I think all of us are hungering to be encouraged to do something for other people. And there's too many people that are trying to get something for themselves. And missions is all about asking God to use us. And I want to give you a message here tonight entitled, Five Traits of People that God Uses. Five traits of people that God uses and we're going to look at the Bible character of Gideon, that's Judges chapter 6. But I want to read to you just a few verses here as you're preparing your heart before the Lord. Hebrews 11 and verse 32 through 34 says this, and what shall we say more? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon. and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah, of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in faith, turned to flight the armies of the aliens." Father, we come before You, and we have enjoyed Your presence and Your people. Lord, we love Your Word, and I pray that You would stir us. I pray that, Lord, that our heart would be touched, that we would not be the same. Father, we would all know that we have been with you. So Lord, have your way with our will, and we ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Amen, amen. I want you to think about that phrase, Hebrews 11 and verse 34, out of weakness were made strong. In other words, these people on the list of great heroes, and Hebrews 11 is a chapter devoted to God's heroes and the people that He has used through the centuries. They were ordinary people. They were people like you and like me. Now I think we do well to lift them up and really admire them and try to follow their different attributes but as we look at and examine them in light of Scripture we see all kinds of problems, even problems that we probably don't have. But let me ask you this as we get into Judges chapter 6, will it matter that we have ever lived, that you have ever lived. Will we leave a vacancy? Most people have prayed at some time or another for revival, but I think there's a tendency in our time to give up on that. But I want to say I don't believe that God's done in America, or God's done in the Philippines, or in New Guinea, or any other place throughout the world. God's not done. God is still in the soul-saving business, and He wants to use people to start churches and raise people up out of weakness into incredible strength. And God's going to use His Word, and God's going to use truth. And God's going to use us. God's going to use you and me. I believe with all my heart that God wants us to be part of the revival that He wants to send. Now sometimes when we pray, we think of prayer as trying to get our will done up in heaven, and we're begging and pleading God to do something. But actually prayer is more of just releasing God's will, which is in heaven, down here on earth. And God has chosen to use us as a mouthpiece, a voice, a catalyst to do what God wants done. So we tune in, we dial in to God through Scripture and through submission and through faith. And then we go to our little area, whether it's this country or that country or this little community or that little community, and we see what's going on. We get grieved a little bit. and we get back into God's presence, and then we beseech the Lord and we say, we see this, that, and the other thing going on, and they need revival. And God says, yep, I know that's the truth. And then God says, I want to use you, and then you go out and you're not grieved. and you say, God, I love these people, and I love this community, and I want to be the one that's standing in the gap. I want to be the one that you can use to love these people and love this community and make a difference. As a matter of fact, that's really the story here of God's great champion, Gideon. He was a champion of the faith, found in Hebrews chapter 11, the hall of faith. You know, the most impressive thing to me about Gideon is that he wasn't very impressive. He was just a common, ordinary man, just like you and me. Our first point is exactly that. If you want to jot it down, God uses average people, or God uses ordinary, common people. Now Judges chapter 6, and we're in verse number 14, and the Bible says, and the Lord looked upon him and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites." So get the picture here, Israel has been oppressed by a great enemy, that is the Midianites, and God is going to choose a man and He's going to send a man. And that's what missions conference is all about, where God calls somebody and God sends somebody to do something. And it ends there in verse number 14. Let's all say those last few words together. Have not I sent thee? Let's say it again. Have not I sent thee? And that's really the key. An inferiority complex comes when you can't answer that question. And God will put us into situations that will squeeze us in all sorts of different manners so that we can come to the end of ourselves and get to that question, has God sent me or is this just an emotional feeling that I have? And if God sends me then God can do great things, but if God hasn't sent me, well I know who I am, and it's gonna get ugly real quick. Verse number 15, and he said unto him, O my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? By the way, if you don't have that question on your lips when God sends you, you don't understand the scope of the problem. Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. By the way, he's citing two things. What are they? Go ahead and talk to me. What are the two things he's citing? He's poor and... And he's the least, that is, I don't have possessions and I don't have position. By the way, that's just like Western society today. If I'm gonna make a difference, I need possessions and I need a position. And that's never been the case. That's never been the case, but it's always been the way all mankind thinks. Turn to your neighbor and say, don't think that way, all right? Don't think that way, don't think that way. And verse number 16, and the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. I want to say to you, first off, God uses ordinary people, average, common people. God did not see Gideon as he was, and God doesn't see you as you are. God saw him as he could make him, as he could be, and God sees you and me as a final product. See, the Lord wanted to clothe Himself in Gideon. So everybody would see the Lord as Gideon. And that's what God does with you and me today. And you know what? When we speak, when we reach, when we love, when we mingle, when we boldly take a step forward and stand, and when we give and when we yield, people see the Lord, but they think the Lord looks like you and me. And that's another point here we're going to get to in a second, but you don't want to commit that sin, you don't want to hang on to that prestige and honor, you don't want to get lifted up with pride when God uses you. Just a quick cross-reference, don't turn there, 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and 26, for ye see your calling, brethren. how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty." God doesn't deal with proud and and perfect people. Now we know there's no perfect people, but we seem to think that. God wants to do extraordinary things through ordinary people. Now we think of scholarship, and God looks at relationship. We think of ability and talent, and God looks at availability. We look at fame, but God thinks of faith. That's how God wants to use you and me to change the world. You might have heard a story, there's several stories similar to this one, but there's a true story. Years ago, in New Jersey, a man advertised in the paper that he would come and play a very expensive violin, and a great crowd came as he played. And as he played, every emotion was expressed, the joy of children, the laughter of a great crowd, the anger of a fight, the pursuit of a hunter, the courage of young men going to war, the dread of widows hearing the terrible news of their deceased. When he finished, the crowd cheered and they couldn't believe it. And at the crescendo of the cheer, he took the violin and broke it. and then pulled out the real violin that was on display, that he had advertised as being able to play, and expressed to the crowd that it had all come to hear this great famous violin. It's not the instrument that makes the music, it's the one that draws the bow. It's not the instrument that makes the music, but the one that draws the bow. And so let me ask you tonight, who's drawing your bow? Who's drawing your bow? And we need to get off the subject of what I can do and what I can't do, my experiences, my feelings, my background, my pursuits, who I know and my network, and really focus in on the great subject of who has sent me. And Gideon got there. Gideon got there and he saw that God had sent him. God uses average, ordinary people. Now number two. Look at verse number 25, hopefully you know the incredible story of Gideon and his 300 men. Of course it started with a great crowd that were trying to fight off the enemy, the Midianites. and this giant army, and God would reduce that army several different times, and we'll go through that in just a second. But God didn't want a great army, God didn't want any human ability that would steal that pride and glory and prestige that He wanted for Himself. And all the glory belongs to God, it all belongs to Him, and we must not be guilty of theft and take it for ourselves. Now the second thing I want you to jot down is God uses obedient people. First He chooses an ordinary person and sees him through the lens of His perfecting hand, and then God puts something into their life that will cause them to question everything they know, and puts them in a place where they must obey. And if they do obey, God's blessing will come. If they don't, well, God will be looking for somebody else. Look at verses 25 and 26. 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 seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove By the way, the word Baal there in Hebrew is the same word as dominion or oppression. Very interesting word, dominion. Verse 26, and build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock. in the ordered place, and take the second bullock and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood upon the grove, which thou shalt cut down." Now here's what God told this ordinary man to do, is to rise up and go cut down the false Gods and the idolatry, the grove, the whole thing, it's the equivalent of walking into a cult church here in the states and tearing it up. And of course the town and the surrounding community would be furious and you'd be in big trouble. The authorities would come and that's exactly what happened. Now if we want God to use us, if you want God to use you, you are going to have to choose to follow Him and to be obedient, and specifically if we follow this context here, to throw down the altars of idolatry in our life. Now there is probably a false God. a wicked grove either in your life or in your family's life or somewhere near your home, and I don't mean miles or some distance, but somewhere in your culture, somewhere in your upbringing, somewhere something that you're just used to. that if somebody was to come that wasn't used to that culture they would say what is that? And you'd have to explain it and say it's no big deal, it's all just been there, it's just no big deal, you know we just do that, but we love God. Now that's exactly what Israel had fallen into, they had all these other pagan gods, and they also had Jehovah, and they were following God, but just to get along and just to fit in and just to be part of the up-and-coming society, they had built these groves and built these idols and built these statues, and God was saying, cut them down! And that's what we need to do. So here at Missions Conference we're wrestling with how can God use us? How can God use us going forward? We've got to realize this, I'm just an ordinary person, but we've got to realize that God uses obedience and there will be an obedience test. An idol is anything we love more, fear more, or serve more, or value more than God. And I believe that there's Baptist idols too. baptist idols. We fear them and we value them and we love them more than God. Isaiah 52 and verse number 11 says, depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing, go ye out of the midst of her, be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord. that bear the vessels of the Lord. We're talking about missions conference, we're talking about these wonderful families that have offered themselves as ambassadors of Heaven's hope to go into a foreign land with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they're going to use any means possible to present the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel and get a church started and the fires of revival burning brightly. And that's a wonderful, wonderful thing. We're wrestling here tonight about how can I get involved? What about my specific prayer time? What about my financial giving? What about the culture that I'm creating around me? I like these posters up here. This is creating a culture of others. None of these people on these pictures look like me. That's good. That makes me go others, others, others, others, others, others. We need a culture of trying to make a difference in the world around us. My dad surrendered to go to the mission field of New Guinea when I was 18 years old. And my dad was an average, ordinary guy. He worked in the office. He was an electrical engineer. And he was 49 years old. And he talked to his boss. and said, I'm resigning, I'm quitting, I'm going to New Guinea to make a difference, I'm gonna live in a grass hut with my three sons and my wife, and we're gonna preach the gospel and do all this stuff, and his boss said, Dennis, don't do that, don't do that, as a matter of fact, we've got this road project actually to a gold mine somewhere in New Guinea, why don't we send you to work on the gold mine project and you can work on the electrical And my dad tells this story that his boss cussed him out, he said, you're being a fool, you're throwing everything away. And my dad said, no, no, no. He said, all right, before you quit, I won't accept your resignation until we go see my boss. And they made an appointment the next day or next couple days, they went in to see his boss. And they presented the whole case to the vice president. The vice president said, Dennis, my dad, I want you to go. I want you to head up this project. We'll give you a significant raise. I want you to go. Don't just walk away and throw everything away. And my dad said, no. I've already determined I know God wants me to go, my wife is with me, my three sons, they're with me, we're gonna go and we're gonna live in this hut, we're going to this village, we're gonna do all these crazy things. And my dad said everything changed as his boss put down his glasses and stood up from his desk, he's a little bit afraid, he's the vice president, he stood up, he walked over to the window and he said, you see that car out in the parking lot? And I said, yeah, I know about your car. We all know about that car. He says, I have that car. And I have this big, nice house on the bluff overlooking the river. And that's all. Because I married this work and this business. And I lost everything else. I have this car. I have this house. And then he said, you go to New Guinea and take your wife and kids with you. And that was a wonderful thing. You know what? My dad passed that test of obedience. He passed it. You know, human reasoning would say, you know what? This is a significant raise. It's the same place you can go. You can test the waters and hey. No, but that's not what God wanted. God wanted a big, step of faith, and that's what God wants all of us to get involved in, that's what God wants you to do, a big step of faith. You know my heart had already left the home and really the church, I hadn't contemplated leaving the church or God or anything like that, but all I could think about was making money, and I was going to graduate high school and my mom's oldest sister and her husband had a real estate business and I was going to work for them and they were going to put me through a private business college there in California and I was going to study business marketing and figure out how to make a million dollars and my big goal was I want to be, I want to have a million dollars before I was 30. And so my test came shortly after that, after my dad's test, when my dad said, come with us and just put college on hold. Well, that was pretty easy. Yeah, I'll go to some great adventure and put college on hold, and I did that. And then the test came when it was time to come back. And I was 21, and I was either gonna go to business college or Bible school. And I just, it was really easy. I saw that God had given my dad purpose and a love for these people, and he passed the obedience test and it unified our family. We went from a farm with a tractor and a boat and lots of vacation and a disposable income to a little tiny grass roof hut on the side of a hill that the hut followed the hill more than it should have and uh... if you drop something at this end of the house it would roll and hit the back wall it was the best thing ever it unified our family and our home and uh... my brothers and my parents and so i went back to bible school in the third year of uh... bible school i met my wife deborah we were married the next year uh... the year after that We came and presented New Guinea to you all. And we joined 23 years ago. How many of you were here 23 years ago? And we couldn't believe it. We were like, what is this? I mean, you guys sang and sang and sang. It was crazy. People were shouting. We're saying, this is amazing. And we partnered with you. And it's good to be back with you again. I want to say, God wants to use you because you're ordinary. God wants to use you because you're gonna be obedient, you're gonna follow Him, you're gonna do what's right. Let me say number three, number three, God uses people that are valiant. God uses valiant people or overcoming people, people that are overcomers. Now look at chapter six and look at verse number 12, number 12. Judges 6, 12, everybody still with me? And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him and said unto him, the Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. Valiant people, overcoming people. See, God called Gideon a mighty man of valor or courageous. And after gathering an army of 32,000 people, God told Gideon, to have the men who were not afraid to go home. Jump down to chapter 7 and verse 2, we're assuming here that you know this story. The Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. of the second generation. They began to see the great victories. They don't see the great problems. And they say, we did this. And they can calculate it. See, look at this, and look at that, and look at this. And mom and dad or whoever, they thought this was God. And they were praying. And God probably did do that. But actually, look what God used. And all I have to do is use that same recipe. One, two, three. And there it is. And God said, whoa, whoa, whoa, that's what's gonna happen here. Now therefore, verse number three, go to proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart from the Mount Gilead. and their return of the people, 20 and 2,000, and there remained 10,000. 22,000 of the army returned home. They were fearful. It was free, you are not coerced into going into this fight. God cannot, God will not use us if we're cowards. And the reason is because fear and cowardice is contagious. God wants to have a valiant, overcoming people filled with faith. In Deuteronomy chapter 20 and verse number 8, it says, And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and faint-hearted? Let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart. So whatever endeavor you're doing, one of the most important things is you've got to squelch the fear factor, whether it's your life or anybody else around you. God uses the overcomer, and those of you that are in the lead of this effort, whatever you're doing. Don't just relegate fear to the normal. Don't just relegate cowardice to just, it's part of the job. It's contagious, and it's a plague, and you gotta put a mask on that thing. You gotta get it out, all right? Maybe two masks is what we need, two masks. Second Timothy chapter 1 and verse number 7, say this with me, you know this verse, for God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. So that fear will come upon us, but God didn't bring that fear in and so we've got to get it out, it's a different spirit. God's given us the spirit of power. That's I can do something about this. and of love. I'm not hating, I'm not destroying, but I love, and of a sound mind. I'm not crazy, I'm not desperate, I'm not mixed up in power and of love, and of a sound mind. You know Acts 1-8. Let's say it together. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. And ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth. In other words, the Gospel message, that's what this business meeting is about. How are we going to get the Gospel to the ends of the earth? What are we going to do for the next 12 months? How is this going to happen? It's going to be through the power of the Holy Spirit. So number one, we said God uses ordinary people. Number two, we said God uses obedient people. And then number three, God uses valiant or overcoming people, you've got to overcome fear. Overcome fear. When you're filled with the Holy Spirit, you will have assurance that God can use you, and you will find that you are unusually courageous. It's true. Because There's not going to be a vacuum. There won't be a vacuum in you. If you are not filled with the Spirit of God, fear and cowardice comes right in. There is no fear in love. There is no fear in love. But perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. How many of you have felt The terror of fear. Fear hath, I felt that. Fear has terror. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. So the answer is love. Let me give you two more. Look at verses four through eight. I want to read this passage. This is God uses observant people or attentive people, Judges 7, 4 through 8. And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many. Bring them down unto the water, and I will try them there. for thee there. And it shall be that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee. And of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. So he brought down the people unto the water, and the Lord said unto Gideon, Everyone that lappeth under the water with his tongue as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself. Likewise, everyone that boweth down upon his knees to drink. And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men. But all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. And the Lord said unto Gideon, By the 300 men that Lappeth will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand, and let all the other people go, every man unto his own place. So the people took victuals in their hand and their trumpets, and he sent all the rest of Israel, every man into his tent, and retained those 300 men, and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley. And this is just a test, and he wanted to see who's going to remain observant, who's going to keep their eyes up, and who is going to be flippant, who is going to be careless, and so that was the test. And he said all of the vast majority needs to go, they're not observant. I think that's true with us as Christians today. If you're not careful, you will stop observing people. You won't see them as souls that Christ died for. You won't see them as people that God might use you to reach. You'll actually see them as people in your way. You'll see them as people that could hurt you, cause you to stumble or fall. You remember that one miracle that Jesus did that kind of seemed to have a fluke in it, kind of didn't work out so well. And He healed the blind man, remember that? And He says, what do you see? And He says, I see men as what? Trees. That's a strange thing. I see men as trees walking. What are trees? Trees are in the way. Trees can be harvested and turned into lumber. But trees are Trees don't have an eternal soul to them. Obstacles or opportunities. But we're not supposed to see people as obstacles or opportunities for ourselves. We're supposed to see trees the way Christ wants us to see them, and so that he needed that second touch. And I think we need that second touch. We need God to just take the calluses off our hearts, and we need to see people as those that Christ died for. And Christ, hey, we got excited tonight about Christ loves me, and it's wonderful, and we need to hold on to that with both hands. But realize this, but Christ loves them as well. And God will put something in each one of our hearts and stir us up. Maybe for people that look like that, or like that, or like that, or maybe like you, or maybe like me, or maybe like these others. Who knows? God will burden you. And what I've seen is God burdens different people in different ways. And He'll put in you a love for people and a love for a place and a love for a little society and then He'll start building a little network, a ramp of opportunity for you. But you've got to realize, number one, that you're ordinary, thank you. And then there'll probably be a test along the way that'll test your obedience. Then number three, there's going to be some obstacles that you'll need to overcome. They'll be there, I promise you, but you are not going to lose sight of that, you're going to be observant. And so here's my challenge, tonight, tomorrow, the rest of this week, the rest of your life, the rest of your life, what was the last song of that, the lines of that song, first song we sang about the rest of my life, pastor folk, that was incredible. Torrey, we need to sing that Sunday at our church, alright? Can you get that? Get with the man over there and make it happen, okay? The rest of my life, what am I going to do? I'm going to see people, I'm going to observe them. You know it was 23 years ago, my wife and I were just getting started, we really didn't know much, we didn't know what we didn't know, we thought we knew a lot. And we left, we stayed with the Borkowskis and we left that night at I think midnight. Maybe it was midnight, I think it was midnight. And we drove through the night and got into DC early. I wanted to beat all the traffic and get into DC because we were going to the embassy. Wow. I didn't realize that. We were going to the embassy to just sort of make friends, and we had this little cassette tape that we had made, and we were going to give them that, and we're going to give them our little prayer card, and we're saying, hey, here we are, we're going to New Guinea, don't forget us, and we're going to send you paperwork, go ahead and fill that out and stamp it and stuff, and all that sort of stuff. And that was a great meeting. It was an incredible meeting. We met Veronica, who was the head secretary in the embassy for like ever. And she helped us the whole way. But it was through meeting people. And had we not done that, had we not put a face in our minds and our face in her mind, you know, that's what ministry is. Guys, that's what it is. That's why we show the slides and we talk about all this stuff. And let me tell you this. I've been to lots of places and I know you've been to lots of places. I think I love every place. I mean, I like the desert. I like the woods. I like the mountains. I like the coast. I live in a swamp. I like all these places. I like, I love them. They're beautiful. They're magnificent. Don't worry about the climate. Don't worry about the temperature. Listen, worry about the people. Observe the people. Those are the ones that God loves. Observe them. 1 Peter 5 and verse number 8, be sober, be vigilant because your adversary the devil is a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. You know, I think the devil wants to devour us by devouring our love for other people. You know, it says about Lot, that he was grieved, and he was, not grieved, he was vexed, vexed. And if Law was here, we'd say, Law, why were you vexed? And he'd say, you don't know. We'd say, well, we actually probably do know. And he'd be like, it's terrible. They're wicked. They're vile. But once you get vexed and grieved, your soul shrivels, and you don't want to see people anymore. And all of a sudden you're retreating, and now the gospel's not marching on, and the only song we can sing is Hold the Fort, that's the only thing. instead of marching on, stepping forward, onward, Christian soldiers. Listen, it's supposed to be the church triumphant, the gates of hell shall not prevail. Listen, we are going forward! We're not sheltering here till Jesus comes, we're going forward. We're going forward. God uses attentive people, observant people. You know what sin is? Sin, I believe, is an unexpected opportunity. When I think of sin, I think of something gross, something that stinks, something that is dirty, it gets on me, and like, ugh. And that's true, but it never looks that way to you. It's kind of like your own pride. Pride looks pretty good to me, but it looks real bad to everybody else. Sin's an unexpected opportunity. I think sin is an unprotected life, and I think sin is an undetected weakness. We need to protect ourselves from sin, but we need to observe and love people. Let me give you one last one and we'll be done. One last one. We're looking at the life of who? Gideon. Look at verse number 12 of chapter 7. And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along the valley like grasshoppers for multitude. And their camels were without number, as the sand by the seaside for multitude. And when Gideon 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. along. 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 hath God delivered Midian and all the host." Look at verse 15, And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshipped. and returned unto the host of Israel, and said, Arise, for the Lord hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian. This is simply a story of God revealing what's gonna happen. Or God revealing the insecurity and fear that the enemy felt, that was a huge host, and revealed it to this little barley bread. This little guy named Gideon and his 300 men. Number five, and we'll close here, is God uses confident people, or write down the word optimistic. God uses optimistic people. I am not talking about being self-confident or optimistic that, you know, everything is going to turn out right. I'm talking about confidence in the Lord. I'm talking about we've read the back of the book and we win. I'm talking about we believe and are sure that God will be with us and will provide for us. Now listen, we know that some bad decisions have been being made at the White House. We know that there is wickedness in high places. But listen, it's always been there. There's always been these things, and God has always come through for His people, and God wants to do some mighty things, and God's not done with America, and God's not done with His missions programmed throughout the world. We need to get excited. We need to be filled with hope. We need to be optimistic and seizing an opportunity around us. And the question I have not is, are you afraid of the devil? The question I have is, is the devil afraid of you? And here's Gideon and his 300 boys. And here's these hosts of aligned armies. and they are terrified of Gideon. You know the Bible says that if we submit ourselves to God and we resist the devil that he will what? Flee. That is, the devil is supposed to be terrified of the submitted Christian that knows who he is and can stand against the attacks of the devil. And that's what the missions program is supposed to be. And that's what evangelism is supposed to be. We walk in and we expect the roaches to run. We expect the rats to take off. We expect the devil to be on the run as long as I'm submitted to God and willing to stand. Too often, I believe with all my heart, too often we become very pessimistic. And everything's darkness, and everything's wickedness, and all this. Man, have you seen the news? And I mean, can you believe what they're doing in Congress? You know, the Bible says, if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, Then will I hear from heaven." Listen, it all depends on us. The wicked, they're supposed to be wicked. That's their job. They get paid to do that. Listen, we're righteous. We're on the Lord's team, and who cares about what they're going to do? If you will do right, I'm telling you, if you will do right, God will bless, and souls will be saved, and the world will be changed. God uses confident people, He uses optimistic people. I believe that the devil hopes—I don't know if the devil prays, but he's hoping and praying that we never understand who we really are in Christ. You might be just a piece of barley bread, maybe just half a loaf, but God can use you. God wants to use you. That's what this conference is all about. Remember that story in the book of Acts? Some guys were trying to do something, and the devils, they were trying to do an exorcist, and the devil said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you? They were trying to resist the devil without being submitted to God. Don't go to bat against the devil unsubmitted to the Lord. Let me ask you this, are you right with God? I mean right where you sit, right there, are you right with God? Is everything right? Is there something, is there a ship of sedition, of sin in the harbor of your heart? If there is, kick it out, tonight's your night. We're going to have an invitation in just a second. I want you to get right. I want you to get right with God. And the reward is huge. You become the barley bread that God can use, just like the story of Gideon. I believe hell should tremble at our name because we're submitted to God, just like all the hosts trembled at the name of Gideon. Now do you know Jesus? Are you submitted to Him? Is He your Lord and is He your Master? You can't be just trying to pull a fast one. Missions is not about just looking for a little place, you know, to find some significance or shelter or take a break or, no. It's about being sent. Remember Gideon at the beginning, he's sent and he knows it. Otherwise, maybe one of the most often asked questions that I get is, do you feel nervous or scared or intimidated being in Washington DC? And the answer is, No, no, I mean not at all, I mean I don't struggle with it, I don't have to go to God and pray, oh God. I'm submitted, I'm committed, and I know I'm sent. And you should and can have that confidence tonight. Let's stand together. I'm not sure what God talked to you about, but whatever He talked to you about, I want you to submit, I want you to say yes to Jesus, say yes to the Lord tonight. God uses ordinary, God uses obedient, God uses overcoming, God uses observant and optimistic people, and He wants to use you. Heads are bowed, eyes are closed. It's an invitation tonight, first night of missions conference. Would you come and say yes to God? God, I'm just coming to say yes. Here I am. I'm common. I'm ordinary. I want to be more obedient. I need to be more optimistic. Help me to overcome. Here I am. Here I am. Here I am.