"Gideon: God's Chosen Leader" | Jason Pyron

tonight I wanted to talk to you a little bit about the life of Gideon I want to ask you to open in your Bibles to the book of Judges and I'm gonna attempt to talk tonight to walk through three chapters of the Old Testament on a Sunday night in July so we'll see how that goes I'm very excited to be able to share with you just what the Lord has taught me through the book of Judges the book of Judges is made up of just a group of people who God called out in order to lead during a time that people were crying out the Israelites would lose their way and then they would call out and say God we need you and God would provide a leader for you we see this in the book of Judges we see that there's people like Okonedo we see that there's a guy named hood if you want to read on your own sometime parents maybe read with their kids the story of the e Hut it's pretty Wow the stuff that only the Lord can provide for us to be able to read but we see he hide and what happens with him and then we see Deborah Deborah is significant because it's a female and female this is during the time that women were really second-class citizens and yet God calls Deborah to lead this movement and to lead the Israelites away from their pagan gods and so once again follow the one true God we see great work through her and then we see there's there's judges like Shamgar he gets one verse in the whole Bible we don't know much about him other than he killed a lot of people in one verse and then he moved on and then we get to the man named Gideon now I want to give you just a little bit of an educational portion of our night together one of the opportunities I have is to share with some of the different groups in nextgen and just a couple of months ago I shared in our fourth and fifth grade and we were talking about the book of Judges kind of setting up the book of Judges for them and I learned something that I want to pass along to you and this is what it is there's a progression in the book of Judges that we see over and over and over again and I think it's important for us to understand that progression and you can remember it very easily so take yourself back to school and here we go you can remember about ABCDE okay the first for the a is apostasy gay apostasy and what does that mean apostasy just simply means to abandon a previous loyalty your you are loyal to something and then you turn your back on that so you can think about it is and we are banding something so the people would abandon what they knew to be true something they were loyal to and they turn their back to it and as a result of that they would go into bondage they were they were shackled to whatever it is they had turned towards they were now in bondage to that and then they realized that after they're in bond they're in bondage to something that is not good for them and so they would cry out to the Lord and they would cried ask him to please help them so they've turned their back on him they're in bondage to whatever they've turned to and now they're crying out as a result praise the Lord we see that God delivers them he delivers them now there's a time of deliverance he takes in this case with the the Israelites he takes them out of their bad ways and he delivers them from this evil that's upon them and then we see that as they're following the Lord they've been delivered from this evil thing and now there's a time of ease now there's a time of ease apostasy bondage crying out deliverance and ease we see this over and over and over again and while this is in the Old Testament I think for us we have to understand that for us there's a little bit of this same cycle that if we're not careful ourselves as individuals go through this and us as a Christian nation sometimes that we think everything is good and then we find something better maybe something shiny or something new or something that's a little bit more freeing for us and then doesn't have any rules and then we turn our back on what we know to be true and then we become in bondage to that maybe it's an addiction maybe it's not a big Bell statue somewhere but it's some Idol that we've constructed for ourselves and then we cry out to the Lord and praise God he delivers us from that and then we find ourselves with the time of ease that's what we see as we come to chess chapter 6 Deborah has just finished up leading them and leading them well and it says leading up to verse 6 in chapter 6 it tells us they had experienced 40 years of peace 40 years that things were going well and then once again the Israelites turned their back on the Lord and for seven years it says the Midian it's attack the people of Israel and this is what it says in chapter 6 verse 6 it says Midian the Midianites so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help now what's happened here is the Israelites have got to the point the millions have taken over to the extent that they don't realize don't get to keep their own crops they don't get to have their own cattle everything that they grow anything that they produce the Midianites take the Israelites have nothing they don't even have shelters says that there's their hiding out in the caves that's what's going on at this point now I think it's important that we understand that when Gideon excuse me when the people of Israel cry out to the Lord they are not crying out from a heart of true repentance they are kinda out crying out because they just need help there's nothing that we see in the verses before this that show us that there's truly a repentant heart for them and what we see is God changes up his response to them every other time that we see leading up to judges chapter 6 we see that they cry out and that the Lord responds they cry out and the Lord responds and this time they cry out and the Lord takes a minute and he rebukes them and he says alright I hear you crying out but I have delivered you I have provided for you I have been here for you you have turned your back on me and I continue to provide for you I continue to deliver you so before we move on understand I am here for you I have not gone anywhere that's what God is saying to them obviously we can see the fir God sometimes God's patience turns to God's judgment yes God is a patient and a loving God but he doesn't go without showing us that there are consequences to our bad actions and we see that God here is rebuking them and helping them understand yes I'm going to deliver you yes I'm going to help you but they're gonna be consequences to the decisions that you've made his patience turns to judgment I think it's important for us to understand here that for the people of Israel they had really gotten into a pretty mechanical process it was pretty much we do bad we know God will be there for us we'll cry out to him he will help us we do bad we'll crowd to God he will help us it's mechanical it's in their head it's in their actions it's not in their heart and what God wants is it changed heart what God wants is for these people to have faith the guy can do what he says he can do God wants them to understand that he has been there for them he will be there for them that he's with them right now but for them it is a we're in trouble we need help help us I think about that in terms of my own kids for us as a husband and wife here we're doing the very best that we can but if all we get at the end of the day is for them to understand in order for me to get this I have to do this then we have failed as parents our goal is for them to have heart change for them to want to do what is right because they know that it was right because their heart has turned towards the things of God that their heart is in line with what is right not just because it gets them something but because it's what God wants them to have that's what we see here with these people they have not had that type of change of heart but yet God still delivers them God still has a plan this is what it says in chapter 6 verse 11 and 12 it says the angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak and Ofra that belong to joash the abbe is right where his son Gideon was threshing wheat and a winepress that's undercover where he couldn't be seen to keep it from the Midianites don't miss this when the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon he said the Lord is with you mighty warrior those last two words mighty warrior the angel of the Lord appears to Gideon and hiding while he's working and Gideon's response to the Lord later that we find out is that Gideon says thanks to the lords that leads us to believe Gideon is very reluctant that he is very fearful of what's happening to his family and what's happening to his his tribe we see later that he tells God he tells the angel of the Lord which is you know God manifest through this angel we see that he says to him I'm not only my family's not on the least only the least I'm the least of my family which is the least so he's the worst of the worst in his mind now think about that a reluctant fearful least of the least and yet when God addresses him he says the Lord is with you who mighty warrior this is the first point that I want you to get tonight if you're taking notes in that hope you are this is what it says this is what we learned first let us the first lesson we learned about God from the life of Gideon God knows who we are created to be God knows who were created to be God did not call Gideon by what he saw right there God called Gideon by what he would become God saw a mighty warrior we read nothing in scripture that leads us to believe that he was trained up in this way or that he had the potential on his own that there was something family background or anything there that led anybody to believe that he would be a mighty warrior yet God addresses him from the get-go mighty warrior God saw the potential in Gideon it was only Gideon who needed to realize the potential God saw it there the whole time I wonder for us right here do we understand that we've been created to glorify God and to do that in a personal way as a follower of Jesus we are all called to follow him we're all called to tell her the people about him but God has gifted us in certain ways to be able to do that how's God calling you to do this as a follower of Christ how does he address you maybe this maybe the Lord is with you gifted Shepherd the Lord is with you trustworthy public servant the Lord is with you kind-hearted champion of families the Lord is with you fearless keeper of peace the Lord is with you servant hearted educator the Lord is with you patience shaper of minds the Lord is with you faithful follower the Lord is with you fill in the blank known a sad note I have to say a lot of times we struggle with and working with teenagers a lot the question they want to know is what's God's will for my life and you could take from here and go well maybe the Lord I just got to figure out what the Lord's calling me specifically to do and I think it's just as important here as the word warrior is the word mighty I think it's that the thing that describes what they're gonna do what does God gifted you what has God called you to do not just the vocation but in the way in which you will do it there are certain ways that we're gifted we know that we all have different spiritual gifts how as God calls you to fulfill his mission for all of us to advance the kingdom to make much of Jesus right here we see that God calls Gideon to be a mighty warrior this is what it says Paul says to the people in Corinth at the Church of Corinth it says brothers and sisters think of what you were when you were called not many of you were wise about human standards not many of you were influential not many were of noble birth but God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised thing and the things that are not to nullify the things that are so that no one may boast before him it is because of him that you were in Christ Jesus he who has become for us wisdom from God that is our righteousness our holiness our Redemption God knows who you're created to be so Gideon's response God has said to him the Lord is with you mighty warrior to me that would be a pretty exciting thing first of all I want to know what's going on who's this angel talking to me and then I would say what is it that you're why are you calling me this and Gideon and all of his grandeur this is what he says pardon me my lord in verse 13 Gideon replied pardon me my lord but if the Lord is with us why has all this happened to us where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said did not the Lord bring us out of Egypt but now the Lord has abandoned us and given us to the hand of the Midianites Gideon totally misses what God sees in him he has just caught him a mighty warrior just called me who he's going to be and Gideon totally misses it and completely goes to what's going on with them right now and it's important that you understand it says that when Deborah came on the scene that after she left there was 40 years of peace they had been at war for seven years with Midian Midian had desecrated the place over seven years and yet getting the acid that's asking the question where are you where have you been we've been here all this was happened my ancestors talked about what you did it has not been that long and yet get in his completely forgotten about it he's asking the question where is God and all this why doesn't he care about us I heard a quote a Mark Twain coat a few months ago and it made a lot of sense to me and this is maybe some of you have heard this before the Mark Twain said that when he reached the age of 14 years old he realized how ignorant his father was to the point that hitting wanted to be around but he said that when he turned the age of 21 he was amazed at how much his father had learned in just a short seven years now I think about that now put that in terms of Mark Twain is the Gideon here Gideon is the Mark Twain plug that way to put that Gideon has forgotten that it is not the Heavenly Father does not God himself that has done anything God himself has not changed his mind he has not become unstable it is Gideon and his people who have walked away just as Mark Twain his father was wise all the while it was that Mark Twain decided he would go a different route than to listen to the wisdom of his father in the same way we see that Gideon has walked away from what to get what God has for him and his people and he has forgotten that and he's decided that no longer is God worth following until he gets back to this point I think about that in terms of my own dad my dad's one of the wisest people I know and I remember there being a time in my own life when I walked away from thinking that he had that much wisdom that all of a sudden I could attain what he had her I knew what was best for me maybe some of you parents with teenagers out there have experienced that very thing and what I realized is is that I as as my attitude and my mind shifted my dad stayed stable during that whole time my unship eNOS did not cause instability in the same way God is always who he is he is always worthy he's always trustworthy he is always patient he is always kind he is wise he is with us and it is not him who walks from us it's us who turned our back on him and that's what Gideon has seen right here we see in verse 14 it says the Lord turned to Gideon after Gideon says all that well my goodness you say you're with us but look what's happened it says the Lord the Lord turned to Gideon and he said go in the strength you have he really don't even acknowledge Gideon's a little ramp there go in the strength you have and save Israel out of midians hand am I not sending you in other words God says I'm not really worried at all about what you don't have I want you to use what you do have he says go in the strength you have there's a reason for that God is telling Gideon I have created you with just what you need so it goes on in chat in verse 15 pardon me my lord once again get in pardon me my lord getting replied but how can I save Israel my clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I'm the least in my family I mentioned that earlier so run so parallel we'll read about with Moses and with Joshua and Noah and other people who make these excuses goes on in verse 16 the Lord answered I will be with you and you will strike down all the Midnight's leaving none alive now I asked myself that question I asked the same to you isn't that something that you fail to remember at times you get ready to go do something you get ready to go talk to people about Jesus you go ready to make a stand at work you go to your school campus and you're ready to open up that Bible and to read it so people will have the opportunity to ask you what you're doing and we fail to remember the God is with us in that that brings me to our second point the second thing we learned about God from the life of Gideon is this God's presence and power are promised that alliteration is brought to you about will McKay right there that's for him God's presence and power are promised it goes on at the end after verse 16 if you go on to read that you see that Gideon says okay so if you really are God then I need a son that's kind of a theme for Gideon so it's a I need a sign so God says okay so Gideon actually says to him would you just wait right here to the angel of the Lord would you just wait right here and God says I'll wait right here so Gideon goes in and he as a sacrifice what's interesting it's really the same kind of sacrifice that they made to the false gods to bail and Astra and others but God still understands what Gideon is wanting to get here so God says I'll wait and Gideon brings back that offering to the altar and at that time God says alright I see you're offering why don't you back up and God the angel of the Lord has a stick in his hand and he touches that stick to that sacrifice as soon as he does the whole thing goes up in flames it's a it's like one of those Emeril moments where BAM and it happens and everything goes crazy and it is completely the the sacrifice is completely taken away it's no longer there it is so amazing that Gideon himself thinks that he is about to see the face of God he thinks he's about to be dead it is so wild that he can't believe what he's seen and he thinks I'm potentially either already dead or I'm about to die from what just happened and God has to say to him you were fine you're not going to die I just wanted to show you the power that I have God's power and presence is promised to us the people of Israel failed to remember that God had delivered them from Egypt giddy and it fell to remember the life before the Midianites came on the scene and began destroy their way of life he had forgotten that the power and presence of God had been with them so it says in verse 24 as a result of what's just happened we see in verse 24 it says so guilt Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it the Lord is peace and to this day it stands in Oprah of the Ibiza rites now it's interesting couple of things I want to point out to you first of all this altered that he constructs in order to say alright God I believe you and as a result of that I want to construct this altar it's the same place that God has called you but not only that it is also in the same place where the Prophet excuse me where the idols of bel and Asherah still are see these people who cried out to God they cried out to God to the point that they wanted help but not to the point that they didn't want to give up their other way of life and the other things they believed in so at this point we have this picture of the idol of the sacrum built to the Lord at the same time we have right beside it something that's built to the false guy the battle is on so of course what we read about is that the God tells him all right I want you to destroy this these idols to Astra and to Bill and so Gideon is on board right because now he's seen the power in the presence of God well he's he's sort of on board because this is what happens God says I want you to tear it down and get it says I got it but let me wait until it's dark when nobody's looking you can't make this up and so sure enough God agrees to that and so God so get in in the nighttime with nope when everybody's asleep nobody's around get in just a few of his loyal people go and they tear down these idols to these false gods and then they go away and of course the people wake up in the morning said who did this and Gideon's own father is not willing to say you know like it wasn't my son he's like well look instead of y'all going and killing my son how about you just let the the Bell prophet a bell let him take care of it it was his idol it was it got torn down let him take care of it he convinces the people to do that that's what has happened up to this point and Gideon is absolutely wanted man but still God honors Gideon's obedience I want you to understand if I can this is something I learned and I want you to hopefully get it as well and it's this because this is a messy thing Gideon is not the perfect leader just as some of these other judges were not Sampson had problems with lust we know that Jeptha is another one of the judges he was a gang leader there was all kinds of things there was some messiness that goes on but still God got the glory and this is what I want you to understand this in on the screens but it's worth considering the calling God places on us as further evidence of God's grace towards us the calling that God places on us is further evidence of God's grace towards us because none of us on our own are good enough to be God's leader none of us are the perfect example of God's love to other people we all have things in our life we have sin in our life laziness maybe something that we don't want to be uncomfortable about we're clumsy we're unreliable but yet God wants to use us in spite of this lack of commitment morality that we show God still calls and works out his plan through people praise God that's not a license to go and do whatever you want and think that guys are gonna use you because repentance and forgiveness is no doubt part of the equation but understand if God were looking for perfect people the search would have been over a long time ago God wants to use us he wants to use his people to bring glory to himself and that's a really exciting thing and why can he use his people who are imperfect because it is not us alone it is God himself and the power and presence that he brings he is with us so that's the second thing for you to consider third lesson is this God is worthy of our obedience God is worthy of our obedience and I would even add this one to the end if you want to put these in parentheses he is worthy of our beating obedience in spite of how we feel in spite of how we feel if you've heard much about Gideon you know these stories that come up in Chapter seven and eight the accounts of Gideon because he's on board now he's on the run and God says I'm gonna use you to strike down all of these Midianites this this formidable foe I'm gonna use you to do this and Gideon says alright I'm on board and so you've heard before we got Gideon said give me one more just I just seen another sign and God says okay what is it and he says alright I'm gonna put a fleece out on the ground and what I would like for you to do is when the dew falls I want the ground to be wet but not the fleece and God says okay so the night Tom comes to do falls and sure enough it happens and Gideon says man that's incredible that's my paraphrase that's incredible can we do this one more time and this time could the dew fall and instead could it only fall on the fleece but it not be dry all the way around the ground and God says okay so they do that and so sure enough to do falls again and the only thing that is wet is the fleece and so Gideon's like okay I think I believe that you really can do this your power and presence really is with me so let's go for it so they move forward and they get the army together thirty two thousand people and this is the other part of the story you've probably heard of good the 32,000 people and God looks at that and says there's really no way that I'm gonna get glory in this because there's 32,000 men y'all will be able to attribute your success to the 32,000 men now with all of this said it's said that when Gideon looked down on the Midianites it says that their camels look like a swarm of locusts there were so many of them but yet God sees the 32,000 Israelites that are with Gideon and God says that's way too many so you maybe you've heard the story before God says let's get rid of some people so if you're scared to death raise your hand they leave there's 20,000 left and he says okay let's continue to go with this and so they go down to the river to drink and and you can read it for yourself but basically he doesn't want the people that are lapping up the water like a dog he wants the people who are getting it with their hands and so those people well there's 300 people to do that so now we have 300 people they're gonna go up against one of the greatest armies up to that time and God says this is perfect this is what I was looking for so the army that so the battle is on and with all that said there's some obedience right Gideon has has obeyed what the Lord has asked him to do but with all that said in chapter 7 verses non and following it's now almost time for the battle and this is what the Lord says - getting this is during the night the Lord said to Gideon get up go down against the camp because I'm gonna give it into your hands that's first option this is God who's been faithful to him and everything else so far that he said he would do so get up go down against the camp because I'm gonna give it into your hands but listen to what God does if you're afraid to attack so in other words if you don't like that option then go down to the camp with your servant Pura and listen to what they are saying afterward you will be encouraged to attack the camp now look at the very next words I love this this is so mean so impure and this servant went down he taught he says he says let's take option - I love you Lord I'm with you I know your power and your presence are with me but I'd like to just check this out I'd like to take option two instead of going attacking let me go show I want to go down here so you can show me one more time that we're gonna win and so sure enough God allows that to happen because he's working with the obedience that Gideon has shown it says in first Peter chapter 5 verses 6 & 7 it says 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 this opportunity that Gideon had he had a lot of anxiety he had a lot of feelings about maybe this wasn't gonna go well but in spite of that he obeyed the Lord now what we know is they ended up having this great triumphant victory that had centered around a lot of trumpets and jars only like God could do it Midianites were so scared that they fought each other to the point to get in in the army 1 Gideon was obedient he knew that God was worthy of his obedience in spite of how Gideon felt in spite of the fearfulness the reluctance of being the least of the least he trusted that what God said he would do he would do one of the greatest things that my wife has taught our kids I have shared this so many times all over this church one of the greatest things that my wife has taught our kids is a question and it is this what do you know to be true about this situation when our kids are either there going at it which they never do because they're perfect angels but if my kids or whatever or something's not going their way or when when they're just out of whack a little bit or they're emotional about something they're feeling a certain way because of some things I think they've been wronged in something like that Dori she did it from the time they were so young and she could tell they're so much better than me but from the time they were so young and she would just be able to stop and she said all right what do we know to be true about this situation let's don't act on our feelings right now this is not about just you feel wronged what have you been wronged what do we know to be true what a great question for all of us to ask in times of crisis in times of conflict in times of desperation what do I know to be true I know that God loves me I know that God cares for me I know that God has a plan for me this is where Gideon is get is at the point of going what do I know to be true I know that God is for me I know that God has a plan I know that God is going to use me that he has called me to a certain thing and I'm gonna do that in spite of the Phils that I have about this lesson number four last lesson God's glory should be our focus God's glory should be our focus this is what it says that's the battle has been won God has given do a few more things just to kind of clean up some messes here and there and to remind the people the importance of following the one true God Gideon is so successful through God's power and presence that in Chapter eight as we get towards the end of Gideon's life chapter eight verse 22 this is what it says the Israelites said to Gideon rule over us you your son and your grandson in other words we weren't here for a long time because you have saved us from the hand of Midian but look what Gideon says Gideon told them I will not rule over you nor will my son rule over you the Lord will rule over you the Lord will rule over you Gideon understood that it was God's glory that should get the focus he understood that it was all about what the Lord had done not what about Gideon had done and for us God wants to use us in great ways he wants to use us in personal ways but it's for his glory because without him we fail without him we can't get it done I want to end by telling you about something that happened to me when I was in college some of our students have heard me tell portions of this before it's a little different angle but I was in college I had the opportunity to different summers to work at a Christian sports camp we would go in for a week and we would coach different sports to these kids and then we would have an hour-long Bible studying with in the afternoons and and then do worship with them at night I had the opportunity to be a basketball coach at that time that's really just from the Lord having us in humor that's what I did so so I got to coach basketball and I'd coach basketball two hours with a group of guys and girls and I had a partner do that with me in the afternoon would happen for two more hours and then later in the afternoon we'd have a what was called a fun track where we would just do some goofy games so the very first day of one of these weeks of camp I'll run into this boy his name is Jameson and Jameson is the best basketball player on the court there's about 40 kids that we had that morning he's the best basketball player on that Court and he knows it and this is 4th through 8th grade students and Jameson has the attitude to go along with his skill and so I noticed that and and excited about the opportunity to mold him in that because he's young and we could help him with that so any way to speed up a little bit after the first day I approached Jameson and I say hey man yeah I can tell you got a lot of skill that's really good man you can be a really good help to some of these other players that kind of art where you are I've noticed that you have the skill but I've also noticed you get frustrated with the people that you're playing with and I just want to encourage you to be a better teammate I want to encourage you to help some of these others bring them up and that'll make your game better because not only now we'd be a player but you'll be a little bit coach and he was like ok thanks yeah he thought I was a weirdo so the second day we come back and about halfway through the practice I realized that Jameson is not any different and that he's being even more kind of a punk and so I just pulled him to the side and and one of our goals was to have gospel conversations with every one of our students and so with every one of our players so I pulled her the sod taught him a little bit and I said hey you're not to ask you do you know the Lord and we talked about that he's like yeah I do and he knew the gospel well and and you know I had no reason to doubt that other than he was just a punk on the basketball court and so we talked through a lot a bit I was like you know what I really think the Lord could use you this week you're you're a natural born leader I see that in you Jameson ok thanks that was it well at the same time that all that's going on this week but that that week we get to the fourth day with five days of camp we get to the fourth day and in the afternoons I told you we had this little fun track well we have this me and the other guy made up a game kind of it's called frisbee baseball and if you don't know what frisbee baseball is think of baseball with a frisbee there you go it's frisbee baseball so all you do is me as the leader would stand at the pitcher's mound and we would throw the frisbee to a person at home plate who would catch it and if they catch it they'd throw the frisbee and as long as it's not caught then they'd run the bases it's an easy game fun for fourth through eighth graders so that's the game that we're playing well Jamison is not only in my basketball sports track in the morning he's in my fun track in the afternoon well I also have another boy by the name of Robbie Robbie is an eighth grader with Down syndrome but he is the life of the party and we are so excited to have Robbie in our fun track every afternoon now leading up to Thursday he had not been able to play any of the other games with us we had racked our brains about something that he would enjoy and be able to have fun with so Thursday we get up dayses I don't want to play I don't want to play we said we want you to play please play please play he's got his adult with him everything come on let's play and so finally we get him to agree to stand at home plate and let us throw him the frisbee so that Robbie can be a part of what we're doing so I'm at the pitcher's mound I throw this frisbee to Robbie and it just Falls he didn't even try to catch it and I throw it again I'm getting step closer every time every time and so I'm really about this far away from him I'm just wanting him to not I'm wanting it to be in the air this long so that he can contribute in that way and so he looks right at me and somehow by the grace of God he just puts his hands out and he catches that frisbee and we all just this moment like all right so now what he's got to do is throw the frisbee right that's the next big moment so Robbie is standing there and we're all saying throw the frisbee you got it throw it throw it throw it so he gives everything that he can and he throws that frisbee well who do you think it goes to he goes to Jamison and I see it happening like it's slow motion and what Jamison has done is Jamison has realized Robbie is not gonna be able throw this very far so let me sprint as fast as I can towards home plate so that could catch it because it's not gonna go very far and I'm seeing Jamison running towards this thing and I'm wanting to tackle him I'm wanting to stop him so that Robbie can at least have a chance to get to first base so Jamison is running for that thing there's no way I could get to 20 years old but I'm still slow so I could not get to him and about that time that frisbee gets right there in front of Jamison and Jamison does the best acting job I've ever seen he acts like he's diving for that frisbee and he misses about ten feet and I'm thinking oh my goodness so if you cover those thieves you let's just see how this turns out so sure enough Jamison finally gets up in broth we realized Robby had moved he's supposed to be running now and so what do we say we say run and then Robby ride and he looks at us and he runs and I mean it's a slow walk but he's doing everything that he can to get to first base and my track time partner I are just kind of watching the thing in Jamison make sure that he gets to that frisbee first and when he gets to that frisbee he looks right there at first base and all he's got to do just like baseballs throw its first base they grab it touch first base no problem Jameson gets that frisbee he looks at it like he's checking it out and he just chunks that frisbee and it goes like 40 feet over first base and he has no idea or he has no desire to go and get that frisbee so sure enough we're we're beside Robbie and we help him run to first and he gets the first base which would be over here sorry about that he would he just the first base and he I mean he just when he hits first base he just plops from first base and you know does this and we're great well frisbee he's 100 feet past first base so what do we say run so we run and he's doing everything that he can and they're playing with the frisbee over here trying to get to it and he gets the second base and he plops on second base and that frisbee he's kind of making its way back to the infield I don't know where it was but it's somewhere around that Infeld and we say to him run exactly and so we're running and I we have it's just so cool at this point there's a 4th through 8th grade students and so sure enough he gets to third base and the frisbee I've seen it fly by him but it's nowhere really close to him and I can't make this up y'all and so he's on third base and he's just standing there and we say to him one last time run run and so Robbie and I'm telling you he's moving this fast right here but he's got the biggest smile on his face and he he gets down to home plate he walks to the towards home plate and we're saying slide slide we have no idea you know slide slide so he just does this number right here and he puts that foot out he puts that foot on home plate and he goes and in that moment I kid you not every kid is right there at home plate the frisbees in the outfield somewhere there's nobody by it everybody's right here including Jamison and so I have which leadership lesson do I use here with these students at this time and so immediately we're high-fiving Robby he's the most excited person ever and I'm seeing Jameson over there and I'm just giving him this nod and he's like I got you man I got you Jameson I had an opportunity later on to talk about that what made you do that Jameson he's a he was a little eighth grade knucklehead this way God God that's what he knew to say but what an incredible thing for Jameson to learn that day what an incredible thing for all those students to learn that day Jameson God knew who Jameson was created to be God's presence and power was with Jameson that day God was worthy of Jameson's obedience to do the right thing in the end of it Jameson's respond why did you do is god he pointed to glory to God he didn't know what else to say that's what I learned and that's what I see in the life of Gideon we have a lot we can learn from the life of Gideon

Channel: Bellevue Baptist Church

Views: 41,060

Rating: 4.7796612 out of 5

Keywords: Gideon, Old Testament Sermons, God's Chosen Leader, BellevueChurch, Bellevue Church, Bellevue Church Memphis, BellevueMemphis, Bellevue Memphis, Bellevue Church sermons, Steve Gaines, Steve Gains, PastorSteveGaines, Pastor Steve Gaines, Pastor Steve Gains, Steve Gaines Bellevue Church, Steve Gaines Sermons, Steve Gains Sermons, SundaySermon

Id: u-DTIR5y9Sg

Length: 39min 18sec (2358 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 26 2016