Yes He Can!
Notes
Transcript
Christians First
Christians First
At the end of 2019 I began to think about what our theme would be and the one that weighed the heaviest on my heart was Christians First. In this theme it was important that the Ave G Church of Christ remember our calling. The purpose of the them is...
We mustn't forget to live in a manner worthy of our calling. We must be more and more like God for our sake and the sake of others! So before you are a father, mother, husband, wife, or child... Be Christians FIRST!
This theme used presidential slogans throughout the years to as a part of the themes to focus on certain messages. The first message was...
“Christianity must and shall be preserved!”
In our first 2020 thematic sermon we examined the attack on Christianity and faith in general. We looked at how Christianity's importance in that it provides the only way to lead happy lives that lead towards an eternity with God.
And today our sermon title is “Yes He Can!”
Explain Obama and Caesar Chavez efforts in coining the phrase...
Who knew that the importance of maintaining Christianity would be a perfect fit for the year of 2020?! God did! This year began with a bang ushering in a new decade and all things looked up. Our optimism was quickly dampened around March when a pandemic struck our world. Causing some to lose jobs, others to lose loved ones, and for many a focused has been brought to many important issues because people have been forced to stop or slow down! Many will ask themselves the question.
What can I do?
Who am I?
But today I want to remind the Christians listening today that the God that we serve is more than enough! And when we are with him we can accomplish anything! When we are with Him we are EXACTLY what our current world needs! No matter who we are by ourselves!
I can because He can!
YES HE CAN!
Turn your Bibles with me to Judges 6:11-27
11 Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” 13 And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 14 And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” 15 And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” 16 And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” 17 And he said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. 18 Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.”
19 So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them. 20 And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” And he did so. 21 Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. 22 Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” 23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” 24 Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.
25 That night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it 26 and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.” 27 So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night.
An Unlikely Hero (V 11-14)
An Unlikely Hero (V 11-14)
11 Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites.
Gideon beating out wheat in a wine press
This was not the normal process.
He was scary...
A good way of beating out wheat involved being outside the wind was an aid in the process.
12 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.”
A messenger of God comes proclaiming to Gideon that he is a “Mighty one/man of valor/worthiness”
Gideon’s response was probably him looking around like “WHO?!!”
A messenger sent from God sees in Gideon what he can’t see in himself!
“Chris! Why do you ask us to do more than we can handle?!”
Some of us can’t see the potential that God and the messenger has seen in you!
13 And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
Gideon’s response is full of valid reasoning.
“If you’re with us then why has this bad stuff been happening?”
“Where is all the extraordinary things our ancestors explained to us about you?”
“Now you have given us over in the hands of Midian?”
These are valid questions!
God why don’t I have a spouse?
Why does injustice and racism still occur?
Why didn’t my daddy stay?
Why is systematic oppression allowed by you?
Why did you allow me to get raped?
Why did you allow my spouse to cheat on me?
14 And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?”
God’s Response...
God does not engage or respond to his questions.
God says
“Go”- There’s no point in dwelling on things you can’t fix.
Do what God says for you to do!
Be what God tells you that you are!
“In your strength”
There is value in your weakness
2 Cor. 12:9-11
9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
11 I have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I was not at all inferior to these super-apostles, even though I am nothing.
You will succeed… Because God sent you to succeed!
Unqualified Yet Sent (V 15-24)
Unqualified Yet Sent (V 15-24)
15 And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”
Here Gideon is again making good points!
His clan is the weakest
His people are of Manasseh (half breeds)
He is the runt of the family
Can he actually deliver God’s people?
16 And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”
“…as one man”
“...I will be with you...”
17 And he said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me.
Gideon asks for confirmation that God finds him favorable.
18 Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.”
19 So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them. 20 And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” And he did so. 21 Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight.
Sacrifice & Approval…
22 Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” 23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” 24 Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.
23
3 things that show that God has shown him grace
Peace be to you
Do not fear
You shall not die
How has God shown you favor?
V24
If God is peace why does “his people” lack it?
When God sends, confirms, and shows favor to you… Do you go?
A Reluctant Obedience (V 25-27)
A Reluctant Obedience (V 25-27)
25 That night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it
At night God talks to him. He asks him to destroy his father’s altar to Baal.
Baal- Is an ancient false god. Is related to the false god Asherah. The word also in Hebrew is defined as “Owner/Possessor”.
God tells Gideon that he must clean up at home. “Baal maybe ok with you worshipping other gods but Yahweh…
Yahweh is helping him see first what caused the severed relationship and Midianite takeover. Before he can address the deliverance of His people!
What is it that owns you?
26 and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.”
God asks Gideon to build an altar on a stronghold!
“I need you to build a place of worship on a sure foundation.”
“Before you can be a deliverer to my people relationship with me must be established.
27 So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night.
2 things revealed
The heart of others was set on disobedience to God
He was a coward
Conclusion
Conclusion
Gideon was an unlikely, unqualified, & reluctant person to deliver God’s people. But he had the ability to deliver God’s people, not based on himself alone but because God can!
YES HE CAN!