If you'd open your Bibles to the 8th chapter of the book of Judges tonight, we'll look at the first 21 verses of the text as we work our way through it. And before we begin our journey, let's bow and look to the Lord in prayer. Our Father, we thank you for the precious word and for these great inspired stories that you've revealed to us that are more than just interesting stories. They are designed to instruct us in the things of God. We pray that this scripture will prove to be profitable for us tonight, and the Holy Spirit will accomplish that. In Jesus' name, amen. This week, Mary and I will celebrate our 38th year of marriage, and I don't know what I'm going to get her because last year I hit the ultimate in getting her a weed whacker. How do you top that? But I read of an aged husband who was talking with his aged wife, and he said, you know, dear, I have safely taken you over all the rough spots of life. And his wife looked at him and said, yes, dear, you have. And I don't think you've missed one rough spot at all. Isn't it true, life is filled with rough spots? I can guarantee every one of us this point, when we are right where God wants us to be, when we're doing exactly what God wants us to do, there will be hassles. It would be wonderful if everything would run smoothly all of the time, that would be great. If you could develop for God and serve the Lord and be happy and never hit any bump in the road, if you never had any thorns or thistles, but that is not reality. Such an existence in this world is impossible if for no other reason there is an enemy who will fight you every step of the way. Satan wants to stop the work of God. He wants to stifle the work of God and he'll do anything he can to try and do it. Now we're certainly seeing that as we go through the book of Acts. We're seeing interesting stories as to how Satan works. One we'll come to later in the book concerns the Apostle Paul who gets direct message from God that he's to go to Macedonia. He gets direct revelation. You're to go to Macedonia and preach the gospel. So he immediately obeys the word of God. He goes to Macedonia. When he arrives he goes to Philippi. And within a short time he's beat up and thrown in jail. Now here is Paul doing exactly what God wanted him to do and he finds himself in a literal bind. We've been coming through this great book of Judges and Judges 7 was a wonderful epic time of blessing for Israel. The Israelites had been dominated by the Midianites for seven years and finally they're free. It was a time when it was thrilling because once again Israel was back in a right relationship with God. She was in tune with the Lord and God was doing great things with her and for her and Gideon was leading the charge. He had taken 300 men to war against the Midianites and they saw God do the miraculous, they saw God do the impossible. Things were exciting for Israel and finally things were moving in the right direction, but it didn't take long until the negative juxt started to happen. It didn't take long for Satan to begin some counterattack to try to discourage and stifle and stop the blessings of God. So when you come to this portion of scripture, what we see is when you're doing God's will, when you're fighting a good warfare, you will soon discover that you'll run into negative opposition and obstacles. When you are right where God expects you to be, doing what God expects you to do, there will be moments when you'll be hassled. It's no coincidence that the Christian life is described as a warfare. It's also no coincidence that we're called to be good soldiers in the warfare. Gideon is doing God's will. He's in a warfare. And now he's going to come to some hassles. And there are five hassles I want to show you. Hassle number one, the hassle of people who complain and criticize. Notice verse one. Then the men of Ephraim said to him, what is this thing you've done to us, not calling us when you went to fight against Midian? And they contended with him vigorously. But he said to them, what have I done now in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of a bizer? God has given the leaders of Midian, Oreb, and Zeab into your hands. And what was I able to do in comparison with you? Then their anger toward him subsided when he had said that. Things were great for Israel. And the first thing that happens after this tremendous victory is Gideon runs into a bunch of whining, complaining people, some whining men from Ephraim who want to quarrel with him. And they start accusing Gideon of ignoring them because he didn't take the time to call them when he went to fight the Midianites. Gideon had just done something wonderful that hadn't been done in years, and as soon as he gets done doing what would seem to be the impossible, he runs into the buzzsaw of harsh criticism. They were upset that Gideon dared to do something for God without them. I read that an egotist is a person who's more interested in himself than he is us. Well, Ephraim is right there. They were egotist. And at this time in history, Ephraim was an exalted tribe in Israel. Joshua had come from the tribe of Ephraim. The tabernacle was located in the city of Shiloh, which was in Ephraim. They had been one of the tribes that had been exalted by Deborah, one who had fought the Canaanites, and they were honored for that. Ephraim was the largest tribe, a very important tribe. They were proud, and they were jealous, and they were mad. They were mad because Gideon did not call them to fight the Midianites. They felt left out. Years ago, not in this church, but there was an elder who asked a woman to do a job and passed or bypassed another woman in the church who loved to have the power, but she didn't want to do the work. And so when this elder bypassed her, the other woman got mad. And when she asked the elder, well, why didn't you ask me? He said, because I wanted the job done and I wanted it done right. That's why I didn't ask you. Now at surface level this appears to be a legitimate complaint, but there are two things that are somewhat odd about what Ephraim is doing to Gideon. First of all, Ephraim didn't raise a finger to try and attack Midian until Gideon summoned them. You'll recall last time we were together, verse 24, Gideon sent out messengers of chapter 7 throughout all the hill country of Ephraim saying come down against Midian. There's nothing there that would indicate Midian was really interested in supporting them initially. Gideon had to go ask them to come to even be involved in this skirmish. And secondly, there's no place where they would say they would even go or come had they been asked. In fact, I find it interesting in this chapter because if you look down at chapter 8 and verse 4, then Gideon and the 300 men who were with him came to the Jordan and crossed over weary yet pursuing. There's no hint that they volunteered to go with him. I mean, these guys from Ephraim didn't say, all right, we'll go with you and track down the rest of the Midianites. That's not it at all. They're simply jealous and they have hurt feelings. Don't you love that? Don't you love that when you run into people who like to talk but they don't want to do anything to help? Don't you like to run into people who say, well, now let's do it this way and when you say, okay, you want to help us do it? No, I can't. That's the attitude of Ephraim. The fact is they're simply jealous because word is spreading that there's been this great victory in Israel and they're not mentioned. They're not thankful. They're not joyful for what God's doing. They're not enthused. They're not spiritually excited. They're bitter. As Dr. Leon Wood observed, an outbreak of jealousy is that which regularly hinders the work of God. That's what Ephraim is. They're jealous. They're complaining because they weren't called or asked by Gideon to go to the main battle against the Midianites. Now Gideon could have been ticked off here. He could have said, I don't have time for your nonsense. I don't have time to waste trying to explain things to you. He could have unleashed a barrage of negative words, and he would have been legitimate had he done so. But instead, he gave them a gracious answer that seemed to calm them down. He knew that God's work was in progress, and that was more important than him losing his temper and having to slug it out with his own brothers here. And we know that one who's slow to anger is wise according to the Word of God. Ephraim did appear to want to help him, so he wasn't going to blame them for that. What he says to them in verse 2, look, what did I do in comparison to what you did? Your gleanings are better than my vintage. You were able to mop things up. All I did was take 300 men, surround the camp, and watch God destroy it. But you guys, you mopped up things. You actually tracked down and killed two key leaders of Midian, Oreb and Zeab. And when Ephraim had their ego appeased, they enjoyed that. Just like Proverbs says, a gentle answer turns away wrath, and that seemed to settle them down. Sometimes the bitterest, most sour-faced, unthankful, negative, non-joyful people that you will meet are fellow believers who are jealous of other believers. Years ago in another church, someone came to me and said, why we didn't have a person sing a solo? What I really wanted to say is because the person can't sing, they stink, but I didn't say that. I said, well, this person doesn't have a solo voice. They're better in a choir. So if that happens here, I'll just turn it over to Beth Koopsen. I'll say, go see her and let her figure out that. I felt that that was a better answer than just saying the person can't sing. I'll never be able to figure that out. I have never been able to figure that out in my mind. Some people who can't sing want to stand up and sing a solo. It's almost like they're watching somebody who can sing. You have talented people who can sing, and you praise God for them, and somebody watches that and says, well, I'd like to get up there and do it. It's almost like they're jealous they can't do it. And instead of saying, I better find the gifts and abilities God has given me to use, they want to get up there in the limelight, and they can't even do it. That's what Ephraim's doing here. I mean, they're just mad about the fact they're not doing it. They want to be in the limelight. So Gideon gives them this answer that kind of calms them down, and that brings him to hassle number two. Hassle number two is the hassle of the people who won't support the work of God. Notice verse four, then Gideon and the 300 men who were with him came to the Jordan and crossed over weary yet pursuing. And he said to the men of Sukkoth, please give loaves of bread to me to the people who are following me for they are weary and I'm pursuing Ziba and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian. The leaders of Sukkoth said, are the hands of Ziba and Zalmunna already in your hands? that we should give bread to your army, Gideon said, all right. When the Lord has given Ziba and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will thrash your bodies with the thorns of the wilderness and with briars. He went up from there to Penuel and spoke similarly to them. And the men of Penuel answered him just as the men of Sukkoth had answered. So he spoke also to the men of Penuel saying, when I return safely, I will tear down this tower. Now let's go back a couple of Sunday nights ago and remember that Gideon asked God for two fleece signs. On two occasions in this military campaign, God is gonna demand of Gideon two faith demonstrations. The first was when God cut the military numbers two times in chapter seven, and the second is right here when God's people are going to reject him two times in chapter eight. Now Gideon apparently calmed things down with Ephraim and he and his 300 men took off to pursue the 15,000 Midianites who got away. If we track it on a map, they're heading southeast, they're going to the desert regions. They're probably thinking that we're Arabs, if we can get out in the desert, we can lose these guys and they won't be able to track us. According to Dr. Leon Wood, he and his men would have to travel about 150 miles through some pretty tough country just to track down these Midianites. And after they'd traveled about 80 or 85 miles, they come to Sukkoth. Now, Sukkoth was a city on the east side of the Jordan. It was located in the tribe of Gad. Now, keep in your mind that you're tracking these guys, for the most part, by foot. So if you're doing 20 to 25 miles a day, you have a long day. By the time they get to Sukkot, they've been out on the road for three to four days. They're in hot pursuit of the Midianite army, and Gideon and his men are tired, they're exhausted, and they're hungry. I mean, there's no question that if you do the work of God, it can be fatiguing at times. Oftentimes, doing God's work and will means you will get weary, you'll get tired. And a little encouragement would be nice, because that could really help you out. I mean, it's so nice when you're on the front lines of warfare to have somebody behind you that just supports you. Now these 300 men had just liberated Israel from the Midianites and you would think everybody in the nation would want to rally around Gideon and support them and do anything they could for them. These men are heroes for what they've done. Truth is this tribe of Gad hadn't done anything. Didn't do a thing in the warfare in Deborah's day. It hadn't done one thing in the warfare in Gideon's day here Gideon and his men are risking their lives to try to make sure that this promised land stays free and Gad has not contributed one dime and Here's their chance now To do something for God Here's their chance to really get behind a ministry that's accomplishing something for the Lord. I And when Gideon came to Sukkot, he needed supplies and all he did was ask the people for some bread. And notice verse five, he doesn't even ask bread for himself. He said, would you please see to it that my men are fed? He's a good leader. Good leaders make sure the people are fed before they are fed. Now don't forget bread was somewhat scarce at this time because these Midianites had come in there for seven straight years and raided their food supplies. They took their land, they took the best grain, they took the bread. So there's no question this would require a sacrifice from these people of Sukkot. He told the leaders of Sukkoth, look, I'm pursuing two Midian kings. I'm on the hot trail of Ziba and Zalmunna. And apparently, those people of Sukkoth knew who those guys were. And instead of them supporting Gideon, instead of them saying, we'll be glad to give you bread and anything else you need, they unanimously said, you don't have them in hand yet, so we're not going to give you any bread. kinda like what Gideon did to God. We're not gonna get involved here until we see proof. We'll not support you in any way. We won't even give our brothers a meal. One commentator observed carnal men think things they can't do or won't do are impossible for others to do. And oftentimes people who are not really doing anything for God will discourage the people that are doing great things for God. People come to Christ, they get on fire about the Word of God, and sometimes the people that will discourage you the most are people in the family of God. I had one man tell me years ago that he didn't think he could be used of God for anything. I said, where'd you hear that? Well, somebody at church told me that. I said, well, those people at church are wrong. You put God first in your life. You purpose to follow the will of God and obey the scriptures and watch what God will do with you. But he was being discouraged by the people of God. Gideon didn't ask these guys to go out there and fight the battle for me. All he said is, I'm looking for you to give some support of bread. You would have thought they would have been joyful and willing to do that. You would think they would love to support those who are on the front lines of the action. It's true. Not everybody's called to be on the front lines of the action. But in some way, we could certainly support those who are. And the people of Sukkot could have helped Gideon. But they said, we're not going to lift a finger. So Gideon said, fine. I'm not going to give you a soft answer here. He says fine verse 7 when the Lord gives us victory and the Lord is the one who's going to give us victory. I'm going to come back here and I'll thrash you all. I'll take thorns from the wilderness. I'll pull briars from the wilderness and I'll give you a good disciplinary thrashing. I'll mangle your flesh literally is what he says. Then he said, well, we're not gonna get up here. Let's go up the road to another city. Let's go up the road to city Penuel. So what we read in verse eight is he went up from there to Penuel. Gideon travels another seven to 10 miles. These guys are hungry. These guys are tired. He travels up in elevation to another city located in the family of Gad Penuel. And he asked if his men could have something to eat. And they said the same thing the people of Sukkot said. So Gideon says, all right, when I overtake those kings, I'll come back here, I'm telling you, and I'm gonna rip down this tower that you put so much faith in, I'll come and I'll wipe it out. Apparently that tower they had there was their source of false security, and Gideon said, I'll tear it down to the ground. Now what we see here, I think, about Gideon is an interesting portrait because he's a transformed man. You'll remember just a few chapters ago, he's scared and hiding in a wine press. He's a timid guy, but not now. See, God has changed his life. By doing the will of God, things have started to happen. He's becoming a new creation, and now he's a mighty man of God. He's on the front lines of warfare, and he'll not back down from anyone. He's becoming more and more of a leader. Now you think about this information that he ran into here from these two cities. We'll not support you at all. That lack of support would have been enough to discourage just about anybody. No one wants to support him. No one wants to support what he's doing. No one wants to support the real work of God, but that doesn't stop Gideon and his 300 men. They kept right on going. They just kept right on after the enemy. They would not allow the mission that God had given them to be sidetracked even by detractors or by negative people. And I'm not sure the text doesn't say where Gideon got food for his men. It is speculated that perhaps some other city came and gave them food. But regardless of what happened here, they kept going. I mean, this group was not about to quit. They were focused on getting a job done for God and they were not about to be sidetracked by negative people who were trying to pull them down. Gideon's main source of discouragement here was not from the enemy of the Midianites. His main source of discouragement were from those who were supposed to be his family and friends. I don't know if that's ever happened to you. I hope it hasn't, but it has happened to us and it hurts. When you're trying to do a work for God and you discover the people you thought you could depend on aren't there behind you and they're not there to rally around you, it's a letdown. You're trying to do something for the Lord, you're faithful to God, you're not getting any support from your family or friends, and you begin to think, what in the world's going on here? Well, in those moments, you purpose just like Gideon to stay faithful to God anyway. You just keep at it. And you'll discover God will honor you. God will ultimately give a good disciplinary thrashing to those who wouldn't lift a finger to help you because he does keep the records. It is deadly serious business. in the sight of God not to cooperate and to refuse to help in the work of the Lord when the work of the Lord is going forth with full force, when one has the means to do so. These two cities had the means to help these men out. They wouldn't do it. And God says, I take note of that. And by the way, before I move on in the exposition, let me just take a moment to thank you for your wonderful encouragement and work and support of this ministry. There is no question that Texas Corners Bible Church is on the front lines of warfare in proclaiming the Word of God. As John referred to, we received a call this week from a Bible teacher in the South. He called to say he'd stumbled across our church on the internet. He got excited about the studies. He said, I actually used one of the studies from Texas Corners Bible Church in my church. I told him in the church, in the study, this is from Texas Corners Bible Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan. This is where I got this information. Now think about that. We're on the front lines of heralding the Word of God. And many of you have encouraged us and supported us through prayer, through giving, through words, through notes of encouragement. It means a great deal to God. It means a great deal to the ministry. Your labor's not in vain. And obviously, when you read a text like this, God keeps track of who does that stuff. Which brings us to the third hassle. the actual warfare fight and victory with the real enemy. Verse 10, Now Ziba and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their armies with them, about 15,000 men, all who were left of the entire army of the sons of the east. For the fallen were 120,000 swordsmen, Gideon went up by the way of those who lived in tents on the east of Noba and Jog-Baha and attacked the camp when the camp was unsuspecting. When Ziba and Zalmunna fled, he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian, Ziba and Zalmunna, and routed the whole army. Gideon stayed on that Midianite trail like a bloodhound on a trail, and he wasn't going to be sidetracked by people who didn't want to support him. And finally, he gets to the warfare he really wanted to fight. The job that Gideon wanted to do all along is the job right here. His goal, let me track down these remaining Midianites and let's destroy them. And in order to do that, he had to work his way through a bunch of spiritual deadbeats. Frankly, oftentimes the road to victory is a road filled with setbacks. If it is God's will, probably somebody close to the scene will try to discourage you and stop it. If God is doing a powerful work, somebody will rise up and they'll do something negative to try to pull you down, but never stop. And you don't quit, you keep focused. You keep focused on obeying God, even when you're not being supported by those who should support you, because you will see God give you great victory and great blessings. You stay right after understanding and applying the word of God, no matter who says what. D.L. Moody once said, you give me a man who says, this one thing I'll do, rather than 50 who say, this is what I'll dabble in. Gideon was focused. He had a job to do, and nobody was going to sidetrack him from doing it. And after surviving these setbacks of criticism and rejection, Gideon and his men came to Kharkor, and that's where Ziba and Zalmunna and their 15,000 men were hid out. Kharkor was located about 15 miles southeast of Penuel, east of the Dead Sea. They set up their tents. This is a nomadic group. These are, as Bush said, tent-dwelling Arabs. And Gideon came and took them by surprise. In their tent city, he routed the whole group. Two kings that he was after went on the run. And Gideon went right after them and he captured them. Having these kings in captivity and having them in custody would be an impressive harvest for this great military campaign. Which brings us to his fourth hassle. He's got to go back and discipline the non-supporting people. Now notice verse 13. And he captured a youth from Sukkoth and questioned him. Then the youth wrote down for him the princes of Sukkoth and its elders, seventy-seven men. He came to the men of Sukkoth and said, Behold, Ziba and Zalmunna, concerning whom you taunted me, saying, Are the hands of Ziba and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are weary? He took the elders of the city and thorns of the wilderness and briars, and he disciplined the men of Sukkoth with them. He tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city. Now Gideon took those two kings and he went right back to those two cities that wouldn't support him. He goes right back to Sukkot to show them, I've been victorious. And he apparently travels a different route, because the route's brought out. I'm not sure what this route is, the ascent of Heretz. But this particular route would be an odd way to get back to these cities, because he's coming into Sukkot first, and then he'll have to go back down to Penuel again to settle that score. So he's taken some circular route back. And on the way, he captured a young man from the city, the city of Sukkoth, and he asked him to write down all the names of the leaders of that city, which turned out to be 77 men. Now, you can't believe this is a coincidence. that Gideon just happens to run across this guy from Sukkoth who has this information. He runs across this young man, as Dr. Warren Wiersbe said, this is providential. God was sovereignly in every bit of this. This young man knew enough about what was going on in Penuel that he knew every name of the 77 leaders of the city and he also had the ability to write them down. What do you think the chances were that Gideon would capture that kid? And when Gideon got those names, he went back to the city. He showed those two kings to the men of the city. He reminded them that they wouldn't support him and give him any food. And then he took all 77 liters and he whipped them good. Now there's part of me that hopes I get to do that with some people in Pocatello. I have to say that. It's probably my old nature flaring up, but that's what I think. Then, if that's not enough, he goes down the road to Penual, and he does something even worse. He tore down the tower. He killed the men who wouldn't help him. Now there's a big discussion about whether or not Gideon should have actually killed those guys. You have that episode where Shimei in 2 Samuel curses David and then David lets him off the hook. He doesn't end up killing him. There's a big discussion about that, but the truth of the matter is sometimes if God's work is going to go forward, certain people must be eliminated. According to verse 28, the land would be undisturbed for 40 years, and as a result of that, land being undisturbed for 40 years, these cowards and these complainers and these whiners and these negative people were gone. Gideon was no longer some meek, mild little leader. He's bold. He's confident. He understands the word of God. He understands the will of God. He's a disciplinarian. He wants things to move forward in the right way for the Lord. Now there are three lessons to learn here from that. First of all, when God has given us a job to do, we must finish it, even if we're discouraged. I want you to think about that for a moment because this was one tough, lonely, dirty, dry assignment. They had to travel 150 miles one way just to get this job done, but they didn't stop. God doesn't honor quitters. He honors those that see it through and get the job done. So we must stay forward in progress even if we find ourselves in discouraged moments. God will honor that. Secondly, we must make certain that we don't discourage people who are out there on the front lines doing a work for God. Now you may not be called to be on the front lines, but don't you discourage those who are. Do your best to be an encouragement to them. Thirdly, God keeps the record of those who strengthen his workers, and God keeps the record of those who discourage his workers. You can be certain that things forgotten by men are never forgotten by God. Now think about this just for a moment. The two cities of Sukkoth and Penuel They were afraid of the Midianites perhaps coming back and attacking them. They should have been afraid to let God down. Man, if God's working here and we don't get behind this, we're really in a dangerous situation. You see, our greatest risk is not a risk of standing against the enemy. It's a risk of not standing up for God. So God keeps records. of those who strengthen his work and those who discourage it. Which brings us to the fifth hassle, the hassle of having to take care of things yourself. Now notice verse 18, then he said to Ziba and Zalmunna, what kind of men were they whom you killed at Tabor? And they said, they were like you, each one resembling the son of a king. He said, they were my brothers. the sons of my mother. As the Lord lives, if only you had let them live, I would not kill you. So he said to Jether, his firstborn, rise, kill him. But the youth did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, because he was still a youth. Then Ziba and Zalmunna said, rise up yourself and fall on us. For as the man, so is his strength. So Gideon arose and killed Ziba and Zalmunna. and took the crescent ornaments which were on their camels' necks. There is a principle that does show up at times in the work of God. If you want a job done right, you have to do it yourself. And Gideon finally gets back home to Ophrah, and there he quizzes these two kings about an episode. We don't know. It's not recorded in scripture, but it obviously is an episode that took place at Mount Tabor. Apparently, there was some sort of well-known public execution that had taken place there in previous years, in previous Midianite raids. And Gideon is asking these two kings about it. He says, listen, you remember that episode when those kings were killed? Well, what kind of guys were they? What they look like? And the two guys said, well, they look like they were some son of a king. What these two enemy kings didn't know is that the men they killed were Gideon's brothers. So Gideon considered letting them go, which shows us a little bit of a problem, because that was not what God told him to do. You go in there, you wipe them out. But now we get to see a little flaw in Gideon's spirituality, a flaw that's going to ultimately lead to big problems at the end of his life that you'll see, Lord willing, next Sunday night. The flaw is, I'm going to start doing this my way, not God's way. So he says, I would have let you live if you would have let those others live. But because they were my brothers, I'm going to kill you. Now, during this particular time, when someone committed a homicide, they paid for it with their life, and each family was required to take out the punishment, carry out the eye-for-eye punishment. It's not like our culture where a Casey Anthony goes free because you have a brain-dead jury. Fact of the matter is, our judicial system is a joke. It's not after justice and truth. Even when you select jurors, you're not interested in getting jurors that really tell the truth. It's a big game. One juror said, I don't like to judge people. Why are you going on a jury? That's the job of the jury. The jury is supposed to judge people. It's obvious when you go through this book of Judges that God expects His people to make judgments. And He expects His people to make judgments about people that do evil. And we've lost our fear for God. We've lost our fear for the Word of God. But not Gideon. Gideon knew the responsibility. He is a patriarchal judge. He is the patriarchal jury. And Gideon said, I'm inviting you, my firstborn Jether, you kill these two guys. You kill them. This will be honorable for you to do, but Jether was young and timid and he didn't want to draw his sword, so Gideon has to put up with one more hassle. A hassle that you would have thought others would have handled for him. He has to take care of this matter himself. You can't expect a child to do a man's job. So he killed them and he took the crescent-shaped ornaments, which are still prized ornaments in the Arab world to this day. Here's the thing you see when you go through these 21 verses of chapter 8. It's not an easy road to do a great work for God. If you're doing a great work for the Lord, you can expect that this road is going to be bumpy. It's going to be filled with discouragements and setbacks and there will be times of criticism and frankly times of lack of support. But You keep right at your work. You stay focused on the word of God. You defend the grace of God. You obey the scriptures and God will use you to accomplish his will. And perhaps you're here tonight and you're discouraged because your life is a mess and all the people you hang around are depressing. And you feel like you can't do anything or amount to anything. Well, I have some great news right out of this book. you turn your life over to the Lord. I mean you turn your life over to the Lord and watch what he'll do with you. It's true, you might have a series of setbacks here and there, but in the end, God will greatly use you just like he did Gideon. May we pray. If you're here tonight and you've never believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, you can settle that issue right now, right where you sit. by acknowledging to God that you are a sinner and that you're placing all of your faith in Christ to be your Savior. Our Father, there are several things that go through my mind when we go through a passage like this. First of all, a thankful, thankfulness for the people of God who are so encouraging as this work here goes forward. It's such a blessing. That goes through my mind. It also goes through my mind, Lord, the responsibility we have not to discourage the powerful work of God in any way. I pray that we would be a group of warriors from this church that will accomplish the complete will of God for everything that you have in store for this church. We thank you for each and every person who is here tonight. We pray that you would just use your word to transform us into becoming solid soldiers like Gideon. In Jesus' name, amen.