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This message was recorded at
Vision Baptist Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. It is our prayer that
you will be blessed by the preaching of God's word. I am honored to have Brother
Jim. Dr. Jim Roberts, would you come on,
Brother Jim? He is, this is one of my friends, probably one of
my best friends ever in my life. He's my daddy in the Lord. You
know, he's older than me. I love that. And we actually
vacation together and have fun. And I love him. I love the way
God's used him. I love the way God's using him
now. And honestly, I think you're meeting a hero. So I hope you'll
listen as he preaches. Turn with me to Judges chapter
6 tonight. Robert asked me what I was going
to preach. I said, Ray Halpert, Gideon. He said, how about Ray
Halpert? I'm just going to be Gideon. I'm sorry. Sorry, Robert.
I'll do it next time. About six months ago, I got to
studying Hebrews 11 and looking at the guys and the ladies that
were in it. I studied about Abraham and Moses
and some of these other guys and got to Gideon and Rahab,
and I found out a lot, those folks are just about like us.
I mean, not that we're the stage of Abraham, Moses, the way God
used them, but personality-wise, There were some rough guys and
some messed up guys in Hebrews chapter 11. And one of them is
Gideon. But I really like this guy because
you get down verse 13, 14 toward the end. There's some really
great verses and I like him because of his honesty. This guy doesn't
beat around the bush. God calls him to do something.
He says, wait a minute, wait a minute. Let's start reading
in verse 1. And it says, the children of
Israel did evil inside the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into
the hand of Midian seven years. And the hand of Midian prevailed
against Israel, and because of the Midianites, the children
of Israel made them dens which are in the mountains and caves
and strongholds. Now in verse 2 it says, and the hand of the
Midian prevails against Israel, and because of the Midianites
they're in trouble. That's not really the reason.
Verse 1 is the reason. Sin got them in a mess. They
blame the Midianites, but it ain't them, it's Israel. Verse
1 says that. Verse 3 says, And so it was,
when Israel had sown, the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites churned
with this. Even they came up against them,
they kept against them, destroyed the increase of the earth. And
you get down to verse 7, and they're hiding, they're scared,
they're petrified, because they plant stuff it comes up out of
the mountains comes these Midianites and they steal it and Israel
is starving to death they've got no will to fight not at all
but you look at verse 6 verse 7 and it came to pass now listen
it came to pass when children of Israel cried unto the Lord
because of the Midianites It ain't the Midianites' fault.
It's sin in Israel's heart. I find that pretty much the same
way with me. Either I'm sinning or I'm not
doing what I ought to do, and I look at God and say, God, what's
the problem? And God's looking back and saying,
you're the problem. That's what verse seven is saying. They're blaming one thing, but
it's really them. But I love verse eight. Verse
eight is great. and he came to pass with children
of Israel, cried unto the Lord because of the Midianite. Look
at verse eight. Then the Lord sent a prophet. The last thing
they wanted to see was a preacher. You'll never convince me that
when they prayed to God, God, these Midianites are destroying
us, we're scared, do something. The last thing they wanted was
a prophet. But see what you want, sometimes,
I didn't plan on even being here tonight. I was gonna come this
morning, I was going home. Cause I was tired, jet lag killing
me. And Betty got on her knees over
and begged us to stay. Sometimes my plans ain't God's
plans. Most of the time, what I'm after, God's not. That's
this crowd. So a preacher shows up, they
don't want him, but there he is. I've knocked on a bunch of
doors in six mile in Pickens County, and I've seen people
open the doors thinking somebody was there and it was the stinking
preacher. And then look, and you could
almost see their eyes go, oh Lord, it's the preacher. because
most preachers do exactly what this prophet did. Look at verse
8. Then the Lord sent a prophet
and children of Israel, which said unto thee, Thus saith the
Lord of Israel. Just like Brother Gardner said
this morning, the prophet showed up. He said, fellas, this ain't
me talking. God told me to show up. This
is what God said, said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
I brought you up from Egypt and brought you forth out of the
house of bondage. Prophet shows up. He says, fellas,
Israel, I just saved your soul. I brought you out of bondage. Anyone want to hear that? All
they want to do is, God, get rid of these stinking Midianites.
We're scared of them. They're killing us. They're starving
us to death. Get rid of them. But the preacher,
the prophet, is going to show up and say, God has been real
good to you. And all you can think about is,
I'm hiding in a cave, got nothing to eat, and the Midianites are
still there. The worst day you've ever had
as a child of God is better than the best day you had before you
got saved. You know what I'm talking about?
That's what the prophet just told them. Look at verse nine.
And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, out of
the hand of all that oppressed you, and draved them out from
before you and gave you their land. He says, Israel, God has
been good to you. I some days, honestly, I think
God likes me and loves me more than anybody in the world. I
think some days that I'm God's special child. I really do. God's been so good to me. It's almost like living in a
dream. Almost. That's what he's saying
in verse eight. He's saying, Israel, God has
been so good to you. He brought down a bondage. He
redeemed you. He saved you. He did that to
you, and he did that to me. So you go on to verse 10. And
I said unto you, I am the Lord your God. Fear not. the gods of the Amorites. He
said, I told you not to be scared of this crowd. I'm God. I can
take care of you. He said, don't be afraid of the
Amorites, in whose hands you dwell. Oh, look at the rest of
it. But you have not obeyed my voice. He said, it's not the
media and that. They're not the reason. It's
you. You have not obeyed my voice. It's real simple. And I've read
the Bible through one or two times. It's real simple. God
says, do this. That gives me two options. I
do it or I don't. There's not three, there's only
two. I follow God and obey God or I don't. And when I don't,
I always suffer. And I can blame everything else,
but it's usually me that didn't do it. Verse 11 and verse 12,
an angel shows up. Verse 12 says, the angel of the
Lord appeared unto him as Gideon and said unto him, the Lord is
with thee, thou mighty man of valor. Gideon is scared to death. He's hiding stuff from the Midianites
and the Amorites. He's not brave at all. Remember the gardeners talking
yesterday about being in the military. And I served four years,
served here in Vietnam. He asked me if I was scared.
I said I woke up scared, spent the day scared, and went to bed
scared. I never got used to people shooting
at me. Never got used to rockets blowing
stuff up, killing people. I never got used to it. I scared
absolutely to death every day. Ask Gideon. Boy, look at verse
4 and 13. Look at this. He said, the Lord's
with you, I'm not a man of valor. You see, Gideon sees the present. God sees the future. God sees
the future. They show some pictures of our
boy, Jim. And every time I look at it,
he's serving God, I begin to weep. Because in my heart, I
remember the past. And I look at him now. And I'm
thinking, wow, I have got a gigantic God. I have got a God that can
do anything with anybody. You say, how do you know that?
Because God's proved it. I know it. Look at verse 13. I love his
honesty. I love this man's honesty. if
we could be that honest. And Gideon said unto him, O my
Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befalling
us? That's honest. He says, God,
if you're with us, why in the world am I in this mess? Why
am I here? Pretty honest, isn't it? I remember
God started, in my heart, about serving God. I'm thinking, Lord,
help, I can't do that. I can't do that, I can't preach,
I can't do any of that stuff. That's giddiness. If God's with
us, why aren't we in it? But look at the rest of it. Why
then is all this befalling us? And he says, and where behold
is miracles, which our father told us of? He said, my dad grew
up telling me all this stuff that God's done. I heard my granddaddy
tell me all kind of stuff. I mean, he was the kindest, most
gentle, sweetest man I've ever met. My mother said she'd never
seen her dad upset or mad one time. Man, I can't say that. My wife can't say it, and my
youngest can't either. We called him Papa. Papa never
got upset. He was kind and gentle all the
time, told me all kinds of stuff. I got to Bible college, Dr. Sattler,
a missionary in Brazil named Jimmy Rose, he'd tell all these
stories. And I think, man, I've heard
all these stories, all this stuff, but what about me? That's what
he said. He said, I've heard all these,
where are all these miracles? Where they at? I've heard it.
Where are they? Every time I read that verse,
you know what I think of? Get your own miracle. Get your
own. Brother Gardner's got a bunch
of stories. I've got some. You gotta get your own. That's
Gideon. He said, what are all these miracles?
I've heard it, I've heard it, I've heard it. But to see it,
you gotta take a step, you gotta get on a plane Tuesday and go
to Peru. Amen? You got to stand up somewhere
like Timmy and Greg. I like Greg. He's going to India
next year. I can't talk Timmy into going.
I can bribe him, but I'm not rich enough. He said, if you
buy me a ticket, I'll go. I ain't doing that. Greg didn't
ask me. I'm not going to do it anyway.
He's going to India to stay for a while. Where are the miracles? He said, notice what else he
says. Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the
Lord hath forsaken us and deliver us in the hand of the Midianites.
He said, God didn't do that. It's their sin that did it. Look
at what else, and I'm hurt. I'll be done in about five minutes,
I promise. And he said unto him, O Lord,
O my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is
poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my Father's house. He
said, I can't do this. But you get to verse 25 through
the end of chapter six, and he tells Gideon what to do. Look at verse 25. Came to pass
the same night that the Lord said unto him, take thy father's
young bullock, even the second bullock seven years old, and
throw down the altar of Baal at thy father hath, and cut down
the grove as is by. He gives him a job to do. And
Gideon does it. That's a simple job. Very simple. Tear it down and build it. That's it. But he can do that.
God is saying, I want you to deliver Israel. I'm going to
teach you and school you one simple lesson at a time. That's what God wants to do with
us. If God can use Gideon, and we know he did, God can use you. I look at Tim, I look at Greg,
all these young guys. And I'm most envious of their
life that's ahead of them. 20, 30, 40 years from now, they
come back and they've done something for God. But they had to step,
had to take that first step and say, God, okay, okay. I remember when we was fixing
to leave Mile Creek and man, I'd go to bed and think, golly,
God, I'm 65 years old. And you're telling me to go to
India? That's the craziest thing I've ever heard out of my life.
I can't do that at all. But just one step at a time.
We've already picked out a village for the first church. I already
picked it out. That don't mean diddly to y'all,
but my heart starts pumping now, just thinking about it. I already
picked out a village for an old man like me to train, help Jim
train that little 85 pound guy, Utham, that talks 95 miles an
hour. I've never heard anybody talk
that fast, and I know North Carolina evangelists that can't talk as
fast as he does. Put him in that village, about
5,000, 6,000 people, and watch him grow that thing
and train men. You can make all the money in the world, I could
care less. You can get so famous that old mama will know who you
are. I'd rather do that than anything this world's got. He
said, where's the miracles at? But after chapter seven, Gideon
don't have to say that anymore. I saw a few destroy and kill
132,000. That's my God. I can tell you that, that's Kyle
and Anna's God. They're not going by their self.
There's a God in heaven that made them and called them and
groomed them and bred them and grew them. They'll go down there
and that God is with them. And I challenge you tonight,
don't ever look at God and say, where's all these miracles at?
Where is all that? God is with you just like everybody
else. And God can use you and He will
use you. All you've got to do It's okay,
God. That simple job, that simple
task, I got it. You help me, and we'll do the
next one, and we'll do the next one. Father, we love you. Thank
you for your mercy and your grace. Thank you, Lord, for the opportunity
to open up the Word of God. God, we really thank for Kyle
and Hannah. Pray, God, you touch their heart. Help them. Pray
for Timmy and Greg. God, I pray you'd use them, these
other men. Father, I pray you'd use them mightily. to just start
churches, train men all over this world. Bless Vision, bless
Gardner. God, I pray you'd use him, give
him 35, 40 more years to train men and help men get to do what
God's called them to do. And we'll love you and thank
you for all you've done. In your name we pray, amen. This message was recorded at
Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. For more information,
log on to www.visionbaptist.com, where you can find our service
times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.
Get Your Own Miracles
Series Other
| Sermon ID | 823161012164 |
| Duration | 17:16 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Judges 6 |
| Language | English |
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