if you would, for 18 years. They call him the Lord, as they've done many times over and over. And this time, the Lord gives them an interesting answer. He says, no, I'm not going to deliver you anymore. You go ask the gods. I've already delivered you. And he names about seven or eight nations and oppressors he's delivered them from. He says, I'm not going to do it anymore. You go ask those gods that you've forsaken me for. You go ask Balaam and all those false gods. You let them deliver you. Well, that wasn't going to work, because they were false gods. They were gods of wood and stone and graven images. But the cherubim of Israel, you know what they said? After the Lord said that, they said, we've sinned. Do whatever you want to do unto us. Just deliver us. And then they changed. They put away the strange gods. They began to serve the Lord. And you know what, the Lord became greed for the misery that they were in. And then Gilead comes up, the two of them, and come up to Gilead to fight against them. And the two of them said, who's gonna fight against us? They were leaderless, they had nobody to lead them. They're in a bad way, 18 years in oppression. God basically said, I'm done delivering you, go ask the false gods. They've got the enemy coming up. There is nobody, there's no leader, there's no judge, there's no man to stand up and lead them into battle. They're in a bad way. And that brings us to chapter 11, which is really the text for my message tonight. Judges 11, verse 1, the Bible says, Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, and he was the son of Inharlot. And Gilead begat Jephthah. And Gilead's wife bare him sons, and his wife's sons grew up. And they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father's house, for thou art the son of a strange woman. Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob. And there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and went out with him. In verse 4, so verses 1 through 3 is the entire history that the Bible gives us of Jephthah. In verse 4, it's going to say, in the process of time, children of Ammon made war against Israel, and that's referring back to the end of chapter 10. Do you understand that? So the Bible gives us a little three-verse history or biography, if you will, bio, if you would, on the life of Jephthah. And that's what I wanna preach on tonight. Several weeks ago, I began to preach on a mighty man of valor. We looked at Zadok. There's only six individual by name people in the Bible that the Bible says they were a man or a mighty man of valor. Now, it says many times there's groups or armies that the Bible says they were men of valor or that they did valiantly, but only six that the Bible specifically says they were a mighty man of valor. Now look at Jephthah and the list of the six men that the Bible says it about, they're not all the ones that we would probably think. They weren't some of the most spiritual, they weren't some of the most likely, but I believe there's reasons that God said that. And valor, I gave this to you, but I'll give you the definition again. It means having the ability to bear. And boy, that's a good thing in the day and age we live in. We live in a day and age where many people are not able to bear much of anything. It has the idea of strength of mind in regard to danger. It's that quality which enables a man to encounter danger with firmness, personal bravery, and courage. I wanna look at Jephthah here tonight, and the Bible says about Jephthah, he was a mighty man of valor. You know, I was reading, and R.A. Torrey was talking about D.L. Moody. R.A. Torrey was a good friend with D.L. Moody, had been in his home many times, and somebody asked him about D.L. Moody, and they said, why did God use D.L. Moody in such a great way? And R.A. Torrey thought about this, and he gave us seven reasons, and I wrote them down. I thought they were interesting or good. He said, number one, he was a fully surrendered man. He was fully surrendered to God. Number two, he said he was a man of prayer. Number three, he said he was a deep and practical student of the Bible. Number four, he said he was a humble man. Number five, he said because of his entire freedom from the love of money. Number six, he said, his consuming passion for the salvation of the lost. And number seven, he said, he was a man that was endued with power from on high. I meant to give that to you in the beginning of my message, and I forgot, so I wanted to give it to you now. Amen. I thought that was pretty good. But I want to look at Jephthah here tonight, and I want to give you just look at some some of the things about how did Jephthah become a mighty man of valor. I want to say first about Jephthah is what little we learn about him, Jephthah seemed to have three strikes against him. Now we would say three strikes and you're what? We'll give you three chances, then you're out. Well, Jephthah, in these three verses, we see he had three strikes already against them, and nobody has come and asked him to be a leader. Nobody has come and asked him to lead them against the children of Ammon. He's got three strikes. What's the first one? The Bible tells us verse one. Now, Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, and he was the son of Inharlat. There's strike number one. He's the son of Inharlat. His father was Gilead. but his father did not have Jephthah through his wife, he had him through an harlot. I don't know about you, that's a strike. It was such a strike that his brethren or half-brothers, they thrust him out. That is not something you would go around bragging about. It's not something that you would be glad to, as your claim to fame. You know, the Bible has some interesting things to say about a harlot. You know, one of them, and it turns out in a good way, but the Bible tells about a woman named Rahab the harlot. And it's interesting, when you read about Rahab, even in the book of Hebrews, you know how the Bible identifies her as Rahab the harlot? You would think Rahab, after she had hid the spies and by faith put out the scarlet line and trusted in Jehovah God and got put in the line of Christ, you would think that eventually she would probably have been glad if she could have dropped that little surname or that little name of Rahab the harlot. But that's what the Bible calls her. But you know what she did? She hid the two spies. She was saved when Jericho was destroyed. And as I mentioned, she got put in the line of Christ. In the Old Testament book of Leviticus, a priest was not allowed to marry a harlot. It was against the law. The Bible tells us in Jeremiah and in Ezekiel many times God told Israel this, that they had played the harlot on God. What had they done? They had followed other gods. In fact, that's what they had done in Judges chapter 10. They got involved in idolatry. They had forsaken God and they'd gone after other gods. Not only had they followed other gods, they had put more honor and more love for other gods and other nations than they did for God. And God said, you went out and played the harlot on me. We know in the life of Samson in Judges chapter 16, verse 1, Samson, he goes in unto a harlot. In Proverbs 7, there's that woman and she has the attire of an harlot, clothes speak. In the book of Hosea, have you ever read the book of Hosea? Aren't you glad you weren't Hosea? Hosea, God, the whole book of Hosea is God's object lesson to the Jews, and he's gonna use Hosea to be the object lesson. He tells them, says, go marry this woman. He marries her, he has two kids by her, and then she leaves him, and she goes and plays the harlot. And in the middle, God said, now you tell Israel that's what they've done. Now you go back there and for 15 pieces of silver, he had to buy her back as his wife. That's the entire book of Hosea. Aren't you, I'm glad I'm not Hosea. But his wife played the harlot and he bought her back for 15 pieces of silver to be his wife after she had played the harlot on him. So we see that Jephthah is the son of a harlot. You know what that means? That means he doesn't have a godly heritage. You understand that a harlot, his father probably did not meet her in the temple or the tabernacle, right? Would you agree with that? I mean, a lot of you are older here and you can use your imaginations where he found her. He found her in places of town, he had no business going. Jephthah has no godly heritage. You know what he doesn't have? He doesn't have a godly mother. He can't stand up in the church or say, I thank God for a Proverbs 31 mother. Why? He's got a harlot for a mother. Now, I'm going somewhere. Stay with me. I know some of you, the word harlot is throwing you off. It's OK. It's a Bible word. They're all over in the world today. You don't want to be one. He doesn't have a godly mom and grandmom like Timothy did. Probably, most likely, she's probably a Canaanite woman. Strange woman, they told him thou art the son of a strange woman. Many times that in the Bible is not just talking about a harlot, but it's also somebody of a different nationality, so it's likely his mom wasn't even a Jew. We don't know that, but maybe. He has no mother's affection. Listen, I'm not sure he had much of a godly father. I don't think a godly man is going into harlots. I'm just saying he had some strikes against him. He had no father to guide him spiritually, no godly examples in his home of what a godly parent ought to be. No mom that taught him to pray, no mom that taught him how to love God, no mom that taught him what to look for in a wife. No godly heritage. Most likely, he didn't even know his mother. If he did, it was probably just who she was, but obviously, in the little bit we know, did not live with her. He grew up with his father. and with a stepmother, and with half-brothers who wanted nothing to do with him. So his first strike, he's the son of a harlot. His second strike was he's cast out by his brethren. Look in verse 2, and Gilead's wife bare him sons, and his wife's sons grew up, and they thrust out Jephthah and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father's house. That's ours. In other words, they're saying, he's not your father, just ours. For thou art the son of a strange woman. Then Jephthah fled from his brethren. See, they wanted nothing to do with him. He was not included in the family. He was excluded. He was put out. He was rejected by his brothers. You know what Jephthah knew nothing of? Now he didn't know nothing of a godly heritage or godly parents. He knew nothing of brotherly love. Now, I know we have siblings in here, and I grew up with eight siblings, amen, and I know that all of us, there's times that siblings, they spar just a little bit, every once in a while. I'm not sure any of us have quite endured, or most of us, what Jephthah endured. I mean, maybe even in the worst fight, I mean, sparring you and your sibling, or disagreement you and your sibling ever had, they might have looked at you and said, get out of here, but they did not have the authority to literally kick you out of the house and say, get out, be gone, this is our dad, this is our mom, you're not allowed here anymore. They did not have that kind of power. And there were some time down the road where you all became, you made up and you became friends again. Jephthah never had that. Very similar to Joseph who's rejected by his brethren. Even David, his brethren envied him. Knew nothing of brotherly love. Listen, they hated him. You know what his brethren did? They judged him because the situation that he was in, the situation which he could do nothing about. It wasn't his fault, his mom was a harlot. He had no choice in the decision his father made. Daniel, he could change nothing of his current. It wasn't his fault they were half brothers. That was the situation he was born into. And then his third strike we find in verse three, the end of verse three, and there gathered vain men to Jephthah and went out with him. You know who's following him? Vain men. I see three strikes there. He's the son of a harlot, he's been cast out by his brethren, and he's being followed by vain men. How did he survive? Well, him and those vain men, they were probably like a rough group of raiders or plunderers. How'd they survive? They went and they probably killed and they probably took and they probably did whatever they could to survive off the land or off of other people's goods. That's who he's leading, a group of vain men. They're just going around, sort of like David did when he was on the run. and they're just surviving. He's a leader of a rough group. The only ones in verse three that were attracted or wanted anything to do with Jephthah were vain men. In other words, men that really had no value. They weren't worth a lot. They weren't really of much use in a good sense. Jephthah had three strikes against them. I don't know any of us that want to grow up and be like the Jephthah we see in verses one through three. Anybody here, any of you young married couples or unmarried, but you know, many unmarried girls, they've got lists of names they're going to call kids. Anybody got Jephthah on that list? Elizabeth, no Jephthah, Miss Erica? It's not a possibility down the road? Anybody here who's done having kids? Mom, was that on your list of kids' names? Thank God for that. Brother Dan, it wasn't on your list of names? A mighty, a man of valor? Nobody has the name Jephthah on the list. But even though he had three strikes against him, you know what I see about Jephthah? Jephthah did not quit, he did not give up when he was rejected of his brethren and in spite of his circumstances. Now, we know in the rest of the chapter, and I'm not going to read it, but they come, the Jehoamish will come to Jephthah. And I don't know I don't know if he was their last choice. I don't know where they were, but I knew that they were desperate for somebody to lead them against the Chum Ammon. They'd been in bondage for 18 years. They turned to God. God said, I'm done with you. You go ask your false gods. They've tried to get right. They've started serving gods. They've turned their idols away, but they have a real problem. The enemy's there, and they've got no leader. So they come to Jephthah. And Jephthah said, did you not hate me and expel me out of my father's house? And the elders of Gilgal, they said, listen, we're turning to you now, we're in a mess, we need some help. And Jephthah, in the end, he agrees. He said, if you make me head, if I defeat him, I'll go and I'll fight your battle for you. You know what we see in the life of Jephthah? Jephthah overcame, he learned somehow how to overcome hardship in his life. He learned how to overcome wrongdoing. In other words, being done wrong. And wrongdoing, others wrongdoing that caused problems in his life, he knew how to overcome. He learned how to overcome a rough childhood. A far less than ideal or pleasant upbringing, Jephthah learned how to overcome. Now, this is really the main thought. It's a simple thought of the message is that he learned how to overcome. He did not live in the past, in the problems and the troubles and the wrongdoing that he suffered, but he overcame it and he went forward. And because of that, the Bible says he was a mighty man of valor. God used Jephthah. God blessed Jephthah because he learned how to overcome. We live in a day and age where many are being overcome, and it seems like so few know or have learned or have the ability to overcome. Listen, if you live very long, you're gonna be done wrong, you're gonna suffer hardship. Now, it may not be at the level of Jephthah. You may not have been born of a harlot, you may not have been cast out by your brethren, but we all face all different kinds of hardships and wrongdoings that are done to us in difficult situations. But I'm telling you, if you don't learn to overcome them and continue forward, listen, God is not going to be able to use you. You're going to live a defeated, discouraged life. Somehow Jephthah was able to let go of what had happened to him. You know what Jephthah did not do? He did not live the life of a victim. Listen, if there was anybody who might have had half a right to consider themselves a victim, it would have been Jephthah. Listen, he had wrong was done to him. Listen, his situation was far from ideal. and yet he refused to be a victim. He refused to live a life of excuses. Listen, when they came and they wanted for him to lead them, he didn't say, well, I'm not gonna lead you because of this and because of that. He agreed, if they agreed, I believe what Jephthah didn't want, he didn't want to just be used and then thrown aside again. He wanted some confirmation that they would accept him and allow him to be part of them if he fought the battle for them. I can't blame them a whole lot. They had rejected them once. What's to say they wouldn't have thrown them aside once they got what they needed from them? There's people like that today. You know what they're interested? They're interested in what you can do for them. Before they needed what you could do for them or had for them, they had no use for you. But when they need you, they want you to help them, but then once you do all, you can for them. They're just going to throw you aside and find somebody else that they can suck dry and do for them. And I believe that Jephthah just wanted to make sure they weren't just trying to use him for what they needed, but that he would be welcome back among them. You know what Jephthah wanted? He wanted relationship with his brethren, his flesh and blood and his countrymen. He wanted a relationship. He wanted to be part of them. Is that so bad? No, God's made us. God has made, you understand, God made Adam. Did he not make Adam? You know what Adam had? Adam had a perfect, he had a perfect place. He had a perfect job. He had perfect provision, everything. He had a Garden of Eden. He didn't have to work hard, no sweat of the brow. I mean, he had everything, was just wonderful. And yet God said about Adam, it is not good. Lord, he's in a perfect place. He's got a perfect job, perfect provision. What could be wrong? God said he's alone. God made us to have fellowship. Number one with God, but also each other. They said, do you understand that by bringing that woman into Adam's life, it was gonna create problems? Yet God said it's not good for him to be alone. God has made all of us, listen, to have relationships, to have fellowship one with another. God didn't create any of us to be a total loner. I know sometimes it sounds enticing. but that's not how God made us. That's one of the reasons you need church. You need the fellowship, because you will find it somewhere. He wanted to have a relationship with his brethren, but he learned he did not live in self-pity and self-sorrow. Listen, there's so many that are living in the troubles and problems of the past, and it's ruining their present. and their future. You know what Jephthah did? He got over what was done to him. He got over the bad in his life. And you know what you're going to have to learn to do? You're going to have to learn to get over the bad in your life. You're going to have to learn to get over the wrong that's been done to you. You're going to have to let it go. You're going to have to move on past. You're going to have to put it behind you. You're going to have to learn to go forward for the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you don't, you're going to be hindered. You're going to be like that. You're going to be like the Trombitio, and you're going to wander in the wilderness. Remember, the wilderness was not God's perfect will for them. He wanted them in Canaan land. Now, listen, I know it's going to bump some typology here, but listen, God wanted to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, right, where they had to carry the fruit back on staves. It was so big. And what'd they settle for for 40 years? Manna. Now I understand, I know it's a great typology of manna, but manna wasn't God's first plan. You know what God wanted to give them? A land flowing with milk and honey and fruit like you've never seen before. Cities that others built, vineyards that others built that you are just gonna enjoy. But instead of a land flowing with milk and honey and all the fruits and everything, they get to eat the same thing every day for 40 years. And at one point, they said, our soul loatheth. Well, yeah, because you're supposed to be in Canaan. But you did not go forward for God. You saw things not through the eyes of the Word of God and the power of God, you saw through the eyes of man. And because you looked through the eyes of man, you saw giants and walled cities. If they had looked through the promises of God, it would have been very possible to go in the promised land. And so listen, if you don't learn to overcome some things in your life, you know what you're gonna do? You're gonna wander in the wilderness and thank God for the manna that he'll give you, but you're gonna miss out on the best that God has for you. There's relationships that people miss out on, there's opportunities, there's the power of God, there's the will of God that people miss out on because of past hurts and problems and wrongdoings that they have never learned to get over in their life. Say, well, they've never asked my forgiveness. Let me ask you this, how's that working for you, holding on to that? You're really showing them up because they haven't asked your forgiveness, aren't you? You're really getting back, no, you know what it's doing? It's hurting you. You know what you're starting to look like spiritually? You're starting to dry up, you're looking like a dried prune. You're shriveling up spiritually. Why? Because you won't let go. You won't forgive. You won't learn to overcome the hurts done in your life or the wrongdoings. It is amazing. You can talk to people and just a word or a subject can trigger some negative thing that happened to them 15 years ago. How does that come out, Brother Dan, so quickly? It's on the surface. Just a snide comment, just a negative thought about what somebody put you through or did to you or said to you or didn't do to you years ago. And you wonder why you're spinning your wheels. You wonder why you don't have victory. You wonder why you don't bear the fruit of the Spirit. You wonder why your life is dry and you're discouraged and you feel like you're not going anywhere. You know why? Because you're allowing the past to hinder your present. and you're gonna have to learn to get over it, get away from, don't live with self-pity, do not live in self-sorrow, go forward for God. That's what Jephthah did. He didn't live in self-pity. Hey, you may not agree with how he did it, but you know what he did when he got kicked out from his father's house? He went and earned a living. He didn't join welfare, he got some men gathered up, and I know they were vain men, and they probably didn't do the most pleasant things, but you know what he did? He earned his way. For Kevin, he did the best that he could in the situation he was in. Have you figured out in life that not every situation's gonna be best case? In fact, this is what you might as well do. You might as well never plan on the best case scenario, and you'll rarely be disappointed. You're gonna have to learn just to make the best out of a lot of things. He earned a living. He didn't live as if others owed him. Now we run into him in Judges 11, you know what it is? He's married, and he has a daughter. You know what he's learned to do? He's learned to move past some things. Now you know, Bird Keeper, the Bible doesn't tell us a whole lot about his, tells us nothing about his wife. Tells us very little bit about his daughter. Let me tell you this. Do you remember how his daughter came out to meet him when he came back from the battle? She came out worshiping, praising God. Read it. She's got the timbrel, she's praising God. How did his daughter learn to praise God? I bet it was a bitter father who was angry at his mom and his dad and his stepbrothers and the nation of Israel and everybody else who he could, I bet just because of his bitterness and his unforgiveness, that's how she learned to worship God. No, she had a father who had gotten over what happened to him. Somehow in there, I don't know his wife or anybody, but somehow in there he married and he had a daughter and I'm not, she wasn't a six year old, she was a little bit older, you understand that? And she knew how to praise God. Why? He had gotten over the hurts in his life. The Bible says when she came, she met him with timbrel and with dances. You say, oh, is she dancing? Yeah, unto the Lord, because she had heard the Lord had given victory, and she was praising God for that. You know what the name Jephthah means? It means whom God sets free. You know what Jephthah needed at some point in his life? He needed to be set free. He needed to be set free from bitterness. Now, I believe we see the end of Jephthah's life. I believe he was. He was not a man living in bitterness. He needed to be set free from self-pity. He needed to be set free from living in depression and despondency because of all the bad in his life. You know what else he was set free from? He was set free from his past. He was set free from that which could have ruined his life and ruined his future. whom God sets free. You know what I learned from that? I learned that it doesn't matter what has happened in your life. It doesn't matter the things you've suffered, the wrong you've gone through, the hardships and the trials and the mistreatment and the abuse. It doesn't matter. I don't know everything about all of you, but listen, it doesn't matter what you've gone through. I know that God is able to set you free, that you do not have to live under the oppression and the bondage of what has happened in your past. You don't have to live in bitterness. You don't have to live in unforgiveness. You can be set free. You can have overcoming power in your life to go and do something for God. In spite of your past, in spite of circumstances, in spite of a bad situation, you can rise up and do something for God and have the touch of God on your life. and influence your family and influence others for the glory of God. God took this young man out of three strikes. He raised him up and he made him a judge in Israel. And God can do that for you if you let God set you free. You got to let God, you got to want to be set free. Listen, he wasn't selfish. He got over the wrongs done to him. And this is one of the truest signs of forgiveness. He helped those that had wronged Him. The very ones who had cast them out, He said, I'll lay my life on the line for you. Look in verse nine of Judges 11, the Bible says, in chapter seven, the elders of Gilead, if you bring me home again to fight against the children of Ammon and the Lord deliver them from me, shall I be your head? And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, the Lord be witness between us if we do not so according to thy word, thy words. Look in verse nine. Jephthah understands that if Ammon's gonna be delivered, who's gonna do it? The Lord. You see that there? He says, and the Lord deliver them before me, shall I be your head. Somewhere in there, Jephthah had a relationship with the Lord. And he's asking the elders of Gilead, he said, look, if Ammon is defeated, why be your head? And he says, if the Lord deliver them before me. In other words, not if I defeat them, not if my great military might and strategy works, but if God does it. Gilead understood that God, he needed God. Jephthah did not hold a grudge. He did not allow the past to determine his future. You know what, sometimes you need to do, sometimes you need to learn to give somebody a second chance. And maybe a third chance. I know it's hard sometimes. I know somebody does you wrong two times, we're ready to cross them off. And if we're so gracious, give them that third strike and they miss it, well, too bad, so sad. Aren't you glad the Lord doesn't do that for us though? How many opportunities has the Lord given us over and over and over again? He was ignored until they had a need and yet he cared about them enough to try to help them. You know what many Christians are living in? They're living in what I would call self-preservation mode. It's all about them, all about theirs. And maybe the reason of that, some might just be so selfish and self-centered it's all about just preserving myself. See, when you wanna preserve yourself, you don't wanna get hurt. So if you don't wanna get hurt, you just back off and you just huddle together with you and yours, and you don't put yourself out there to be hurt. Maybe you've even, you tried helping somebody sometime, and they hurt you. If you try to help enough people, somebody's gonna hurt you. Somebody's gonna disappoint you, they're gonna let you down. They're gonna smile at you and stick a knife in your back when you have sacrificed for them. If you're not careful, you're going self-preservation mode. You say, well, I'm not doing that anymore. Well, I'm not gonna try to help that person. And then you become skeptical of everybody and you judge everybody based on that one experience that you have. Young people, let me say something to you. Just because your parents are in church, just because you have parents that might wanna be involved in the work of God, parents, I don't mean your kids want to. Kids see things, they learn things, and there's probably, I should say, there's a good chance there's young people sitting in here and in their mind, they're looking at people involved in service, say, I don't really want that. I don't wanna put up with that. Have people treat you like, I don't wanna be treated like that. I'm not willing to make that kind of sacrifice. I'm not being critical. There is a price to pay. There is a cost to serving God. When you serve God, you are going to be disappointed. Paul said this, he said, I would very gladly spend and be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I'll be loved. The principle's there, and if you live for God and try to be involved in the ministry, you're gonna see it played out over and over and over. The more you love somebody, the more likely they are to hurt you. It's the people you seem to put the most into that disappoints you the most. It's the people that seem to need such little maintenance, and they're the ones who are just faithful. But boy, they're the ones you always put in time and effort, and you're glad to do it, and you put so much into it, and oftentimes, they're the ones that turn around and hurt you. And if you're not careful, you're just saying, eh, I don't want anything to do with that. Well, what if every Christian said that? Who would minister, who would serve, who would do something for God? Who would have an influence in others' life? We get hurt, we get disappointed, and we don't wanna try that again. Listen, I'll tell this, so Jephthah, you know what I see? He wasn't selfish. He wasn't selfish. He wasn't selfish with his daughter. Now listen, if there's a passage I don't quite understand, I don't need you to explain it to me after church, I just don't quite understand some of, all of it. But I believe it's exactly as it's written. I'm not explaining it away, I believe it's exactly what said happened, happened. I don't understand that, but I will say this. One of the dearest things in his life was his daughter. Think about it, I think his daughter was probably a pretty good young lady. I think she loved God. I think she knew how to praise and worship God. And that's pretty good. Some young people have no idea how to praise and worship God. And from the life that he came out of, God to give him that daughter and to raise her up for God, probably one of the greatest joys of his life. And yet when it came time to give her to God, he didn't hold her back. That's an amazing thing and listen, I'm not gonna argue with you whether it was right, wrong, wise or unwise, I'm just saying when it came time to give her to God, he gave the best that he had. He didn't give second best, he gave the best. The Bible says he was a man of valor. Let me also tell you this. Jephthah was a man who knew about the Lord and he knew about Israel's history. You study here, I've already mentioned, he mentions the Lord. And when he responds, I don't have time to read all the passage, but in verse 14, he sends messengers to the true environment, and you know what he does? He tells them the history of Israel. He tells them about crossing the Red Sea, tells them about when they went by their way. You know what he knew? He knew, even though Israel, in a sense, his brethren and they had, he was an outcast. You understand? He was an outcast. You know what he knew? He knew all about Israel's history. How did he learn that? How did he get to know God? Listen, it says in, when they go to battle, it says the Lord God of Israel delivered them in the hand of Israel. Who did that? God did. God used Jephthah. Somehow Jephthah through all that mess in his upbringing, he knew God. You know what else he did? He knew about Israel. That was his country. He did not get bitter towards his nation. He knew all about their history. And when he sends that letter there to the king, he tells them all the history of what's going on and whose land it actually is and all like that. He knew the Ammonites were the enemy of God's people. Why did God help Jephthah? I believe Jephthah, if you study this, he was sincere before God. He was sincere. I believe that he loved the Lord. I believe he knew the Lord. Not only that, you know what else Jephthah was? This is, sometimes it's hard to find, but he was available. He wasn't too busy to do what God, what the people needed him to do or asked him to do. He was willing. The Bible says this in verse 29, then the spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah. Boy, he's come a long way from a child of a harlot A young man cast out from his brethren with vain men following him. Here he is, the Spirit of God upon him. He's getting ready to lead Israel to victory. He relied on the Lord for the victory and the Lord gave him the victory. According to verse 32, it says, the Lord delivered them into his hands. And then as I already mentioned, he was willing to give God that which was dearest to him. His vow. Boy, you read about that. Boy, there was all kinds of opinions, but you know what it was? It was sincere. This is what he said. He vowed a vow and said, if thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, and it shall be that whatsoever cometh forth to the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering. It was sincere. Maybe it wasn't the wisest thing. I don't, I'm not gonna argue about that, but he wanted to give God something that was precious. And he offered it as a burnt offering. You know, in a burnt offering, nothing was left of it. He gave it all to God. You know what Jephthah was? He's a leader. Who'd they turn to in time of need? They turn to Jephthah. How did Jephthah become the man that he was? Well, I thought of this verse in Romans 5. The Bible says this. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations, also knowing that tribulation worketh patience. Patience experience and experience hope, and hope maketh not a shame, because the love of God, it shatters abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. You know what Jephthah faced? He faced tribulation in his life, but he allowed that tribulation to work in his life. Tribulation, it's anguish, it's affliction, it's pressure, it's persecution, it's trouble, it's burdens. For a while, you know what Jephthah was? He was a nobody living in exile. But I believe he learned patience. The Bible says tribulation worketh patience. He learned and he grew in patience, which gave him experience. You know what experience brings? It brings hope. How could he have looked at that situation and said, I'll take it on? God said, I'm done with you, go ask one of your false gods. 18 year enemy, oppressing, but they've really been an enemy for a long time. How could he look at that and say, we can do this. God can deliver them. How do you get hope? It started with tribulation. You know how many people live a life and they've got no hope? Because they didn't allow tribulation to work patience in their life. And because of that, they have no experience, and because of no experience, they have hope. You know what my experience with God has taught me? There's hope. I've seen them work, and it gives me hope for the future. And let me say this in closing, Jephthah, he's a man of faith. Say, how do you know that? The Bible says in Hebrews 11, 32, great hall of faith chapter, and what shall I more say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah. He made in Hebrews 11. Well, you're not going to make in Hebrews 11 if you're not a man of faith. He trusted God. Somehow along the line, Jephthah had learned to trust God when it was hard to see any good in the situation. He learned to trust God when circumstances were difficult. He had learned to trust God and to depend on God. And because he depended on God, he had learned to dedicate what he had to God. And here's a man born of a harlot, No kind of godly heritage cast out from his brethren, led vain men just roving around. And he ends up in Hebrews chapter 11. As a man of great faith. How did he get there? I believe it simply boils down to this. God helped him. The Bible said in Psalm 60, verse 12, through God, We shall do valiantly for he it is that shall tread down our enemies. You know, Jephthah had he had some enemies in his life. Enemies in his family, enemies in his upbringing, then he had the enemies of the children of Ammon. But what did what happened? God, through God, he became a mighty man of valor. You know what all of us have? We have enemies. Some of us have enemies to our joy. Some of us have physical enemies. Some of us have spiritual enemies. Some of our enemies might be family members. It might be situations. Might be some bitterness we're holding on to. You know why you haven't been able to get victory over your enemies? You're trying to do it on your own. Frankly, some people, I'm afraid, they don't want victory. They want to hold on to that hurt and those grudges. But I promise that through God, You know what you can do? You can have victory. In this man Jephthah, one of six men in the Bible, that the Bible says he was a mighty man of valor. Why? Because he did not allow his bad circumstances and the wrongdoing done to him, he did not allow it to hinder and ruin his life. He learned to overcome. and he was set free from God. Listen folks, everybody suffers some kind of wrongdoing. You're gonna have to learn to get over it. You're gonna have to learn to move on past that. You're gonna have to learn to get some victory in your life. Put the past in the past. Thank God for it, let tribulation work some patience in your life. Let that patience work experience and experience bring hope into your life, amen. Let's pray.