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.