A Mighty Man Of Valour

• A pickup truck came racing by and knocked them off the road into the ditch

• The farmer sued for damages: Including loss of work time, claiming he had a broken leg, some facial injuries, and several cracked ribs that kept him bedridden

• The defense attorney told the judge, "Your honor, shortly after the accident occurred, my client heard the farmer say he had never felt better in his life!"

The farmer explained, “Yes your honor, that is exactly what I said, but let me explain why I said that. After he ran my dog, my horse and me off the road, we were lying in the ditch. The driver of the truck got out of his truck.

• Seeing that my horse had a broken leg, he took out his shotgun and shot my horse to put him out of his misery.

• Then noticing that my dog was bleeding and suffering terribly, he shot my dog.

Then he stood over the top of my mangled body, holding his gun, and asked, “How are you feeling?” I said, “Never felt better in my life!"

Today we want to talk about another farmer that had some problems of his own. His name was Gideon. The angel of the Lord appeared unto Gideon, and said he was a, “mighty man of valour!”

WHAT MADE GIDEON SUCH A MIGHTY MAN OF VALOUR?

He goes down in Hebrews 11 as one of the great heroes of the faith. We see from the scriptures:

• It was not because of his charming personality

• It was not because he came from an affluent family

• It was not because of his achievements in academics

Look at Judges 6:12 “And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.”

Look at the word “Valour”, this is the Hebrew word, chayil, (khah'-yil) which means MIGHT, POWER, RICHES, STRENGTH, STRONG, SUBSTANCE.

When you take adjectives like this to describe a man, you know you are not talking about an ordinary man. But notice, WHY HE WAS NO ORDINARY MAN, “And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, THE LORD IS WITH THEE, thou mighty man of valour.”

Some might be saying, “Preacher, the Lord is with everyone, He is omnipresent, wherever man is, God is there.” This is true, but the scripture here is talks about GOD BEING WITH GIDEON IN A VERY SPECIAL WAY!

Illus: For example, you fellows remember when you got married. The church was full of people, and you were with all of your guests that were there. But there was a very special girl that had stolen your heart, and you were with her in a way that was different from everyone else.

She was so special to you that you could care less if everybody else went home, just as long as she stayed. SHE WAS AND STILL IS PRECIOUS TO YOU!

We can be in a crowd of people, but at the same time we are with many, there can be one special person there that stands out above all others.

Illus: This is how Paul Harvey must have felt when he was inducted into the radio Hall of Fame. When he gave his induction speech, he told everyone that this was one of the greatest moments of his life. He could have compared that moment in his life to many wonderful things that had happened to him, but he compared that very special time when he was inducted in the hall of fame, to the thrill of kissing his wife.

We have these very special relationships in our lives that are different from all the rest. And we know that THIS VERY SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP Gideon had with the Lord, was something he wanted, because God does not force Himself on anyone.

You see, we have a world full of people that do not want God in their lives. They want to fill their lives with sin, and the activities of this world, and there is no room in their lives for God.

Illus: God gives them a 168 hours a week, and they will not give him one hour a week. They do not want God in their lives. And God honors their wishes and stays out.

But Gideon was not this way. God was with this MIGHTY MAN OF VALOUR! He was no ordinary man. Let’s look at his life. First we need to look at -

I. THE CALL OF GIDEON

A. THE PERSON

Look at Judges 6:11, "And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah…”

Notice, the angel of the Lord appeared unto this mighty man of valour! HE WAS NO ORDINARY MAN. However, we have a lot of ORDINARY people today who claim they have had the same kind of experience. Sometimes we will hear them say: