Tabor Baptist Church

• After Othniel (chapter 3), things went down hill
• Other Judges, then Gideon
• God is not calling heroes to save Israel but willing servants
• Israel might be tempted to think they can conquer Midian in their own strength
• God uses fear to whittle them down
• cf Deut 20:8

Fear

• We are afraid of different things
• Is our fear stopping us from action?
• The Church needs action
• God deals with confidence in man and strength in numbers
• Personal Example
• God hears the prayers of the few
• Are these 300 the bravest mightiest warriors amongst the Israelites?
• Are they infact the weakest - the least like characters?
• God does not always use the elite of society
• God often choses the least likely people
• Personal example
• God brings glory to Himself
• Glory went to God and the privilege went to people
• Nightmares - do you have a nightmare of a bread roll running down into the tent?
• They interpreted this as Gideon coming to smash the camp
• Many of our fears are unreasonable
• Types of fears - examples
• It is still a stumbling block and preventing you from action
• All 32'000 Israelites were afraid - but they all turned up to fight
• Example of war veterans
• Why would the Midianites be afraid?
• They are large in number and have outward confidence
• Inwardly they are insecure
• Personal example - Are we fearful of letting God down?, Are we afraid of God Himself?
• We cannot always overcome our fears
• We may need to pray daily for strength
• Sometimes we are delivered from our fears
• God is not looking for fearlessness but obedience
• Example of chapter 6
• Fear is okay - as long as it does not prevent us from action
• Example of flying and conversation with lady
• cf Luke 12:4-7
• We do not need to be afraid of God - if we know Him

Power from weakness

• Gideon's weakness for power caused him to sin later on
• God's power is made obvious in our weakness
• Gideon is a weak man, from a weak tribe
• This is not a false humility
• We are weak without God
• Serving yourself with serving the King is just serving yourself
• God acknowledges Gideon's weakness - but says 'I will be with you'
• We need to avoid arrogance in our own strength
• cf 2 Cor 12:7-10
• When we are weak God reveals Himself all the more
• Heb 11:32-34
• Phil 4:13
• We should not fear our weaknesses

Reassurance

• We need reassurance
• "If you are afraid, go down to the camp..."
• He will be reassured by knowing that they are fearful
• We all need reassurance - example
• As Christians we also need reassurance
• God loves you
• Gideon praises God - he is ready to spring into action

Good Leadership

• A good model for those in Christian leadership
• Watch me
• Follow me
• Do as I do [Emulate me]
• Be careful because bad leaders can lead us astray
• Check all against Scripture
• Example of football
• Leaders are not perfect, Pastors are not perfect
• Jesus Christ is the head of the Church - the true leader and He is perfect

Closing Remarks