and I will be your strength, and I will be your friend.