Lets turn in our Bibles this morning to Judges, Chapter 6. Were talking about walking on water this morning, looking at the biblical principals of faith that we found in the story of Peter. Peter was following the Lords example of calling him out of the boat to walk on the water. Pastor Ortberg said one of the greatest possible things that happened in that story was that little phrase that Peter walked on water. Though it was brief, Peter walked on water-a truly amazing thing. Walking on water means that you allow God to use you to do extraordinary things. You allow God to use you, an ordinary person, to do extraordinary leaps of faith and use you in a way that brings honor and glory to Him, a way that you could never have done on your own. In order to do that, you have to get out of your boat. Theres a man by the name of Gideon who is very content with his boat. He lived in a time when Israel was oppressed by a group of people called the Midianites. The best way to describe the Midianites is to say they were bullies. They picked on Israel because they could. Israel would grow crops, and theyd come and just burn them down. Israel would try to raise livestock. Theyd come in and kill them. Theyd just pick on them. Have you ever had any bullies in your life? Anybody here, maybe when you were in grade school? Maybe at work you have some bullies that pick on you? Maybe youre married to a bully. I dont know. Im looking around for elbows right now. Im looking for dirt right now. I dont see any elbowing going on (congregation laughing). A bully tries to intimidate through fear. It says here in the beginning, Verse 2, that the Israelites prepared shelter for themselves in mountain clefs and caves and strongholds. Entire families were hiding their activities and their way of life for fear that the Midianites would come and take what they had. You and I may not live with bullies in the physical sense of the word, but we all have bullies in our lives. Sometimes the bully takes the form of fear and tries to intimidate us, telling us lies and getting us to paralyze ourselves into inactivity; then we wont take a step of faith or get out of the boat because fear will paralyze us. For some of you its a bully of anxiety. You worry about the what-ifs and the what-thens. For some of us, the bully might be a low self-esteem that tells you that youre inferior or you dont belong. That bully inhibits you and impedes you from doing what God has called you to do and becoming what God wants you to be. So God wants you to go from succumbing to those bullies and allowing those bullies to intimidate you to being a person who gets out of your boat and pursues Gods call on your life. Thats what this storys about. Gideon receives his call of God while he is hiding from the Midianites in a wine press threshing wheat. At the time we find Gideon, he is doing a menial-labor job in a place where the Midianites wont see what he is doing, so they cant come and take his work. So right now, hes living an intimidated lifestyle. He is a victim of fear and bullying. We pick up the story when the angel of the Lord comes to him in Verse 12 (pg. 239 of pew Bibles). He says, …The Lord is with you, mighty warrior. Right there, Gideon is looking around like, You talking to me? Hes doing a De Niro, You talking to me? I dont see anyone around. You must be. You talking to me? Im not a mighty warrior. Far from it. Hes an ordinary guy. …But sir, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all the wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt? But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian. Sometimes we feel that way. Sometimes, even believers can get to the point where we say, God, are you even there? Are you still with me? If youre in my life, how can all these bad things happen to me? Well, the bad that Israel was going through, at the beginning of the chapter, tells us that its because of sin they had fallen into this. Sometimes, what were reaping-sometimes, not all the time-is the consequence of our own sin, the consequences of our own lack of faith. The Lord turned to him and said, Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midians hand. Am I not sending you? Go in the strength you have. How much strength did Gideon have? Not much. Not much. It doesnt take much, you might have a little strength and a little faith, but if youre willing to yield that to God, He can do great things with it. You dont just say, Im a person of great strength or I have to be a person of great faith before God can use me. No, you have to be willing to be a person who will let God use what little faith and what little strength you have. Go in the strength you have. He says, Go! God is a God of action. We get it backwards. We wait for God to zap us, spiritually shoot us with a bullet of faith. Then, when God energizes us with faith, He clears all the obstacles out of the way, and weve seen that demonstration of His power, then well step out of the boat. It never works that way. It never will work that way. Years ago, we took our family to Yellowstone. Lindsey was five, and we decided we were going to go see Old Faithful. We were trying to explain to this five-year old what a geyser was, that water heats up and it shoots way up in the sky, Its going to be really cool. Were going to see Old Faithful erupt! Wow! So, were there. This is a child whos been to Disney World. This is a child whos seen Mickey Mouse and Cinderellas castle. You plop her in front of a hole in the ground, and youre like, There it is. She is waiting. Pretty soon, waters going to come out, and theres going to be this display of power! Its Old Faithful! Its going to erupt! Shes waiting… This is boring! To a five-year old, this is like an eternity. She finally in exasperation looks up and me and says, Daddy, when does Old Faithful throw up? Whens it going to happen? I said, Honey, its erupt. Its not throw up. Its erupt. Its going to happen soon. We waited some more, and pretty soon, it shot up. Shes like, Whoa! We see Old Faithful go up in the air, this powerful demonstration, and then she believed. Then she understood. Thats how some believers are. We kind of think, we just sit back and wait for Old Faithful. We just kind of twiddle our fingers and tap our feet and go, When does Old Faithful show up? Whens Old Faithful going to display his power? Whens Old Faithful going to act? God has said, You act. You act on my commands now. You take a step of faith, and then I will demonstrate My power. Its not just information. We think its just information. All of our classes are great. I love cross training, marriage encounter, experiencing God class. Those are all wonderful, but do you notice what the class said, the subtitle for Blackabys book? Experiencing and Doing the Will of God. Doing the will of God. Its information plus a step of faith or action. That leads to a demonstration, and that demonstration leads to transformation. We want to bypass all that and go, Information, transformation. It doesnt work that way. Its not information, transfmoration. Its information, action, demonstration, transformation. We see God act. We see the display of His power, and we know He is with us, and we step out in faith. Gideon had to take some steps of faith. He had to do several things. God told him to tear down the altar to Baal and tear down the Asherah pole, goddess of fertility, and he did that, risking his very own life. He did it at night because he was afraid. They were going to kill him the next day. His dad said, Well, if Baal is so strong, why cant Baal stick up for himself? Why does he need you guys? If Baal is so all powerful, let him take care of Gideon. So they left Gideon alone. Gideon sends out the police, and all these things happen, but one of the biggest steps of faith that Gideon took was to assemble an army. That took a step of faith right there. Gideon assembles the army. Lets look at Chapter 7 together. So heres the scenario. On this side, we have Midianites, the Amalekits, 135,000 fighting men-trained soldiers, career soldiers. They had experience in war; they were the oppressors. On the other side, we have 32,000 untrained bullied, intimidated men lead by a common laborer who up until a couple days ago, nobody even knew who he was. Gideon, who had no military experience, is going to lead these spontaneous 32,000 men who are going to fight. Theyre tired of the bullying, so theyre going to pick on the big guys who the Bible says are like locusts. Their camels were like the sand in the seashore. They couldnt even be counted. What are the odds there? Thats not good, right? So we pick up the story as Gideon is looking at this situation and saying, Boy, are we outnumbered. I dont do the math here, but 32,000 and 135,000-Im not sure how many to one that is, but its not good. So hes looking at this situation, and Gods going to speak to him. He probably thinks God agrees. Gods probably going to say something like, You know what Gideon? I have to get you some reinforcement. I have to get you some help. You dont have enough guys, but thats not what Gods thinking. He says to him in Verse 2, The Lord said to Gideon, You have too many men. Im sure Gideon was thinking the same thing. You have too many men for Me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her, announce now to the people, Anyone who trembles with fear may burn back and leave Mount Gilead. Can you hear that speech? I bet you Gideon is doing his best Braveheart impersonation, riding on his horse, They may take our lives, but theyll never take away our freedom! Whos going to stand? Whos going to fight? I know youre not afraid of the enemy, and I know you want to fight for your family and your heritage and for your God, but if you are afraid-which I know youre not-anybody whos afraid, one or two wimps out there, you can go home, and the rest of us are going to fight! Twenty-two thousand guys head for the exit. Not a good motivational speech. It didnt work. Braveheart, he was not. After listening to Mel Gibson in Braveheart, I was ready to go fight the bad guys, put blue makeup on my face, Lets go! Gideon didnt have that gift, so they all leave. So now hes left with 10,000 men, and hes thinking, Oh boy. Im in trouble now. This is not going to work with 10,000 guys. But at least theyre brave. Well just do the best we can with 10,000 guys. The Lord speaks again. He says, Gideon, there are still too many men. Gideon at this point has got to be wondering if God was using that new math or maybe theres something wrong with his calculator. Ive got 10,000, and Youre saying thats too many? He says, Take them down to the water hole and those who get down like a dog and drink, youre going to send home, but whoever laps with water in their hands, youre going to keep those guys. Can you see Gideon bringing them down there probably giving him some lessons on how to drink, Okay, here we are. Do like this. Laps for the enemy. This is how were going to drink. Okay, everybody get a drink. They all start drinking like dogs except for 300 men, so 9,700 men go home. That leaves Gideon with 300. If Im Gideon at that point, Id be tempted to use a little sarcasm and say, What? Still too many? Maybe I should just go at it by myself. Would that please You? God finally looks at that number and says, Thats enough. With this group, I will lead you in to defeat the Midianites. Well, Gideon still has some fear. Thats normal. Anytime you encounter or want to step out of the boat in faith, youre going to encounter some fear. Its just normal. So God says, Get up, go down to the camp because Im going to give it into your hands. If you are afraid to attack, Ive got a message for you. Go down and hear it. So he goes down at night, and he gets in the outskirts of the camp of the Midianites, and he and his servant listen outside the tent. The man inside the tent describes a dream, and this loaf of barley roles down and wipes out the tent with great force. The guy says, Well, you know what that is. Thats Gideons son, Joash. Hes a mighty warrior. Gods going to deliver Midianites into his hands. Thats a sign from God. Thats what that is. Were doomed. Gideon hears his name spoken of by the enemy. Thats a confirmation. He says, They even know who I am. A couple days ago, nobody knew who I was. Now even the Midianites know who I am, and theyre afraid! Unbelievable! Hes excited, and he gets up and starts saying, Get up! Get up! He goes back to the camp and says in Verse 17, Watch me! Follow my lead. What a transformation! How do we get from hiding to Watch me! Follow me! leading 300 men into battle against the Israelites? Do you know what the key was? The fear was gone. When fear is gone, the bully has lost his power because thats the bullys leverage. If he gets fear from you, hes got you because fear makes a situation worse than it really is. Fear intimidates. When fear left, all that was left was faith. I had a bully pick on me named Noah when I was a little boy. One day he pushed me so far that I finally tried to defend myself, and I ended up beating him up. This was second grade. Do you think Noah could bully me anymore? I remember watching Mike Tyson win fights just in the stare down before the bell rang. Wed be watching over at Kens house, Ken Bergerons house. Id say, Look at him! He cant even look Tyson in the eye. This fights done. Theyd go Ding, and the guy would almost lie down. One day, he fought Evander Holyfield. Tyson looked him in the eye, and I said, Look at Evanders face. Hes not afraid. That put a little fear in Tysons face. When you take away that element of fear, what does the bully have to work with anymore? Gideon says, Lets go. Lets go get it done. This was a demonstration of Gods power. He says, God knows where I am. He knows Im here. Im in the right place. I want to share a story with you quickly if I could. Have any of you heard of Ken Gaub before? Ken Gaub, the speaker/author? He was on I75 near Dayton, Ohio, with his wife and his children on a vacation. He was having a downtime in his ministry. He felt empty and was having doubts, just like Gideon had. He was afraid of the wind that was around him, feeling like he was going to sink into the water. Hes walking by, sipping on a drink, and he walks by-in the middle of nowhere-a random stop on his vacation-and the telephone booth is ringing. Why doesnt somebody get that? he says. He ends up going to answer it when nobody answers it. He says, Hello? The operator says, Long distance call for Ken Gaub. He said, I started looking around for Candid Camera. He says, Youre crazy. Then, he says, I realized I couldnt speak to an operator like that. He thought, This cant be. Im just walking down the road, and the phones ringing. Is Ken Gaub there? she interrupted. I have a long distance phone call for him. He stopped and said, Yes, Im here, but how in the world did you reach me here? She says, Well, is Mr. Gaub there or isnt he there? She doesnt have time for this. He said, Yes, Im here. The voice on the other line said, Thats him. Thats Ken Gaub. He listened as a woman identified herself as Millie from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. You dont know me Mr. Gaub, but Im desperate. Please help me. What can I do for you? She described how she was going to commit suicide. She wrote her suicide note, and then she remembers praying to God, saying, God, I really dont want to do this. I really dont want to take my life. Then she said, I remembered you. I remembered watching you on television and thinking to myself, I know Mr. Gaub could help me if he were here. Then all of the sudden numbers came to my mind, and I started writing the numbers down, and I said, Wouldnt it be a miracle if these numbers were the numbers of Ken Gaubs office? So I called the number. Are you in your office in California? He said, Lady, I dont have an office in California because shed called in California. He said, My office is in Yakima, Washington. A little surprised? She says, Oh really? Where are you? He said, Dont you know? You made the call. She said, I dont even know what area Im calling. I just dialed the numbers that came to my mind. He said, Maam, you wouldnt believe this, but Im at a payphone in Dayton, Ohio. She said, Really, what are you doing there? I kidded her gently and said, Well, I answered the phone. It was ringing. I walked by, so I answered it, and Im talking to you. Isnt that amazing? Its just amazing to me. He randomly pulls off the road; the phones ringing out in the middle of nowhere, and the woman on the other end wants to speak with Ken Gaub because shes going to take her life. He said, Only God could have done that. Of all the combinations of phone numbers in the world, of all the phones you could call, all the places I could be at that given time, only God could have arranged that. He said, Words came out of my mouth that were beyond my intelligence, and he lead her to Christ that day. He went back to tell his wife, and he said, Youll never believe this, but I couldnt contain it. He said, Barb, you wont believe this. God knows where I am. God knows where we are. The same God of Gideon was the God of Ken Gaub. The same God of Ken Gaub is our God. He knows where we are, so when we understand that, we can take those steps of faith. Instead of being the one bullied, the one doing the hiding, we can become the pursuer. Look at Verse 12 of Chapter 8 (pg 242). It says, Zebah and Zalmunna, the two kings of Midian, fled, but he (Gideon) pursued them and captured them, routing their entire army. I thought, Whoa, talk about transformation. One minute, youre bullied, and youre hiding. Im nobody and how in the world can God use me? He takes some steps of faith. God demonstrated His power. God transformed Gideon to now chasing the kinds of Midian. Can you imagine if He would have told Gideon when he was threshing that wheat, Hey Gideon, a few days from now youre going to be chasing the kings and the Midianites. He would have said, You know what? I think youre hitting the sauce a little bit too hard, pal. God can do things through your life, days from now, years from now, that if somebody would have told you today this was going to happen, you would have said, Youre crazy. Youre nuts. Thats because its not you; its Him. You take the little faith, the little strength you have, and you allow Him to use it. But its not a matter of Im going to sit back and let Old Faithful do his thing. Im going to sit back and wait. You pursue Gods call. You pursue the dream Hes put on your life. Dont be the victim; be the victor. Dont be the pursued; be the pursuer. Dont allow the bully to intimidate you and hold you back. You step out in faith and pursue the dreams, the passions, the callings God has placed on your life. Years ago, Im talking way back in the establishing of our church, I had found some land that I thought would be good for our church to buy. There were 15 acres. It was bare. There was no Holiday Inn Express, no houses here. The owner of the land just wanted to sell the five acres near the interstate. I thought that looked pretty good. Thatd give us some good visibility. You know how much this land was in 1990? It was $32,500 for five acres on I90. Thats a pretty good deal. We were offered well over six figures just a couple years after that. In those days, we had just a few small handfuls of families, no rich people in our body. That $32,500 seemed like a ton of money. We needed $10,000 down. We were going to finance the rest with three years on a balloon, but how would we come up with that kind of money? So, I said to our leadership, I would like to take the first thousand dollars in our building fund and give it to the church in Rockford as a thank you for helping us out and getting us started. Thats what we did. We took the first thousand, and we gave it away. We didnt tithe on our building fund. We basically gave our entire building fund away. They had not even cashed that check-it was that same week-when later in that week, a businessman came in my office and said he wanted to help with what our church was doing. He gave us a check for $10,000. That became our down payment on our land. So what do you do? Do you say, Hey God, we need ten grand? Heres our bank account number, okay? Whens Old Faithful going to show up? Whens Old Faithful going to put ten grand in the bank account? I dont understand whats taking so long. Is that how you do it? Or do you take an act of faith? God gives a demonstration, and that demonstration leads to transformation, and thats when we begin to realize, Hey, Gods in this thing. There are more stories I could tell you. Some of you know those stories. This is Gods work, not our work. This is exciting. This is fun. Lets do this some more. Lets dive in to what God has for us. Lets watch now a song by Steven Curtis Chapman by that same name called Diving In. (http://www.christianlyricsonline.com/artists/steven-curtis-chapman/dive.html) Isnt that passive? Faith dives in. It says, Sink or swim, Im diving in. Thats the faith Gideon had. Thats the faith Peter had. Thats the faith God wants us to have.