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6, we'll be coming back to it, but the title of the sermon this morning is What it takes to do a great work. What it takes to do a great work. And of course Gideon, I think, is somebody who's a great example there's a lot of application that we can learn from this chapter about Gideon that we can apply to our own lives about what it's going to take to do a great work. So keep something there in Judges 6, but if you would turn over to Revelation chapter 7. Revelation chapter 7. So when I say what does it take to do great work, the first thing I want us to understand is what we mean by the word great because oftentimes when we hear the word great we're thinking of something was really great we think of a great meal or a great book or something like that but in the Bible that the Bible uses the word great and it's kind of a different way it's referring to it more in the size of in size in terms of quantity or more so than quality you're turning over to Revelation chapter 7 I'll remind you in John chapter 14 Jesus said verily I say unto you he that believeth on me the works that I do shall he do also and greater works than these shall he do because I go unto my father and that's quite the statement that we hear coming out of the mouth of Jesus when he says those that we would do greater works than he did and of course we know that we're never going to exceed the works that Jesus Christ did in terms of the quality I mean I would take God to do the types of works that Jesus Christ did I mean we're never gonna walk on water we're never gonna raise the dead we're never gonna feed thousands with with a few loaves but he did say that we're going to do greater works because when Jesus says that we're going to do greater works he's saying that we're going to do more works than he did we're going to do them in terms of quantity and not quality you're there in Revelation chapter 7 I'll read to you again from Jonah chapter 3 just to kind of drive this point home Bible says and the word of Lord came unto Jonah the second time saying a rise going to Nineveh that great city now if we're familiar with the story of Jonah we know that Nineveh when God is calling it a great city it's not because it's a nice place to visit it's a very wicked place it's a very evil place so when God is saying it's a great city he's saying it's a very big city goes on and says that Jonah rose and went into Nineveh according the word of the Lord now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days journey now it says three days journey doesn't mean it was three days away from him it means that's how long it would have taken you to actually go across the city of Nineveh it says in verse 4 and Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey and he cried and said yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown so Jonah when he went into Nineveh it was great because it took him he went in at least one day's journey walking on foot and began to preach so we are given a great work but what is the great work what is that that tasks that we're supposed to accomplish well the great work that we're supposed to accomplish today is the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ that is the great work that we've been given to do to go out and preach the gospel unto all nations you're there in Revelation chapter 7 look in verse 1 and after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth holding the four winds of the earth that the wind should not blow on the earth nor on the sea nor on anything and I saw another angel ascending from the east and having to seal the living God and cried with a loud voice up to the four angels to whom was given to hurt the earth and the sea saying hurt not the sea the earth neither the sea nor the trees till we have sealed the sevens the seal the servants of our God in their foreheads go ahead and jump down to verse 9 and I beheld and lo a great multitude so he's talking about this isn't just really good people he's saying this was a lot of people a great multitude which no man could number of all nations and kindreds and tongues and people stood before the throne and the lamb and before the lamb and clothed with white robes and Psalms and in their and palms in their hand that's the great work that we're supposed to do we're supposed to add and contribute to that great number that is going to that we see here in Revelation that one that that John is is looking and seeing this great multitude got gathered before the throne of God that's the great work that we've been given to do go and turn over to Luke chapter 7 this is the goal that God has given us to reach all nations all kindreds all tongues with the gospel of Jesus Christ we are to reach all nations you're turning over to Luke chapter 7 I'll read to you from Habakkuk chapter 2 Habakkuk chapter 2 says this for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea God wants the knowledge of his word to go out and cover the earth as the waters as the waters of the sea that's the task that we've been given to do to preach the gospel Luke chapter 7 verse 22 then Jesus answering said unto them go your way and tell John what things you have seen and heard how that the blind see the lame walk the lepers are cleansed the deaf hear the dead are raised to the poor the gospel is preached and blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended to me so we see there are lists of some of the great works that Jesus Christ did right some of those wonderful things that he did that some of the things that only he could do those wonderful miracles of healing the blind of causing the lame to walk of cleansing the lepers I mean what great things that he did but notice there I mean these are just wonderful miracles but what's the last thing he mentions in that list to the poor the gospel is preached God puts such an emphasis on preaching the gospel and specifically to the poor that he lists it and all these mighty and wonderful miracles that he did and that's exactly how we're going to accomplish these great works is if we go out and preach the gospel to the poor and when we do that we spiritually in a way we do accomplish some of these other things that Jesus listed here in spiritually speaking when we go out and we preached the gospel to the poor we see that the spiritually blind are made to see their eyes are open the scales fall off and they understand the Word of God when we go out and we preach the gospel to the poor we see that the lame that are out of the way are set on the right path when we go out and preach the gospel the poor we see that the The spiritual lepers are cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. When we preach the gospel, we accomplish the great work that God has sent us out to do. The spiritual death, they hear the word of God preached to them and they get saved. So we see that our great work is to preach the gospel to all nations to add to that great throng in heaven. And it's no small task that God has given us to accomplish. It's not something that's going to be done easily or quickly. It's something that's going to take some concerted effort on our part. And that's what I want to preach to you about this morning, what it takes to do a great work. Go ahead and turn back to Judges chapter 6. So I very quickly just want to go through some points and we can look at this example of Gideon because Gideon was somebody who accomplished a great work. I mean, he delivered the children of Israel at a time when they were being oppressed. And I think there's some things in the story that we can apply to our own lives that are going to help us as people, as individuals in a church, to accomplish a great work for God. The first thing I want us to notice in Judges chapter 6 is that great works are often done in difficult circumstances. Great works are going to be accomplished in difficult circumstances. When God gave us the great work to go out and preach the gospel to every creature, he didn't say it was going to be easy. He didn't say no man will resist you, everybody's going to be on your side, it's just going to be smooth sailing. And we know that to be the case, but the mission still stands, we are to accomplish it. If you're there in verse, uh, chapter 6, Judges chapter 6, look at verse 2, and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel and because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made them dens which are in the mountains and caves and strongholds. So we see first of all how difficult their circumstances were. They're being so oppressed that they're beginning to hide. They're beginning to draw back, they're going into the caves, they're going into these mountains and they're hiding. They're not resisting the enemy, they're not standing up, they're not being bold. And that's what we see taking place in our own country today and even in our world. We see that the enemy is growing stronger, I mean the world is getting more, uh, wicked every day, and what's happening? God's people, preachers in the pulpit, are drawing back. They're beginning to go into the cave, they're beginning to go into the mountain, and God's people are becoming less and less bold. If we're going to accomplish a great work for God, we're going to do it in the face of difficult circumstances. The wicked are going unchallenged, it's becoming difficult to take that stand, but it's one that we must take nonetheless. Look at verse 3, the Bible says, And it was so when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them, and they encamped against them and destroyed the increase of the earth to the Alkhemestan of Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass, for they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude, for they and their camels were without number, and they entered into the land to destroy it. So when they came in there, we see that there was a great multitude of them. It wasn't just some small group, it says they came up as grasshoppers upon the earth. That means that there was just so many of them, as it says, they were without multitude, you could not number these people. And that's kind of the way we are today, if we're going to accomplish a great work, we have to understand, we're living in a time when there's more work to do than ever. There's more people to be reached with the gospel than there's ever been before in history. And can we say with a certainty that we have all the resources we need to accomplish that task? Don't we sometimes feel like maybe we're a little short-handed? When we see our Baptist brethren drawing back, canceling the soul-winning times, replacing the soul-winning time, scaling back the soul-winning, we're short-handed, the odds are stacked against us to accomplish this great task, but we must accomplish it nonetheless. You'll notice there in verse 6, it says, and Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried under the Lord. They were impoverished. Their resources were very limited. They didn't have a lot to work with. And that's where we find ourselves today, that we have limited resources, limited people to accomplish a great work. How are we going to do it? We have to understand, first of all, that great works are done in difficult circumstances. Now how did they end up that way? We have to remember that this was all the consequence of Israel's disobedience. It says in verse 1, and the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Midianites. I mean, God was so displeased with these people that he turned them over. And that's kind of what we see happening in our world. Our world is just continually casting off the word of God, going away from God, going against the word of God, hating God's people, not wanting to have anything to do with it, attacking, ridiculing, mocking the word of God. And we see that we're being delivered over. Our world is being delivered more and more over to the devil. We have, as a nation, cast off Christianity and embraced evil. So we see that great works, if we're going to accomplish them, they're going to be accomplished in the face of difficult circumstances. The commandment was not being obeyed. And today, the work of preaching the gospel to all nations, it's not being accomplished. I mean, thank God for faithful work that's doing the best that it can, and other churches like us that have a mindset and a will to go out and accomplish this work, but it's not happening. We need more people to get on board. This mission must be accomplished. It was going to be done. It's going to be done when we face up to the difficult circumstances that we're in. But not only that, we have to understand that great works are done when we own up to our own shortcomings. We say, you know what? We have failed. There is a great work that is going undone. We are failing as a people. You see that there's that saying that we've heard, either the gospel has lost its power or the gospel isn't being preached. Why is it today that so many people are going to hell? Why is it that so many people are not going to be reached with the gospel? Is it because the gospel has lost its power? No, it's because it's not being preached. Because they're not being sent. That's why. The commandment is not being obeyed. They're not hearkening under the voice of the Lord and obeying that commandment to go out and preach the gospel to every creature. So we're going to have to own up to our own shortcomings. Maybe in our personal life, maybe our soul winning has grown cold, maybe we've grown a little slack. You know, in other churches in the nation, they need to own up to the fact that they're not soul winning and they need to start soul winning again and get back to the first works and their first love. Look at verse 7. When we own up, God will start to work for us. I believe if people would start to own up to the fact that we've cast off soul winning, that we're not accomplishing the work, and they would recognize that and start to get involved, then God would begin to work. The Bible says in verse 7, when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord because of the many nights, that the Lord sent a prophet unto the children of Israel. So we see that when they said, hey, you know what, it's gotten so bad, they began to cry out. They began to understand the dire circumstances that they were in, that they've been disobedient to the commandment of God. They began to cry out, and God didn't leave them hanging. He sent somebody. The Bible says that he sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, and what was the message that he told them? Ye have not obeyed my voice. See, we need God. God might send us a prophet in our life. God might send some prophets into this country that will go out and say, hey, you have not obeyed the commandment to go out and preach the gospel. They're not going to go out there and tell them, hey, everything's fine. Everything's okay. That's what the prophet did. When he showed up, he said, hey, this is your fault. You guys are the ones that are slipping. You guys need to work on this. You see, it often takes a preacher to bring us to that place where we're going to own up to our own shortcomings. We should always be thankful for a preacher who fulfills this God-given duty, and that's what it is. Whenever the preacher gets on our sin or tries to motivate us to do more, it's not because he's trying to pick on us. It's because that's what he's supposed to do, because that's what it takes often for people to get right with God is the preaching of the word of God. That's why they're commanded in Isaiah, cry aloud and spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins. We're going to accomplish great works. We have to understand they're going to be done in difficult circumstances. They're going to be done when we own up to our own shortcomings and work on them. They're going to be done when we are provoked by the man of God and the preaching of the word of God to do what we need to do. Not only that, but we need to understand if we're going to accomplish a great work, this great work of preaching the gospel to all nations, it's likely going to be done by unlikely people. It's going to be accomplished by unlikely people. Look at verse 11. And there came an angel of the Lord and sat under an oak which was an ofra that pertained into Joash the Abbeysrite, and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. Now if you were paying attention when the scripture was read, did Gideon strike you as a man of valor, as a mighty man of valor? I mean the whole story of Gideon in chapters 6 and 7, we see him just, you know, first of all he's hiding. He's there hiding. Gideon was not boldly defying the enemy when we found him here. It says in verse 11 that he threshed wheat by the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. He's not out there and saying, you know what, I don't care what these Midianites do, I'm going to thresh my wheat wherever I want. He was hiding. We see also in the story how often he needed God to encourage him, to give him a sign. He needed like three signs. You know, if you read on in chapter 7, God had to keep encouraging him, say, hey, I'm with you, I'm with you. So when we read about Gideon, he doesn't seem like the type of guy that we would look at and say, this is the guy that's going to accomplish the task. If we're going to accomplish a great work for God, we have to understand it's going to be accomplished by unlikely people. And if you're sitting in this room and thinking, you know what, it's not going to be me, you're probably the guy that God wants to use. You're thinking, hey, you know, I don't know what I could do for the Lord. Well, it's what the Lord could do through you that really matters. And that's what we're going to see here. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 1, for ye see your calling, brethren, how not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. I'm not preaching to the high and mighty in here in terms of the world. I'm not preaching to, you know, the senators, and most of them wouldn't even be allowed in church, right? They'd probably be kicked out for being fornicators and adulterers and drunks. But we don't see the world's, you know, Ivy League educators coming in here and sitting down to hear the preaching of the Word of God. We see normal people who are just trying to thresh some wheat, who are just trying to make a living, who are just trying to raise their family. That's the people, that's the salt of the earth that God is going to use to accomplish a great work. And that's why we need to understand also that great works begin with an individual. They begin with an individual. I mean, of course, it's going to take many people to accomplish this great work. It's going to take a church, churches, people that are just, you know, on fire for God, but it always starts with one person. It's going to begin with you. You're going to have to determine in your heart that you are going to do what you can to accomplish this great work that we've been given to do. Notice again there in verse 11, And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. And Gideon said unto him, O my Lord, if thou be with us. See, Gideon's like, what do you mean, me? If thou be with us. But God uses an individual. Why then is all this befallen us, and where are all those miracles which our fathers told us? And he goes on, and the angel says in verse 14, And the Lord looked on him and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the many knights. Have not I sent thee? You see, God wants to send you, the individual, to go out and accomplish this great work because it takes a group of people. It takes an individual to make up that group, to do their part to contribute to accomplishing this great work. He says in verse 16, And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the many knights as one man. Revival, this accomplishing a great work, this revival often begins in the heart of one person and it spreads to others. And I think about this movement that we're in, this new IFB movement, whatever we want to call it, this soul winning movement, this revival that's taking place in churches that we associate with, that believe like we do, that want to accomplish this great work. That's kind of how it started, didn't it? It started with one person who just wanted to preach the whole counsel of the word of God and go soul winning and revive the old paths. And now we're just seeing more and more people jumping on board. I mean, it came up about trying to keep up with all the preaching that's going on. Just a few years ago, I mean, you could keep up with all the great preaching, right? You know it'd take you like 60 hours a week to listen to every sermon that comes out every week from all these great churches? I mean, the movement, it's just growing. And it's not just growing with just people who just want to warm a queue, it's growing with people who want to do their part as an individual and go out and preach the gospel and accomplish this great work. So we see that if we're going to accomplish a great work, it's going to be done in difficult circumstances. It's going to be done when we own up to our own shortcomings. It's going to be done, it's going to be accomplished by unlikely people, it's going to be accomplished by individuals. But not only that, a great work will require sacrifice in the face of uncertainty. If we're going to accomplish a great work, we might not always be sure about it being accomplished. We might say, I don't know how we're going to do this. I mean, look at Gideon, how many times he had to be reassured. He was uncertain. But God still accomplished it through him. And it required sacrifice on his part. You look there in verse 17, 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. Do not part not hence until I pray thee, until I come unto thee and bring forth thy present and said before thee, and he said, I will tarry until thou come again. And he goes on and says in verse 19, and Gideon went in and made ready a kid and unleavened cakes of an ephah, a flower, the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot and brought it out unto him under the yoke and presented it. So he goes and he gets this food ready. Now it's real interesting that God actually gives us these specific measurements. He says it was an ephah of flour. That's what he made these cakes out of. You have to remember what circumstances they were in. Israel is greatly impoverished. They don't have a lot of resources. And he goes out and he gets an ephah. Now how much is an ephah? If we were to, you know, I Googled it, it says it's 20 dry quarts. That would be about 20 dry quarts of flour. That's how much it would have been. Or 15 pounds, you know, for us Americans. That's a lot of flour. I mean, I used to work as a pizza cook and I would make the dough every day. 15 pounds is a lot. I mean, I don't know where Gideon got, where he got this, but he gave something, didn't he? And it says he gave a whole kid. I mean, go out and order, you know, a rack of lamb. That's enough for one guy. Well, most guys, right? He gave a whole kid to one man. The Bible says that an omer is the tenth part of an ephah. And if you recall, when God fed the children of Israel in the wilderness, he gave an omer for every man. So he gave at least enough for ten men to eat. The point I'm trying to make here is that when Gideon wanted God to work on his behalf, when he wanted to know God was with him to accomplish his work, it requires sacrifice. I mean, God wasn't just like, don't worry about it, you got it, and didn't ask anything of him. I want to test God, I want to put something out there and see if God's with me. And it required him to dig a little deeper and maybe giving something that he wasn't entirely sure he was able to give. You see, doing a great work, it may cost you something you don't think you can afford or spare. You might say, you know, people that want to move to a great church, they don't know how am I going to get there. I can't afford it. And they have all these worries. Or people who want to go out and start a church, they think, man, all the money and everything like that, how are we ever going to get this accomplished? They have to understand something that that might just be God allowing you to see if you maybe give a little bit more than you think you can, that he might be able to bless you. And when we do that, when we're willing to dig down a little deeper and say, you know, I'm willing to sacrifice my time to go out soul winning, I'm willing to sacrifice my time to start a soul winning group or soul winning time, I'm going to sacrifice my time to learn the scriptures and go out and accomplish this great work and how to preach the gospel, I'm going to go out with somebody and learn what it takes to do this great work. It might cost you some time that you don't think you have. I mean, we're all busy in here. We're all living lives. We all have jobs and families and things that need to get done. We have responsibilities. But that doesn't mean we can just let the work of God go undone. But I want you to notice something is that when you are willing to give God, when you're willing to sacrifice, you get God's attention. He pays attention. He sees that. The Bible says in Mark chapter 12, and Jesus sat over against the treasury and beheld how the people cast in the treasury and many that were rich cast in much and there came a certain important widow and she threw in two mites which make a farthing and he called him his disciples and saith unto them verily I say unto you this poor widow hath cast more in than all they which have cast into the treasury for they did cast in of their abundance but she of her want did cast in all that she had even reliving. That's a great story about somebody giving more, giving all that they have. What I find really great is that it was Jesus who beheld her. When we sacrifice, we're not just getting anybody's attention. We're getting God's attention. That's what Gideon had to understand that it was God that was sending him. It was God that was going to be with him. When he made that sacrifice, he had that assurance that it was God that was with him. We make that sacrifice and we see God come through. What an assurance that we have that we can do the work that he's given us to do when we know that God is on our side. It's worth the sacrifice if it gets God's attention. We see that it might require some sacrifice to accomplish the great work of God. It might have to be something that's done in difficult circumstances. Not only that, but if we're going to accomplish this great work that God has given us to do, we have to understand that it's going to require attention to detail. God wants things done in a specific way. He doesn't just wall willy-nilly, just, hey, I want this done, just do it however you want. Think about the thrust is preaching the gospel, going out and preaching the gospel to every creature. That's done door to door, door to door, door to door, two by two, day in, day out. That's how God wants it done. God has a program in place that we see in the scriptures of how we're going to accomplish this, the soul winning. Today, that's what we see so many people casting off and replacing with some other thing. They get the bus route in, or they get the prison ministry. I'm fine with that if that's what you want to do, but don't let it take the place of God's program, of doing what God has told us to do. God wants it done in a specific way. Look at verse 25, and it came to pass the same night that the Lord said unto him, take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullock of second years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it. He very specifically tells him, take thy father's young bullock. He didn't say go down to rent a bullock, any old bullock will do. He said, no, take thy father's bullock, take the second bullock of seven years. I don't know, maybe there's some deeper meaning in scripture that that's representative of something that we could study out, but I think just on the surface we could see that God wanted him to take a very specific animal to begin to do his work. God wants us to do the same thing. He wants us to pay attention to doing things the way he wants them done. If we're going to accomplish a great work, we're going to have to pay attention to the details of the way God wants it done. That's not to say that the Lord doesn't allow some liberties when we carry out his commandments. God wants us to go out and preach the gospel to every creature, and he wanted Gideon here to take a very specific animal and do a very specific task, but notice what Gideon did there in verse 27. Then Gideon took ten men of his servants. Did he say take ten men? No, but he took them, and it says, and he did as the Lord had said unto him, and so it was that because he feared his father's household, the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night. He says, I'll go and do this. I'll go get the second bullock and do as the Lord has told me to do, but I'm going to take ten men with me, and I'm going to do it at night. There are some liberties that we can have. God has told us to go out and preach the gospel to every creature, and we need to go door by door and make sure we get the second bullock and do it the way God has told us. Pay attention to the specifics, but that doesn't mean we can't harness the power of the internet. That doesn't mean we can't make the documentaries. That doesn't mean we can't hold the soul-winning marathons and do these other things on top of that to help accomplish this task. God does allow us some liberties. The last point I want us to understand. First of all, God wants a great work done, and it's going to be done in the face of difficult circumstances. It's going to be done by unlikely people who probably don't think that they could do it, kind of like a Gideon. It's going to be done through sacrifice, but it's always going to be done in the power of the Lord. Every great work, this great work, if we're going to reach the world with the gospel, it's going to be done in the power of the Lord. It's not going to be done by our own strength. It's not going to be done by our own might. It's going to be by His Spirit. Look at Judges chapter 6 verse 33. Judges chapter 6 verse 33, then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together and went over and pitched in the valley of Jezreel. Sounds pretty daunting. Sounds like Israel's got some real trouble brewing and coming their way. I love verse 34, but the world thinks we got them on the run. The world thinks that they're backing up God's people. The world thinks that everyone's just casting off and that Christianity is just going to go extinct. It wouldn't be the first time people have thought that, but the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon. It doesn't say, but Gideon. It doesn't say, but Gideon had had enough, but Gideon got fed up. Gideon finally worked up enough courage and strength to go out and do what he needed to get done. It says the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon. If we're going to accomplish a great work for God, it's because the Spirit of the Lord is going to come upon us and we're going to do it in His might, in His work. That's what the world doesn't understand, that we're not just doing it in our own strength. We're doing it with God on our side. I want us to notice that even then, God sometimes has to kind of get the ball rolling like He did with Gideon. He had to give him those few signs. Look at Judges, chapter 7. Of course, this is what God has already whittled down, Gideon's forces, to 300 men and He's setting them against this great host. It says in verse 7, in Judges 7, And the Lord said unto Gideon, By three hundred men that laughed will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand, and let all the other people go, every man unto his place. So the people took victuals in their hand and their trumpets, and he sent all the rest of Israel, every man, unto his tent, and retained those three hundred men. And the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley, and it came to pass the same night that the Lord said unto him, Arise, get thee down unto the host, for I have delivered it into thine hand. So again, he's kind of, hey, it's time to go, he's getting the ball rolling, he's trying to get Gideon to go. But if thou fear to go down, go down with Phura thy servant, down to the host, and thou shalt hear what they say, and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host. So they go down there, and if you remember, in verse 13, And when Gideon came, was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, and the tent lay long. And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else, save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel, for into his hand God hath delivered Midian and all the host. I mean, imagine being Gideon in that circumstance. After everything that God has done, he still needs to give you this one last sign. I mean, how many more things would you have to see, really? When you go down there, you hear this perfect stranger use your name and say, Hey, God has delivered us into Gideon's hand. I mean, that's God working. That's where we are. I mean, we have God's promises. We have God's assurance. I mean, we saw in Revelation, right, where that great host does appear in heaven. Work does get done. The knowledge of the Lord will be as the waters of the sea upon the face of the earth. It's going to happen. There will be a group of people that reach all nations. Why not us? Verse 15, and so when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, the interpretation thereof that he worshiped and returned unto the hand of Israel and said, Arise, for the Lord hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian. God had to get the ball rolling, but once it got going, Gideon was ready to go. This kind of reminds me of the silent partner, the guy who kind of goes out, and he's not quite sure that he's ready to take on the Midian at the door, and God says, Well, just go with so-and-so. He'll show you how it's done. You'll hear him talk, and maybe it'll embolden you a little bit. The silent partner goes out. I've gone out with people. I remember a guy up in Portland went out with, and we had a hard day, and I don't think we got anybody saved up until the last day, and then like a family of four got saved, and I walked out, and I was feeling pretty good, and I looked over at my silent partner, and that guy was on cloud nine, and you know what? Five years later, that guy is leading soul-winning marathons. That guy is leading the charge. He's like Gideon. He kind of went out, wasn't sure. I had his partner with him, and he heard something. He said, Man, I want to do that. That's the way it is with us. If you're sitting in here, and you've never been soul-winning, I really encourage you to get out and do it, and that's the work that we're here to do, and you're sitting in a church that's filled with people who can teach you how to go soul-winning, and we've seen God do great things already in this church. We've seen God just save just thousands, and should we just rest on our laurels and say, Well, we're doing so much already. That's enough. It should embolden us to do even more. We should be even further emboldened and say, Let's do more for God. Let's not stop. Let's not say, Oh, we've done so much already. I think it's enough. Let's just coast now. Let's try to do more. See, if we do what God has told us to do, He will do what He has promised to do. Look at verse 16, Judges 7, verse 16, and He divided the 300 men into three companies to put the trumpet in every man's hand with the empty pitchers and lamps within the pitchers, and He said unto them, Look on me and do likewise, and behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be as I do, so shall ye do. When I blow with the trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of the camp, and say, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon. So Gideon and the 300 men that were with him came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch, and they but newly set the watch, and they blew the trumpets and break the pitchers that were in their hands, and the 300 companies blew the trumpets and break the pitchers and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal, and they cried, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon. Now I want to, I'm going to show us something here, but while I start there, I want you to go to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. See, I think this is like a really good illustration of going soul winning, of accomplishing the great work that we've been given to do. He says, Gideon told him, Look, I want you to blow the trumpet. I mean, think about what God's doing. There's some symbolism here. He's sending them against this great host, not with catapults and crossbows, you know, and swords and spears and arrows. I'm sure they had some of those things, but when they first went out, God was getting the ball rolling, and He wanted to show that He was on their side. What did He send them out with? He sent them out with a pitcher, like a clay pot, and a lamp, and that was it. Not exactly what you think the first thing you grab when you're going to go to war. Where's mom's face, you know? You might get one guy if you're lucky, but He tells them, first of all, to blow the trumpets. You know, if we're going to accomplish a great work for the Lord, we're going to have to make ourselves known. We're going to have to go out there and declare the gospel of Jesus Christ. We're going to have to go out there and lift up our voices. We're going to have to preach the whole counsel of God. We're going to have to let everybody know that we're here, and go out and blow the trumpet. They wanted, first of all, to let them know, hey, we're here. We're here to do something. You're turning to 2 Corinthians chapter 4, the Bible says in Matthew 10, it is enough for the disciple to be as his master and the servant as his Lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more should they call them of his household? Fear them not, therefore, for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed and hid that shall not be made known. But I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light, and that which ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. That's God telling us, that's Jesus telling us to blow the trumpet, to make the word of God known, and to not fear the masses, not to fear the Midianites. Fear them not, which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul. He says, first of all, to go ahead and blow the trumpet. The next thing they were supposed to do was break the pitchers. Break the pitchers, right? They had those lamps under the pitcher, and they were to break them, and that would show the light. You know, if we're going to accomplish this great work, we cannot put the light under a bushel. We cannot hide the gospel. We're going to have to let it shine. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, look at verse 1, therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not, but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. Verse 3, but if our gospel be hid, it is hidden there that are lost. You know, if you want to go out to battle, you want to be part of a church that's going to do something, you want to be part of, you know, Gideon's army, you can't just sit there with the vase over your candle. You can't hide the gospel. You can't let it remain hid. Verse 4, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preached not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. Verse 5, for God, who commanded the light to shine. It's not an option. This light must shine. The command of the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels. We're like that lamp under that pitcher. We're that earthen vessel. And if we want to just keep our mouths closed, and we want to just let our hearts grow calloused and grow cold to the work of God, that pitcher will never get broken. And some people, they need to smash that pitcher this morning and let the light shine. That's how we're going to accomplish a great work for God. That's how we're going to put the enemy on their heels. God has given us the light of his spirit in the earthen vessels of our hearts. And we have to be willing to break those in order for the light to shine. Jesus said unto his disciples, if any man come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross. It's going to take sacrifice. It's going to take you having to maybe be broken a little bit, maybe have your pride taken down, maybe get humbled. For whosoever will save his life shall lose, and whoso will lose his life for my sake shall find it. Paul said, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. If you're still in Judges chapter 7, if we're going to accomplish a great work for God, it's going to be done in the face of uncertain circumstances, in the face of difficult circumstances. It's going to be the face of having to make sacrifices that we might not know that were ready to be made. It's going to be done by unlikely people, but it's going to be done in the power of God. When we understand all that and we sober up to these facts, we can see, we have seen, and will continue to see a great work accomplished for God. The Bible says in Judges chapter 7 verse 21, and they stood every man in his place round about the camp, and all the host ran and cried and fled, and the 300 blew the trumpets, and the Lord set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host. I mean, Gideon just by faith goes out and does this, and he doesn't even have to lift a finger. God just does it all for him. That's the way it was with us. If we'll break the pitchers, if we'll blow the trumpet, if we'll go out and do as God has commanded us and just preach the gospel, his spirit will take over. Every time I go soul winning, it just amazes me that I can say, hey, you know, for sure you're going to, if you die today, you go to heaven, and you say, I don't know, and you go, can I show you? Every time someone says yes, I'm just like, wow, that's amazing. And then when that person hears just the plain gospel preached on them and they get saved, it's amazing. It's amazing to see God just work. That's what Gideon got to see, right? He got to see God just work in this camp in the Midianites, every man just freaking out and turning his sword on his neighbor and running and just being over some lights and a trumpet. But that's what we do. We go out in the power of God. That's the point I'm trying to make. If we're going to accomplish it, we do it in the power of God, and God will work on our behalf. And not only that, look at verse 23, and the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of Naphtali and out of Asher and out of all of Manasseh and pursued after the Midianites. See, if we set out by faith and start to do the work that God has commanded us to do, other people are going to join in that pursuit. It wasn't just Gideon at the end there. It started out with 300, but other people joined in, didn't they? If we have faith and set out to do the work, others will join us, but we have to step out by faith. If we're going to accomplish a great work, it's going to be done in difficult circumstances. It's going to be done by unlikely people. It's going to require sacrifice. It's going to be done in the power of the Lord, but it's going to be done by individuals. It's going to be done by you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, again, thank you for the Bible. Thank you for the example of Gideon, Lord, and we pray that you just help us to have the faith that he had, that we would trust you and know that you are on our side, that we could see you continue to do a great work through us as individuals and as a church, that we might do the task that you have given us to do, which is to go out and to preach the gospel to every creature. We love you. We thank you. In Christ's name, amen. Amen.