Sermon: Go In The Strength You Have

In August 2006 my church, West Side Baptist, faced a crisis of leadership after the sudden and unexpected death of our pastor. As a Deacon, I was called upon to help with the pastoral duties, including preaching, until a new pastor could be found. I recently discovered this sermon outline hiding on my computer hard drive and, while it was written for a specific time, place and people, I believe that its message is applicable for all of us in times of crisis.

So, here is the message entitled, "Go In The Strength You Have". 

11 The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrahthat belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you,mighty warrior.”

13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” - Judges 6:11-14, New International Version

God’s people were facing a crisis. The Bedouin herdsmen of

Midian had allied themselves with the other nomadic peoples of

Palestine: the Amalekites, the Amorites, and other groups. Each

spring, these nomads would migrate from their winter quarters into

the inhabited areas of Israel searching for food for themselves and

their flocks.

We read a description in Chapter 6, verses 2 through 5… 

 2 Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 4 They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. 5 They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it.

For seven years, the people of Israel had faced this new menace.

The various tribes of nomads, each too weak to threaten Israel

individually, had banded together to outnumber the Israelites, and

they brought a new form of warfare with them – the mounted

camel. With camels, the Midianite army could travel fast, and in

hand-to-hand or sword-to-sword combat the mounted position on

camelback gave the Midianite warriors more than a significant

advantage.

The Israelites felt abandoned by God, and they felt as if all the

evils the world could offer had descended upon them at once.

As individuals, we face our own Midian's. We face a host of daily

worries, which, while we may be able to face them and beat them

one-at-a-time, when they “gang up” on us - when they seem to all

come at once, we feel overwhelmed, and sometimes even

abandoned.

Yes, even as a church we may feel overrun by the Midianites.

There is no doubt that this has been a tough year for the West Side

Baptist Church. From the church van fires, to individual injuries,

to the job uncertainties many of us have faced, to the personal

battles many have fought - and sometimes lost - with serious

illness, to the loss of our pastor. We can feel like Satan is throwing

everything he has at us. We can feel overwhelmed. Yes, we can

even feel abandoned. And we, like Gideon, can ask, “If the Lord is

with us, why has all of this happened to us?”

The answer is that God has not abandoned us. No, in fact, He has a

job for us to do – he has a mission for us. Look again at verse 14:

 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

 The mission of the West Side Baptist Church has not changed. We

are still called to save Israel out of Midian’s hand. We are still

called to save God’s people out of the evil of the world.

But, you say, we don’t have a pastor. Offerings are down.

Attendance is down. How can we make a difference Now?

Let’s look at verse 15:

“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

It seems to be in our very nature to make excuses when the Lord

calls us. You don’t want me. I’m not good enough. I’m not a

leader. I don’t have the time. I can’t talk to strangers. I don’t

have any unique skills. I can’t speak in front of a crowd. I can’t

sing. I’m not good with kids. I don’t know enough about the

Bible. I don’t know how…and the list goes on. We all have

excuses. What excuses are you making to God?

Look again at verse 14: 

 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

Go in the strength you have. The only reason Gideon had not

already saved Israel from Midian was that he was not tapping into

the strength he had – the strength that God gave him. There is

un-tapped potential here at West Side Baptist. There is un-tapped

potential in each one of us. But we have to focus on the God-given

strengths we already possess, not the man-made excuses we give


ourselves.

In verse 14, the Lord asks, “Am I not sending you?”

Is the Lord not sending us personally and collectively to do His

work? If the Lord is sending us, will he not provide us the tools,

skills, and circumstances we need to succeed? If He is with us,

who can stand against us?

But we still have doubts. And that’s okay. That’s who we are.

Gideon still had his doubts.


Let’s look at verses 17 – 24:

17 Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. 18 Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.”

And the Lord said, “I will wait until you return.”

19 Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah[a]of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.

20 The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so. 21 Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the Lord disappeared. 22 When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!”

23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”

24 So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

Gideon needed a sign, but in his account, he gives us a sign – a

four-step plan for how we are to use our God-given strengths for

God’s will and God’s victory. Look again at verse 22: 

When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!”

…And the first part of verse 24: 

So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there...

We see in these verse the first two steps: 1) recognize the authority

of God and 2) worship

Gideon exclaimed “Sovereign Lord”. Sovereignty requires

authority. Gideon recognized, as we must, that God is the Author,

the Head, and the Sovereign. Until we recognize God’s

sovereignty and authority, we can never trust him, and we cannot

use his strength. 

Secondly, the recognition of that sovereignty leads us to worship.

When we worship, we recognize authority, we submit to it, and we

proclaim it. But worship is not a one-way affair – it is not just for

God, it is for us as well. When we proclaim God’s authority, we

reassure ourselves of His power, His justice, and His mercy. It

makes it easier for us to follow and obey.


Now, let’s look at verses 25 through 28:

25 That same night the Lord said to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old.[b] Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole[c] beside it.26 Then build a proper kind of[d] altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second[e] bull as a burnt offering.”

27 So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.

28 In the morning when the people of the town got up, there was Baal’s altar, demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar!

The next step is that we must align ourselves, AND our families,

with the will of God. If Gideon’s father was worshipping idols,

then he, as the obedient son, was required to do likewise. But

Gideon could not be useful to God’s purposes if he and his family

were worshipping idols. He had to destroy the altar and tear down

the pole.

When Brother Mike led us through the process of church

refocusing, to realign the goals of West Side with the Will of God,

the first step was what? Personal refocusing. We had to realign

ourselves as individuals BEFORE we could realign the church.

Do we have altars in our lives that must be destroyed, and rebuilt

into altars of God? Do we worship the bass boat instead of the

tithe? Do we honor the Bengals instead of the Lord on Sundays?

Are we setting a godly example for our children? For our

neighbors? For our friends? How can we make a difference for

others if there isn’t first a difference in ourselves?


To review: Step 1 – recognize God’s authority

Step 2 – worship and submit to that authority

Step 3 – align our personal lives with the Will of God

Step 4?


Let’s look at Chapter 7, verses 2 through 8

2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’ 3 Now announce to the army, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.

4 But the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”

5 So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.” 6 Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.

7 The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home.” 8 So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites home but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others.

Gideon started with 32,000 men in his army. While this was a

sizable force, it was still tremendously outnumbered by the enemy.

Chapter 8, verse 10 tells us that the Midianite army numbered

more than 135,000 – plus they were faster and better-armed with

their mounted camels.

But the Lord had Gideon reduce this army. The first to go were

those who “trembled with fear” – those who did not sufficiently

trust in God. Only 10,000 remained.

Next were those who “knelt down to drink”. Why were they

separated? In times of battle, it is extremely important to remain

alert and ready for anything at all times. Those who lapped the

water from their hands to their mouths were able to remain on their

feet and ready in a second’s notice. They remained focused on

their mission and were found acceptable.

Those who knelt down left their feet. They focused, if only for a

moment on the water. They were off their feet, in a prone

position, and not ready for battle. They were distracted.

Though only 300 strong, God chose those who remained focused

on the goal – those who were ready and on their feet – as his army.

If we are to be part of God’s army, we too must remain focused on

the goal. If we are to save Israel from Midian’s hand, we must

maintain our focus on Grabbin’, Growin’ and Growin’ at West

Side. Step 4 is to keep our focus on God’s will for us as

individuals and as a church. We cannot become distracted by

personal power plays or by petty disagreements. We must, as they

say, remember to keep the main thing the main thing.

Will this be easy? No. Especially in the absence of our pastor –

our shepherd – who’s job it was to keep us sheep on the right path

and headed in the right direction and away from distractions. We

sheep like to go our own way and to take others with us on our

own way. But in this trying time, we must be more focused than

ever on keeping the herd together, and moving forward to the goal,

or we will surely be led astray one by one.

Finally, we arrive at victory in the Lord.

Let’s look at Chapter 7, verses 19 through 21 

19 Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands. 20 The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” 21 While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled.

So, 300 men, armed with torches and trumpets, defeated 135,000.

The defeat was so complete that more than 120,000 of the

Midianite soldiers were killed, along with their leaders, and the

Midianites did not threaten Israel again for more than 40 years.

Victory. Victory is the final step.

So, how do we handle adversity? How do we carry on when the

world seems to crash down upon us? We must go in the strength

we have. We cannot focus on what we do not have, because what

we do not have cannot help us. But what God has given us is

sufficient to handle the task.

But we must meet our end of the bargain.

1) We must surrender to God’s authority. No excuses.

2) We must worship, and not simply “go through the motions”, but

sincerely worship the Lord.

3) We must apply God’s authority to our personal lives. We must

“walk the walk”, so to speak, not “talk the talk.”

4) We must remain focused on our calling. Stay on the path. Keep

away from distractions.

5) Rejoice in the victory of the Lord.

Can 300 men armed with trumpets and torches defeat 135,000

mounted riders armed with swords? Yes.

Can the West Side Baptist Church make a difference for God’s

kingdom in Hamilton? Yes.

Can each of us contribute in a mighty way to that task?

Absolutely.

Go in the strength you have! 

Verse Study: Only Begotten Son?

 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. - John 3:16 (King James Version)

Perhaps the most widely-quoted Bible verse among Christians today is John 3:16. In this passage, a man named Nicodemus, a respected teacher of Jewish religious customs, has come to Jesus to ask about his teachings. Jesus answers that one must be "born again" (or "born from above" or "Born in the Spirit" depending on the translation) in order to be "saved" - to obtain salvation from sin. Jesus summarizes his mission in verses 16 and 17, providing us with the oft-quoted verse that summarizes Christian theology - that Jesus is the Son of God who came to us to be sacrificed for our sins so that we may have eternal life with God in Heaven.

It occurred to me the other day that we Christians are so familiar with this verse that we often overlook the significance of one particular word. Read the verse again and notice who God sent - His "only Son", right? Look closer. It says "only begotten Son". 

So, what about this word "begotten"? What does it mean? Here we have an English translation of the original Greek word monogenes - "mono" as in "one" or "only" and "genes" as in "created by" or "born of". In essence, one could translate the phrase as "one and only Son uniquely born of God". To most of us, that boils down to simply "only Son". However, I believe there is another, deeper meaning.

I am the father of two adopted sons. As such I am keenly aware of both "biological" families - those uniquely "born of" a father and mother - and adopted families. While I share no DNA with my sons they are nevertheless fully and completely my sons, both legally and emotionally. Families with mixed biological and adopted siblings tell us there is no difference in the level of love the parents feel between their adopted and biological children. They are all their children - regardless of DNA.

So, how does this relate to this verse and our relationship with Jesus? Let's back up a few verses:

3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. - John 3:3-8, King James Version

Here, Jesus explains to Nicodemus that in order to see Heaven, one must be "born of the Spirit". Think of it this way: Jesus, the Son of God, an eternal being, had to be born "of the flesh" - that is to come to Earth in human form (think Christmas) in order to become like us so that He could be a worthy sacrifice for our sins. As such He was uniquely "begotten" of God. However, we are temporal beings who must experience a spiritual birth ("of the Spirit") in order to become more like Jesus and receive Heaven. Therefore we, by becoming both physical and spiritual beings, become like Jesus and become "adopted" Sons of God! How marvelous that the Creator of the Universe, the Great and Almighty God would do this for us - to "adopt us into His eternal family!

And to think that we usually overlook this important truth!

This is not the only verse in the Bible where we can find this truth. Other verses include:

• Romans 8:14: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."
• Galatians 4:5-7: "To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ."
• 1 John 3:1: "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not."

So rejoice, Christians! God has not only saved us through Jesus Christ but has made us part of the family! While Jesus is God's only begotten Son - the only one uniquely created by God's divine hand - we also are sons (and daughters) of God! What difference a single word can make.

- May God bless you.