When Jesus called people to serve him, you get a feeling from reading the Bible that men and women viewed this as an exciting opportunity. It’s like they felt privileged to be asked. There was no sense of obligation, or “Do I have to do this?”
I believe it should be the same today. It should be viewed as one’s incredible good fortune to be asked by Jesus to work alongside of him. Unfortunately, that’s not where some people are coming from. They see it as an obligation. This could be because they don’t understand the secret I’ll share with you this visit.
We are exploring a very critical spiritual disciple that we call Going on a God Hunt. What we’re doing is learning how to look for evidences of God making His presence known in our everyday worlds.
For example, the first type of God Hunt “Sighting” was about obvious answers to prayer. We should savor such times. Certainly don’t treat them as strange coincidences.
The second type of God Hunt “Sighting” emphasized being on the lookout for unexpected evidences of God’s care.
Then, we looked at the third type of God Hunt “Sighting,” namely, to take special note of the way God lovingly looks after us. It’s about how, if you please, our guardian angels work at keeping us from harm in any of a number of ways. Also, how God regularly meets our needs and more.
In today’s blog post, I want to begin to explore the area of service or ministry, and how God frequently chooses to work right alongside us when we are involved in His business.
I want you to share with you some thoughts about the Old Testament book of Judges, Chapter 7. Israel’s commander, Gideon, had 32,000 fighting men. That sounds like a large number. Compared to the enemy, however, it wasn’t all that many.
Let me begin by sharing with verse two:
“You have too many men…” says the Lord … “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 turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’ ” So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.
Imagine such an announcement being made today to our forces in Afghanistan: “Anyone here who’s frightened by what’s going on has our permission to fly home.”
The text continues:
“But the Lord said to Gideon, ‘There are still too many men.’”
Come on now, poor Gideon has just seen over two-thirds of his army walk away, and the Lord says there need to be additional troop cuts! This seems even worse than the looming “Sequester!” There are still too many men …
“Take them down to the water, and I will sift them 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.” So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, “Separated those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel down to drink.” Three hundred men lapped with their hands to their mouths. All the rest got down on their knees to drink. 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 other men go, each to his own place.” So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites to their tents but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others.
Put yourself in Gideon’s place for a moment. You started with 32,000 fighting men, which really wasn’t enough. That number was cut to 10,000. Now you’ve lost another 9,700. So, for every 100 soldiers you began with you now have one left! That would have to leave even a Leon Panetta feeling a tad insecure, to say nothing of people like us.
We’ll have to pick up this story in tomorrow’s blog post. So, if you can spare the time, please make plans to join me as I continue to explore this important spiritual discipline of seeing God’s Hand in our everyday lives. Okay?
——————————————–
Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about?
Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?
David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Saturday or Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions.
We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.
For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.
You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.
