Reorganize
Sermon Scripture: Judges 7:2-7 (KJV)
Judges 7:2 And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me,
saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. 3 Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand. 4 And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. 5 So he brought down the people unto the water: and the LORD said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink. 6 And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. 7 And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place.
Have you ever noticed how in the beginning you were able to operate succesfully with the bare minimum equipment?
However as time progressed it took more and more to do the same job that it started off taking just bare minimum equipment
Is it because we are getting better at what we do or is it because we are simply losing some of the passion that God has placed in our hearts to do his will
I remember when I first started to preach. I had received my call from God and I was truly on fire. I was ready to go wherever and do whatever to spread the word of God. However as time rolled and I began to really understand my calling better I began to realize that there was such a thing as teaching in error. I began to realize that just because it made sense to me that doesn’t make it the word of God. This made me realize that God only stands behind His word and not mine when I am using my own intellect
Some of us as teachers and preachers of the word of God are still learning this valuable lesson now
We are still learning that God is only authorizing us to speak and teach His word and not our common sense approaches to life
I found it amazing how I would speak a common sense word so loud and proud and then look to the bible to back up what I said and the bible just leave me out there by myself because I had not taken the time to consult with the bible before I spoke
God made it abundantly clear to me during this time that I must change because His word never will
There are many people of God that have chosen to give up speaking on God’s behalf because it requires them to actually study and really get to know Him personally before they can actually speak about Him with confidence
Some of us are even living our lives in err right now because we heard a word from a preacher that made sense but wasn’t scripture and we never take the time to read for ourselves
There are times when God protects His sheep when they are confused by the Shepard but when you know to do better and have the ability to do better then that is what you must do
I am amazed at how sometimes I can study a word and really think that I have an understanding to the point where I am ready to share with the people of God but if the Lord is not with me I will sound like an idiot
In other words, even in my most careful studies using all of the latest and greatest research tools I have to always pray that the Lord is with me to share the word.
There are times when I share a word with people of God that I am not really comfortable with and the people of God completely understand and are able to digest it and it lines up with scripture perfectly
I have said all of this to introduce the idea that we need to reorganize our lives saints
We may think that we have it all together in our lives and since we are so well prepared then we are ready to move forward on what God has for us to do
I am here to let you know that God may not want you to have all of the things that you think you need to win this battle in life
In today’s scripture we see Gideon preparing to go forth to battle
Gideon is doing what he thinks needs to be done
Gideon is getting as many people together as he can to be ready to move forward into battle
He must have been quite surprised for God to tell him to leave most of his help behind
This truly did not make common sense
This was against everything that Gideon knew to be true when preparing for combat
What if God told us to leave some things behind as we were preparing to face our biggest opposition?
Would we trust Him? Would we even believe that it was Him because he was advising us to do something that did not make any sense to us in our common sense approach to problems
Some of us think that we have God all figured out and even when He tries to change our patterns of approach we think that we can correct Him as if our ways are better
What if Gideon in this passage of scripture ignored God because truly it did not make sense to leave so many of his troops behind?
This could have been discouraging to the men that went forth
What if Gideon doubted the fact that God wanted to use the people that lapped instead of the people that kneeled
I know in my mind the people that kneeled seemed to be more holy. Had God put me in that situation I probably would have chosen these people just because they looked holy. I was sure that God was going to tell Gideon to choose the people that bowed they sounded so gracious. Even as I write this sermon I keep looking at the text to be sure that God chose the “lappers”.
Many of us are making that same mistake right now. The people that we surround ourselves with sometimes look holy and sound holy but are they really in a relationship with God.
These people that bowed may have been in a relationship with God and they could have actually been holy but they weren’t chosen by God. That is so important. If we simply tune in to what God is saying we can successfully surround ourselves with God’s chosen people.
If I had been in this group of soldiers I am sure that I would have probably been one of the ones that lapped not because I wanted to be chosen but because I am usually not looking holy. I could never really relate or fit into the “in” crowd.
Sometimes God may call us to make an unorthodox move to send His word forth. Are we prepared to be used by Him in such a manner as this?
If Gideon had went forth into battle with all of the people because it made more sense to him then he stood a great chance of losing the Lord on his side
We have to realize that the whole reason that God wanted to eliminate some of the people in the first place was to ensure that after they gained the victory then they would give God the glory
God desires to put us in the same situations
He wants us to realize that it is not because of all the tools and different things that we are using why we are guaranteed victory
It is only because he is on our side. And with God on our side that is always more than enough
CONCLUSION
Many of us have tools that we have stored up for battle and the reason we are waiting to go to battle is because we are still getting ourselves together
We must be careful that the Lord is not saying “Go with what you have”
Some of us have so many tools that we have actually been slowed down by them
We must be careful that God isn’t saying, “Leave this, that or the other behind and move forward now!”
Some of us are just sitting there wondering what is going on and what should we do next. Well I suggest to this group to reorganize and God will bless in our reorganization
Things will begin to be exposed to us as we reorganize our thoughts and actions
Let’s Pray
Thank You. May God continue to bless you and keep you. Amen
Your Friend
Minister Juan D. Lane
