Heavenly Father we do need your help when it comes to decisions and we make wrong decisions and we make wrong decisions for ultimately it's because of sin in our heart but we can make right decisions that would be in line with your will, your plan, your path that you have for all of us. And as we continue to explore this and look at different ways decisions are made, may we see if we make decisions in that way. and be willing to let that be exposed, at least in our mind, and willing to not defend it, but just to look at what your word says. In Jesus' name, amen. So, four ways that people make decisions. Selfish, sinful motives. Those could be for sinful reasons or just because this is what I want to do, like eating the whole box of Krispy Kremes. It's what I want to do, okay? And I want to do those things. You want to do your things because they make us happy. And so we make decisions that way. That's the The deepest that I've gone into the process of decision-making with that But we're going to look at some other things as well two of the other reasons that we considered was Superficial or whimsical myth methods. I was like flipping a coin eeny meeny miny moe that that kind of a way Making a decision based on chance is how some people will do it sometimes. And last week, we looked at special revelation. Do you remember what that was? Yep. Do you know why I asked you that? Because God told me to ask you that question tonight. Ooh, hopefully he'd have some verses for me. I'm getting a look from somebody right now. Yes, special revelation. Did special revelation happen in the Bible? Oh, yes, absolutely. Before the Bible was completed, yes, it happened. But those days are over because we now have the Bible. the completed revelation of God's Word to us. And we had looked at several passages last week that established the cessation of special revelation or the ending of it. It's done. It's over with. Ephesians 2.20 was one passage. 1 Corinthians 13, there are several verses we looked at there. 2 Timothy 3.16 and 17, all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God, okay? And profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction, and righteousness. Verse 17 then goes on to say that the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works." And that has the idea of adequate, okay? It is adequate, meaning the Bible has everything that we need to be, verse 17, which is perfect or spiritually mature, completely equipped for everything that God asks us to do in His Word, the Bible is adequate and has everything that we need. So if it's everything we need, why do we need more special revelation like God told me to do this? We don't. There's a quote that I think I have some blanks for you to fill in at the top of your notes there. It's from John Calvin. He said, he who is not satisfied with Scripture desires to be wiser than is either proper or desirable. Just think about that for a minute. He who's not satisfied with Scripture desires to be wiser than is either proper or desirable. Who decides what is proper as far as the amount of wisdom we have? God. Because he is the giver of wisdom. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. He'll give it to you liberally, and upbraideth not. So God decides what we need to know, how much we need to know. He's given us Scripture. All Scripture is adequate to do what God asks us to do, and yet some people desire, we've got to know more. They're not satisfied with what Scripture tells them. And they've got to know more than what the Bible says about something. And some things the Bible just…the Bible doesn't tell us everything, okay? It does not tell us everything. It tells us just a fraction, but it's everything that we need to know about God, about ourselves, how we can be right with God, how we can please God. That's why he gives us the Bible. And the things where the Bible is silent on, you've heard me talk about that before, it's because God says it's either not a big deal or it's none of your business. That's my paraphrase of it. I was considering, well, I've taken several not seminary, yeah, some seminary master degree courses to get a master's degree over the years. And as I looked at the different classes in completing the degree, which someone said I needed to do all of this to get a diploma from them. Some of them left me scratching my head thinking, why? What good is this going to do? For example, one paper that I would have had to write was like a 15-page paper on the book of Galatians. It was written to the church of Galatia. Was it written to the churches in northern Galatia or southern Galatia? And your pastor was going to spend hours researching that to write a 15-page paper, and none of that is in the Bible. It's not in there. But sometimes we desire to know more than what God has given us in Scripture. And I'll go back to that quote, he who is not satisfied with scripture desires to be wiser than is either proper or desirable. And let me just say, I dropped the class before I even started it when I saw that. But how is that going to help me with Armin when he goes to the doctor this week? What good is that to a shepherd? So I just kind of let that go. I do try to take classes that are going to help. Help me help you, in a sense. So this week, supernatural signs. Supernatural, yeah, supernatural signs. We'll just go with that. What are they? Your first point there in your outline. Let's consider the assignment that you were emailed this morning, okay? We're not gonna do all of it. We'll save some of it for the end. But the book of Gideon, or not the book. I have a different version that I use, folks. Just kidding. The book of Judges, there we go, 6, has the story of Gideon in there. Someone tell me what he did in this chapter 6 account. Yes. Yeah. Right. Yep. And then the next day or the first day, the blanket would be wet and everything around it would be dry. And then the next day, just reversed. Okay. The fleece, throwing out a fleece. Okay. Have we ever done that before? Okay. Judges 6, verse 16, it says, and the Lord said unto him, before the fleece, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. All right, this is before the fleece. Gideon wanted a sign before then. So the angel of the Lord, that's how he's referred to in the Bible, which is most likely Christ, Christophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ on the earth before he was born here. He responds to this angel and says, okay, I'm going to smite the Midianites. I'm going to need a sign. I need a sign if I'm going to go along with this. And that's verses 17 through 21. He got the sign, okay? He got the sign from the angel of the Lord. But what did he do next? The angel of the Lord came to him. He says, you're going to defeat the Midianites. I need a sign. The angel of the Lord gave him a sign. Then in verse 25, and it came to pass, this is sometime after the angel of the Lord was there. that the Lord said unto him, Take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it. He told Gideon, I need you to go tear up your father's place of worship. All right, moving on, verse 26, and I want you to build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock and in the ordered place and take the second bullock and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down." So he's going to tear down his father's altar to Baal on the same spot, build an altar to God. The wood that made up the father's altar to Baal is now going to be the wood for the sacrifice. that Gideon's about to offer on that. Then Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had said unto him, and it was so, because he feared his father's household and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, so he did it by night. He was approached by the angel of the Lord, told he was going to defeat the Midianites. He said, I need a plan, or I need a sign. The angel of the Lord gave him a sign. Now he's got this instruction, tear down your father's altar. He does it. Seems to me the sign worked, right? He does it. It would appear at least that the sign worked. Could we say that Gideon was convinced by that sign? I'm going to say yes. He tore down his dad's altar. Either he was convinced or he was crazy. What would obsess him to do that unless he was convinced of the sign? And when he does do it, okay, Then what does he do? The next verses talk about him gathering an army. Whoa, that must have been quite the sign the angel of the Lord gave him. And then what? After he gathers the army, then the fleece. Uh-oh. Why does he need a fleece? Look at what he's done already. I mean, okay, I can see under cover of night, he tears down his dad's altar to a pagan god and builds up another one. It's all under the cover of darkness. So the next morning, he could say, you know, like kids do when their dads ask them, does anyone know how this broke? I don't know. You know, we just claim ignorance and say we don't know anything about it. He could have done that. But he actually went out and he sent runners, he sent men to the far reaches of the country, to all the tribes, and he gathered an army. Now, it's amazing to me that these men came, first of all. They left what they were doing, and they came. So he gathers this army. To me, that would be another sign. It's like, whoa. They didn't say, Gerald who? What? Huh? Come to Illinois? Why would I want to do that? And they came. And now he needs a sign, the fleece. What makes this a supernatural sign? What do you think makes this a supernatural sign? Yes. Okay, all right. Tina, only God could do it. Okay, that's true. If Tina, and I'm not picking on you, okay, I'm just doing this to illustrate, because I want us to understand the difference between supernatural sign and special revelation. If we took you up to the balcony and one of those people up there, there's three of them, I'm not sure if I would have any volunteers, to push you off the edge of the balcony, okay? No one's raising their hand. That's probably a good thing. And when they pushed you over the edge, you fell. It's a miracle, she fell. Because only God could enact gravity and pull you down, right? Because only, I mean, God created gravity, so that's something only God could do to keep you from flinging off the planet as it rotates. So it's more than just doing something that only God can do, and it's falling more into what Ethan was saying. It's something that's out of the bounds of nature, okay? There's a definition coming, okay, but we're not quite there yet. What are some supernatural signs that you or someone else has seen or heard of? Have you ever seen or heard of supernatural signs that people have seen? What's that? Walking on water, okay. I saw a picture on YouTube of a tree and it's all guarded and protected. And apparently that tree cries once in a while. But if you look at the tree in the right way, it looks like a picture of Jesus. It looks like his face in the tree and sometimes it cries. And there's a supernatural sign there, they say. Any others that you've heard about? Israel being born in a day. Yeah, Athan. Okay, outside of the Bible. Let's go outside of the Bible. David. Okay. It didn't rain on the club. Okay. All right. So they got to do their backyard Bible club. Okay. Yeah. What else? Ethan. Yes. I had one of those one time. Gone. Just like that. Yeah, okay. Let's define supernatural. Beyond the normal nature of things. Something that is beyond the normal nature of things. Now, keep those supernatural examples in your mind, okay, as we go through. God uses His power Some of it he uses naturally like Tina gravity. Okay, that's his power that that's working And only he can do that. How about light? He controls light and only he can do that You you the Sun comes up in the East and guess what's going to happen every day light The the laws of physics Science, biology, Delbert could, I just might turn it over to him and let him just talk for 30 minutes on that. You could do that, I'm sure. Yeah. All of those laws of nature, okay, that we are familiar with, those are all demonstrations of God's natural power. But some examples of supernatural, Something that happens outside of the law of physics, let's say, is when a stick, you throw it on the ground and it turns into a snake. That is supernatural there, okay? Or the parting of the Red Sea. Water is on one side and on the other side, and oh, how about people coming back to life? That's beyond the realm of nature. How about replacing an ear that has been cut off and instead of waiting weeks for it to heal, it just naturally joins the body like it had never been cut off. Okay, that's supernatural science. Now, what are the purpose of these things? Because the ones I mentioned to you actually did happen in the Bible. What are the purpose for supernatural signs? They were a means of special revelation. Going back to last week even. Now, remember, special revelation, God told me. That was our simplistic way of defining that, God told me. So, a supernatural occurrence in the Bible where it was God speaking to people. How about this one? In the Old Testament, the Israelites in the wilderness, what supernatural event was God speaking to them? Can you think of one? It was a pillar of cloud during the daytime and a pillar of fire at night. How is that communicating? When it stopped, God was saying, stop. When it started moving, God was saying, time to move. When it went this way, God was saying, go this way. So it was communicating. It was a very simplistic special revelation, but the means, the purpose for it was special revelation. How about Gideon's fleece that he put out there? That was beyond the realm of natural events. For the ground to be covered with dew, try it. Throw something out in the backyard, a blanket or whatever, and tomorrow morning, the grass is going to be all wet with dew, and so is that blanket. It's going to be wet too. And if you don't think that's the case, I'll let my dogs come into your house tomorrow morning after, you know, their bellies are only that high off the ground. So they are soaking wet when they come in from outside in the mornings. They're not like Levi whose belly is six feet off the ground, okay? Oh, but his feet are soaked, right, yeah. So, the second reason for supernatural signs is they were a validation of those who brought the special revelation. Someone who's speaking on behalf of God, giving special revelation. There were supernatural signs that validated that they were, in fact, speaking for God. God would do miracles around them. as they were delivering what we have now in the Bible, but then it was new parts of the Bible. So that others would know that they had divine authority. They were doing something different, a supernatural sign. That would get noticed, don't you think? Absolutely. The supernatural things were just a sign. pointing to someone or something. Like on a Saturday morning, you can drive around Taylorville and you see signs pointing to something. A garage sale somewhere. You're going to see them all over Taylorville, okay? And it's just a sign. That's it. It's just a sign pointing to something that we're supposed to be paying attention to. Hebrews 2 in verse 3, it says, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first, first began to be spoken by the Lord, Okay, then secondly, was confirmed unto us by them that heard him. So Jesus spoke, those that he listened to him, they heard him. That was a second confirmation. And God also bearing them witness both. Three, third thing is, He bared witness with them with signs and wonders. These are the supernatural signs and with diverse miracles. And then the fourth confirmation, gifts of the Holy Ghost according to His will. That's the Word of God. Jesus spoke it, confirmed by the people that heard it, the disciples, the apostles, their message was confirmed because of the supernatural miracles that they were doing, and then the gifts of the Holy Spirit as well. Paul was someone who was a part of miracles being performed and he referred to their purpose as well. Here's what he said. He said, truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you all in patience in signs and wonders and mighty deeds. Supernatural signs do not happen anymore. When was the last time You saw someone tap their stick on water and on a rock and water came out. Don't think I've ever even heard of that happening. Or an entire lake parts to reveal a path to the other side and the ground is instantly dried to walk on and animals to walk over. That was supernatural as well. Or when was the last time that you heard a fire coming down from the sky to consume hundreds of cult members like Elijah did on Mount Carmel? What about faith healers that we have today? What about them? Why don't you ever hear these and and I've always heard this since I was a kid okay but it is a very very very true question or thought to ask why don't we ever hear of these miracle workers just walking down the hallway of a hospital and healing everyone or Going into the middle of a cemetery, praying a prayer, and everyone comes back to life because Paul did that. I think Paul or Peter, the apostles, one of them. Jesus did it. They brought people back to life. Peter did it. Yes. Supernatural, right? So how come we don't hear about that happening anymore? Modern-day miracles, okay, are disputed. Not denying that it did not rain on the backyard party, and it did rain for the farmers on the other side of the road. I can dispute that as being a miracle, though, because it happens here all the time. My greatest frustration every winter, I see the red blob of snow coming, coming, coming, and then right as it gets to Taylorville, it splits and then reforms once it gets on the other side. It's like, y'all quit praying, all right? Just give me one good one a year, all right? So that's explainable. Modern-day miracles, many of them are explainable, but here's the other side of that. Modern-day miracles are disputed. There's something about it that's being disputed. It's like, yeah, it could be this, it could be that. And there are maybe legitimate, maybe not legitimate, but they are disputed. There's controversy surrounding them. But notice the miracles in the Bible. No one denied that they were miracles. No one. You would think the Pharisees would have disputed them. I mean, they were the ones that were being threatened by this miracle worker and all the other miracle workers that Jesus sent out. You would think they would try to discredit and dispute those miracles, but they didn't. The best they could do, and you maybe are thinking of this passage right now, the best they could do was to say that they were being done through the power of Satan, right? They're confirming they were miracles. They didn't dispute that it was a miracle. They just said it was being done through Satan instead of God. These terms and titles that we have like faith healer, prophet, apostle, you hear those today. Those are just titles. They're a means to generate followers, maybe even to increase business. or likes on Facebook or whatever it is. Since the Bible is complete, there is no need for more signs. Now, let's go back to the assignment that I sent home to you this morning. In your assignment, you were asked the fleeces, Gideon and his fleeces. Is that a good example or a how-not-to example to make decisions? What do you think? Not to, okay. Anyone else want to weigh in before I ask my next question? Ethan says no. You guys are just going to go along with whatever Ethan says, right? Have you ever done the fleece method before? I have, yeah. You like test things to see, okay. So, okay, so yeah, we've all done it. No, we all know someone that's done it. There we go. Is it a good way to make a decision or not a good way to make a decision? Gideon, I think, is an example of how not to make a decision. God never rebuked him for the fleece, okay? But keep in mind, that's a narrative account. And we're given a day-by-day history of Gideon and what God decided for us to know that Gideon went through in his life. I think it's in Hebrews where it talks about those Old Testament people they were given to us for examples to learn from. There's some bad stuff recorded from all of them, really. that was wrong. Now when it comes to Gideon and putting out a fleece, here's why I believe that that's not a good way to make a decision. He asked for a sign because he lacked faith. That's something that God doesn't address in here, but that wasn't the point of the narrative either. He lacked faith. God had already spoken to him in Old Testament fashion. How cool is that? The angel of the Lord is speaking to you, and you ask for a sign, and he gives you a sign, an unmistakable sign, and yet Gideon still lacked faith. He needed to trust, to have faith with what God had already told him through the angel of the Lord, which had been confirmed by a supernatural sign. He just needed to trust and have faith. He was like that man sitting on the roof of a house, And maybe you've heard this story before, and the floodwaters are rising. The guy's sitting on the roof. I'm fast-forwarding it to the end, and a boat comes by and says, hey, buddy, you need some help? He says, no, God's going to save me. He says, the boat goes on. Another one comes by. Hey, man, you need some help? No, God's going to save me. And then the waters clear up to his neck, and a helicopter hovers overhead. Hey, do you need help? No, God's going to save me. He drowns and goes to heaven. He says, God, why didn't you help me? And God says, I sent you two boats and a helicopter. Gideon was like that man sitting on the roof of his house, praying that God would, by some miracle, save him. Maybe you've heard this thinking expressed this way because we're this way too sometimes. Waiting, God, give me a sign. Just give me a sign. We got a whole Bible full of God's words to us. Maybe you've heard someone express it this way before. I'm doing what I'm doing, whatever it is. If it were wrong, God would show me. I'm waiting for a sign from God that what I'm doing is wrong. And they're waiting for a sign, but God has already stated. the right and the wrong of it. We can be like that man, sitting on the sinking house of our own sin or our indifference even, waiting for God to show us his will when he already has in the Bible. Jesus referenced this in Matthew chapter 16 and verse 4. A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. There shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas." Jonah is referring to Jonah in the Old Testament. Isn't there a book in the Old Testament called Jonah? that God wrote. So look at that verse. Here's what Jesus said. There is a wicked generation, I hope that's not us, waiting for a sign from God. God said, you guys are waiting for a sign and I've already given it to you in the Bible. At the end of that verse is a reference there to the word of God. Remember, we started with some fictitious people that were going on a missions trip, right? And each one had to stand up before the church and tell them why they decided to go. And we've been looking at their reasons now as the weeks have gone by, the reasons that people claim today for making decisions. But there's another one that we're going to dig into next week. This would be like the fifth member of this mission trip, okay, who stood up and said, God revealed to me that it was His will, and I would not want to be out of the will of God. I would be if I stayed home, so that's why I'm going on the mission trip. And we're going to talk about the will of God next week. and how that plays into decisions. Let's pray. Father in heaven, help us. Lord, I know most of the folks here fairly well, and I don't know that supernatural signs are something that we struggle with or are stuck on, but help us to know this truth, to maybe share it with Some that we do know that are looking for signs or believing in signs. Your word is sufficient. It's enough. It's all we need. Thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen.