God of The Underdogs, Week 2: Impossible Odds

When the odds are against you, God is for you.  Title of message:   Impossible Odds (Judges 6:6) (NIV)  Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help. (Judges 6:7-8) (NIV)  When the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian, he sent them a prophet, who said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 1.    God always chooses people. You have permission to believe that it’s YOU that God would want to use to change a circumstance. (Judges 6:12) (NIV) When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”  (Judges 6:13) (NIV) “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.” (Judges 6:14) (NIV) 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 6:15) (NIV) “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.” 2.    God’s not concerned with out excuses. (Judges 7:1) (NIV) Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. (Judges 7:2) (NIV) 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.    God loves to stack the deck against us. (Judges 7:3) (NIV) 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. (Judges 7:4) (NIV) 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.” (Judges 7:5-6) (NIV) 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.” Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink. (Judges 7:7) (NIV) 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.” (Judges 7:8) (NIV) So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites home but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others. 4.    God always asks us to trust His uncommon logic.  (Judges 7:9) (NIV) During that night the Lord said to Gideon, “Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands. (Judges 7:16) (NIV) Dividing the three hundred men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside. 5.    God always calls us to respond with bold obedience. (Judges 7:20) (NIV) 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!” (Judges 7:22) (NIV) When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the Lord caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords.