Judges Study - 2026-09-30

Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.

If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.

Thank you for joining us today.

Jesus, we thank you that we can gather together tonight. We thank you, Lord, that we are here

among friends in fellowship with each other, Lord, and in fellowship with your Spirit, Lord. We

thank you, Lord, that your Spirit and your Kingdom, Lord, are within us, God. And wherever we go, God,

your presence goes with us. We thank you for this opportunity, God, to just immerse ourselves

in Scripture, Lord. And through that process, we grow closer to you, Lord, and closer to your

heart, God. And you go closer to us, and we begin to learn more of your ways, Lord. You teach us

through Scripture. You guide us through Scripture, God. You are a light to us. And we pray, God,

that you just open up our hearts, God, and clear our minds, Lord, to receive what you have for us

tonight, Lord. And we pray that you speak to us through your Spirit, Lord, and we will become

more in tune, more aware, God, of you and your presence in our life and the direction you have

for us, Lord. We pray for opportunities, Lord, to take your Kingdom to those around us, Lord,

in a real, tangible way. In Jesus' name, amen. All right. So we are in Judges 7 tonight.

And Judges 6, you know, Israel was once again in this cycle of rebellion and oppression and sin.

For seven years, the Midianites had basically devastated the land and destroyed the crops and

livestock, forcing the Israelites to hide in caves. And through all of this, God calls an unlikely

hero by the name of Gideon, who himself is hiding and is in fear. And we'll learn more about that

by the end of chapter 6 that John took us through last week, Gideon was reluctantly answering the

call of God to gather an army and to begin looking across the valley at the massive Midianite force

that was in front of them. So it kind of sets the stage for what's going to be happening in

Judges 7. Now, I named this the original 300, because if you're a guy, most likely a guy,

you saw the 300 movie years ago with Gerard Butler. And it was very much a guy movie,

so just lots of just great, you know, violent scenes. And it's, you know, it's the story of,

you know, Leonidas, the Spartans, and they were going up against the just

massive and destructive Persian army. And this is a story that even if you haven't seen the movie,

you know, you most likely have heard the story of Leonidas and the 300 Spartans who held off for a

brief time the Persians and the immortals. And, you know, they were strategically placed in this

narrow pathway, thermopoly, it was called, and only a certain amount of Persians could get through

at a time. So they did a devastating amount of work to the army before they eventually

succumbed to them. But they had similar odds against them. It was 300 Spartans

against, you know, between they say 100 and 150,000 Persians. And we'll see here that there are

about 300 of the Israelites, of Gideon's Israelites, going against 130,000 Midianites. Not just

the way that they went about battle was radically, radically, radically different. Leonidas was a very,

you know, egotistical, strong, you know, man who relied on his strength and his leadership,

whereas Gideon did the exact opposite that we will see. So let's start with the text.

So Judges 7-1 starts out. Early in the morning, Jerobo, that is Gideon, and all his men

camped at the spring of Herod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley

near the hill of Moreh. So it already starts out with something a little confusing. Jerobo

was the name Gideon received after tearing down his father's altar to Baal in chapter 6.

It essentially means, let Baal contend with him. Now, I have no idea. I kind of researched this and

I really can't come up with any reason why they introduced this name and then just abandoned it.

So, you know, they gave him this name and it had some meaning to it, but then they immediately go

back to Gideon. So some of you might be a little bit more astute at researching that and might

find out why. And he did that because I'm sure there's always a reason.

It's just a matter of being able to find it. So this is a significant thing to think about

in context of what happened here and what is happening here. So before Gideon could go up

against the enemy and before he could be the hand of God, you know, going against the Midianite,

God had to confront the idols inside his own household, inside his own camp. So, you know,

if we look back to Judges 6, 25 to 32, Gideon destroys the Baal altar and then the Spirit of

closed Gideon and he begins to gather the army. So, you know, he had to deal with what was in

his own camp before he could go out. So just to give you some context, and I looked for

some photographs here and some maps to try to give you a little context and I just couldn't

really find anything that gave the right perspective of the lay of the land, let's

just say. So they were at the base, so Gideon and his men, they were at the base of Mount

Gilboa. So at the spring of Herod. So centuries later, Saul would be in this exact same location.

They have it as a slightly different name in 1 Samuel 29.1, but it's the same exact location. So

he gathered his armies here as well, Saul did, and it was at the same spot, Mount Gilboa,

and he was fighting the Philistines. And unlike Gideon, you know, who ultimately trusted in God

in 1, Saul acted out of fear, he acted out of his own ambition, and he ultimately died in battle

in this very spot centuries later. So, Midian was camped down below in the valley. So they were at

the base of the mountain where the spring was, and we'll talk about the spring in a minute,

and the Midianites and Malachites, they were all down further in the valley.

So, let's move on to 2 and 3. So the Lord said to Gideon,

you have to take many men. You have to take many men. I cannot deliver Midian into your hands,

or Israel would boast. No, he says, I'm sorry. You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into

your hands, or Israel would boast against me. My own strength has saved me. Now announced to the army,

anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead. So 20,000 men left,

while 10,000 remained. You have too many men. Just what a leader wants to hear before he goes into battle.

So, as he's facing already, what did I say? Four to one odds. So there was 130 some thousand odd

Midianites and Malachites, and there was 32,000 of them. Big odds. So every person,

every Israelite would have had a kill, four. That's pretty significant odds, but God makes

this incredible statement, you have too many men. So the people were too many for God to give

the Midianites into their hands. So out of 32,000, 20 some thousand left, and he was left with 10.

From Gideon's perspective, he had too few already with the 32,000. From God's perspective,

he had too many. So God says,

with that many, you might be able to say you kind of did it on your own.

And what I love about this is, you know, God knows our hearts. He just knows our hearts.

And he knows human nature. I mean, he knows that, especially in battle like this, or

people rely on themselves. And how often do we struggle with this idea ourselves?

Quick to do something on our own, quick to do something in our own strength.

I don't know about you, but I do it far too often. I'm quick to jump in with

my solution to things, and I'll get this done for you. And in doing that, we rob God of the glory

that's due him. So God knew this, and God is engineering circumstances that

will not allow anyone with reasonable logic to look at it and attribute it to human strength.

It'll be, he's laying out a scenario that is impossible to have been done with human

strength. So Gideon's left with 10,000 men after 22,000 leave.

So this is not the first time that God has, shall we say, coached his people

through this. It's not the first time that God has challenged the strength of man, saying,

you can't do this on your own. You might think you can, but you can't do this on you. And if

you do it on your own, you won't receive the blessing that I have for you, and I won't get

the glory that I need to get from this. So Deuteronomy 28 says, this is where

God is giving instructions for various things, and one of these things is warfare.

So he's giving instructions to Israel, and he basically says, if any one of you is

afraid or faint-hearted, let him go home, said his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened.

So this is not just a kingdom principle and a God principle, but this is just

one of those things that just has absolute truth to it. We've all been around

people who are encouragers, and they pull us forward with them. And we've also been around people

who are downers, and they bring us down with them. We've been around courageous leaders

that we would follow anywhere. Do you remember another, not so much of a guy movie, but it

could be a guy movie, The Patriot with Mel Gibson. Do you remember at the end where they're

basically on the retreat, they're getting crushed, and the British army is just going

full force after him, and they are running in fear, and Mel Gibson picks up the flag and starts

running against the grain of his men. And he's saying, follow me, and they all just turn and

follow him, and it just turned the complete force of what was happening against them for them.

So there's a spiritual aspect of this, but then there's also an emotional and mental aspect of

this where God is saying in Deuteronomy, look, if you're going to be fearful and faint-hearted,

just stay back, because we need men of courage here. And he was saying the same thing to Gideon

speaks. Zechariah 4.6 says, this is the word of the Lord to Zerubal, not by might, nor by power,

but by my spirit, says the Lord. And when we have faith in those words and we're able to move

forward with that, we're not believing in ourselves, we're believing in who's in us,

and for us, and behind us, and driving us forward. So God was simply reducing Gideon's army by

eliminating their ability to take credit for it. So he was systematically reducing it. So

think about it this way, in our own lives. Sometimes it's not necessarily God taking something away

from us, but it's God removing something from us that's prohibiting us from trusting him.

So it's not taking away something that's of value, something that we need,

it's maybe something that we're leaning on too heavy, something that we're trusting in too much,

instead of trusting in him. 4-8 says, 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. So Gideon took the men down to the water. This would be the spring, by the way.

There the Lord told him, separate those who lapped the water with their tongues

as a dog lapsed from those who kneeled down to drink. So 300 of them

drank from cupped hands, lapping like a dog. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.

The Lord said to Gideon, with the 300 men that lapped, I will save you and give the Midianites

into your hands. Let all the others go home. So Gideon sent the rest of the Israel's home,

but kept the 300 who took over the provisions and the trumpets of others.

So it's a weird scene, right? But God is saying, you still have too many people.

But what a weird way to separate, right? I mean, it's kind of, it's weird.

But this gives you kind of a visual of what was happening. So you had some who were bending over

and others who were, you know, kind of sitting upright and drinking like this.

So God separated them according to how they drank. Now, there's some teaching that says, well,

the reason that God did this was a very practical reason because, you know, the ones that were

sitting up and they were ready or standing up and doing this, they were alert. Their heads were

up. They were watching around them in their circumstances, while those that knelt down were

much more vulnerable. We don't know. The text is not explicit about it. And again, you know,

there's conjecture about various things, but we just know that sometimes God does obscure things

to just make a point of something. And this was one of them. So he just separated them based

on, based on that. So 300 were chosen. So we went from 32,000 to 10 to 300.

So each man, each man, if they were going into battle, would have to kill 450 millionites.

One person would have had to kill 450 millionites. That's impossible. I mean, it's impossible.

I mean, just think about it. And that's exactly what God wanted. So God wanted the impossible.

A small force, because the size of the force was part of the message that God was saying.

And again, this isn't the first time something like this has happened. First

annual 14-6, Jonathan said to his young armor bearer, come, let's go over to the outpost

of those uncircumcised men. Perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord

from saving, whether by many or by few. So he basically just says to his young armor

bearer, not even a warrior, someone that's, let's just go over to these uncircumcised men

and take care of business because God is going to be with us.

So, Psalm 27 says, some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord

our God. We trust in that. 2 Corinthians 12.9 reminds us that God's power is made perfect

in our weakness. And that is oftentimes so difficult for us to process, that God can do

the impossible through our weakness. Why was he doing this? Because impossible circumstances

make God's involvement unmistakable. God turns a difficult battle into a humanly impossible

battle. So let me share something with you on a personal note.

So, my company, I have a small company. My company over the past two weeks

lost a significant, significant piece of business, like the kind of business,

the kind of loss that can crush a company like ours. And I had to lay off

some people, which was just weighing so heavy on me. Some good people, people that had been

there for a long time. And this had been weighing and weighing and weighing on me

because I could see how impossible, such a large piece of business. And as I was

talking to the team after we had to lay some people off, I'm saying to them,

we don't have anything in front of us right now. We don't have anything in our pipeline

that's even a fraction of the size of what we just lost. So there's nothing in front of us

that's even close to it. The chances of us landing a piece of business like that

in the near future, it's impossible, almost. So I laid some people off Monday, and I'm laying

in bed Monday night, and I'm just about nodding off. And God gives me this, and I've been working

on this lesson since last week. And God just gives me this gentle nudge

and says, you're not connecting the dots here, are you?

And I thought for a minute, and I'm there, how could I have not been connecting the dots

with this lesson and with my situation? I'm faced with impossible odds. And I'm basically

even telling my own team that the ability to do this is just not going to happen in the near future.

Could happen six months down the road as we work on it. But something that

is impossible for me, and this all comes down on my shoulders because I'm

the owner of the company. So I'm bearing that weight. And God is saying, aren't you connecting

the dots here? Aren't you connecting the dots, Gideon? And it just dawned on me that I can't,

that it is impossible for me in this situation, but it's not impossible for God. God can do

anything. In fact, my perspective, I was holding God back from this.

So it's a powerful lesson for us to learn, and we don't like these kind of lessons. We don't,

none of us, none of us want to be in a situation where we feel vulnerable and helpless.

We don't. We build up strongholds around us, whether those strongholds are our wealth, whether those

strongholds are people that help us, whether those strongholds are positions in our workplace.

We build up strongholds. We build up things around us that keep us protected

and strong because we don't want to be vulnerable. And God needs us

to be weaker and vulnerable so he can be his strength for us because impossible circumstances

make God's involvement and God's glory and God's power unmistakable.

What's humanly impossible, what Gideon was looking at here, was humanly impossible.

You can't not give the glory to God.

So 9 through 11. Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley. During that night,

the Lord said to Gideon, get up, go down to the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands.

If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant, Pura, and listen to what

they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp. So he and Pura, his servant,

went down to the outpost. God knows that Gideon is still afraid. He knows. And God says,

get up, go down to the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands. And notice the tense.

God speaks directly of the victory before it even happens. It's over before it even started.

God is telling him the victory is already yours.

But God is saying to Gideon, it's so, you know, to watch God as he's guiding Gideon through this

is just to me, just such a picture of a shepherd and how God leads us through these places.

God is basically saying, if you're afraid to go down, because he knows Gideon is still afraid,

he knows our hearts. He knows in the situations how we feel. We put up a front to people

that sometimes makes people view us differently, but God knows our heart.

So this is important because Gideon's faith, when we think of Gideon, when you think of that picture

that I had up in the beginning, my perception often of Gideon is that he's this fearless leader

with confidence who went into battle with 300 men and basically took out 130,000. But it's not

really who Gideon was. Gideon repeatedly struggled with fear and lack of confidence back in Judges

6.15. How can I save Israel? He says, how can I do it? Judges 6.17, Gideon says, well, okay, God,

if you think you're going to do this for me, give me a sign of some sorts. Judges 6.27, you know,

the altar at night because he's afraid of what the others are going to do and what they're going to

say. Judges 6.36, he asked for another sign. And then in Judges 7.10, you know, God just says,

come on, I know you're still afraid. And what God is saying here is when he's saying go down

to the camp, God is telling Gideon to move towards his fear. Go towards your fear and face your fear.

God is transitioning him from hiding from the Midianites to confronting them.

He's forcing him to confront his own fear. There's a great quote that I love.

It's not a scripturally-based quote. It's from a Roman stoic named Seneca. And he said,

we suffer more in our imaginations than we do in our reality.

Think about that for a minute. We suffer more thinking of the worst case scenario.

We suffer more worrying about what someone might think or do. We build things up in our minds and

we go over and over and over and over and over again in our minds, making it out to be this

huge thing that nine times out of ten turns out to be nothing, right? We suffer more and we are

fearful more in our minds than anywhere in reality. And that is a truth. And people,

it's something that we have to change because you're going to see here that when

Gideon changed his mindset, everything changed. We have to change our minds. That's what the word

repent means is we change our minds, we change our direction, we change and we go in that

opposite direction. We have to learn to use the power that God has given us to change how we

think about things. Scripture is loaded. It's everywhere in Scripture where it tells us to

think about these things. Think about what's good. Think about what's pure. Think about what's

right. Set your minds on things above. Set your minds on Christ. Look at the power of these,

but we have to focus on what God has in front of us and who God is in us

instead of allowing these things to build up in our minds because that is exactly,

exactly what was happening to Gideon. He was suffering in his mind and in his imagination

and that fear was building up. And God is saying, go down to that camp.

Go down and listen to what they are saying. With your own ears, Gideon, listen to what's happening

and be encouraged. Be encouraged. So the Hebrew idea behind this word encouraged is it carries

a sense of be strengthened by what you hear down there. Be made firm by what you hear down there.

So be strengthened by this. So Gideon needs this level of reassurance and God is saying,

go down to that camp and listen with your own ears. So God didn't send him into the camp

to learn whether he could win or not. He didn't send him down there to alter strategy or to

steal strategy or to understand what they were doing. He had already promised him that he was

going to win. He sent them down to build confidence, to build his faith. And notice that God didn't

remove what Gideon feared. He just took him closer to it so he could see what it was.

So faith, for us, faith isn't the absence of fear.

Faith is obedience while fear is presence. We believe and we push through that fear.

Joshua 1.9, be strong and courageous. The Lord your God is with you.

2 Timothy 1.7, God has not given us a spirit of fear.

12 through 15.

The Amininites and the Malachites and all the other eastern people that had settled in the valley

thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.

That's a sight to see. Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream.

I had a dream, he was saying, a round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite

camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent turned over and collapsed.

His friend responded, this can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon,

son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands.

So they were fearful as well. When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation,

he bowed down and worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out,

get up, the Lord has given the Midianite camp into our hands.

So God lets Gideonite hear with his own eyes, with his own ears.

Even though he does, what's he see? He sees this overwhelming army, thick as locusts.

So many camels like the sand, you know, on a shore. He's face to face with the size of this army,

yet he hears this and Gideon listens as they describe the dream, a loaf of barley

as it tumbles into the camp.

Why barley? What's the significant of barley? You know, barley was a common, inexpensive grain.

You remember, I don't know, six months ago when we were talking about, in Acts,

the spring festivals where we talked about the first fruits. There's two festivals of the

first fruits and the first one was barley and it was the lesser grain. So wheat is considered,

you know, the better grain. So barley is common, it's inexpensive grain, it's associated with

ordinary people and it perfectly represents Gideon, right? Because that's who he is. So

he considered himself insignificant, Gideon did, least of the weakest clan. So barley loaf

represents kind of humble meek Gideon or Israel. The tent represents the powerful Midianite army

and the loaf overturns the tent because God uses the weak to defeat the strong. So God

chose the weak or the lesser things to display his strength. And this became so evident to Gideon

that when he went down there and he came back and said, yep, this is ours. God's given it to us.

1 Corinthians 1, 27, you know, God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.

God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. The power wasn't in the barley loaf,

it was in the God who sent the barley loaf.

What we bring to the kingdom is not because of us. It's not because of our goodness and our

talent and our abilities or our prosperity. It's not because of anything that we have,

it's because of God's Spirit, God's kingdom in us. It's him in us.

Gideon's circumstances didn't change. Nothing changed. He still saw this massive

army before him. What changed was his perspective. There were still 300 Israelites going up against

135,000 Midianites. His mindset changed. How he viewed the situation changed.

God opened up his eyes.

And God was about to accomplish extraordinary things through this ordinary person.

And he does the same through us when we have faith and when we believe.

Another bit of that scripture that just really spoke to me was when Gideon's eyes were opened

to this, when the light was turned on for him, he immediately worshiped God.

He immediately worshiped God. So before he fought, before he engaged, he worshiped God and thanks him.

His heart was now ready. His heart was ready. And you can see through this next bit of scripture

that when his mindset changed, when his heart was ready, his attitude changed.

Everything about him changed. And he began to not make excuses and not be fearful,

but he began to think strategically for God.

Dividing 300 men into three companies, he placed, this is Gideon, dividing 300

into three companies. He placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them with torches

inside. Watch me, he told them, follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp,

do exactly as I do. When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets,

then from all around the camp, blow yours and shout for the Lord and for Gideon.

So first of all, this is a very strange battle plan.

Wouldn't you agree? Not quite what we would expect. Most definitely not what Leonidas

would have done with the Spartans. Leonidas was going head on with the Immortals,

but his mind shift, his mind and his perspective have shifted from fear and doubt and reservations to

strategically, here's how we're going to do this, guys. Unconventional, but strategic.

So he divides them up. He's got trumpets, he's got empty jars, he's got torches,

and they're not conventional battlefield weapons.

So we have a man who was a chapter ago, and even in the beginning of this chapter,

a leader that was fearful and not confident to someone who was bold, confident, fearless.

He was a different man. He was a different man.

19 through 22 says Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp

at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard.

They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands. The three companies blew

the trumpets and smashed the jars, grasping the torches in their left hands and holding them in

their right hands. And the trumpets, they were blow. They shouted a sword for the Lord and for

Gideon while each man held his position around the camp. All the Midianites ran, crying out

as they fled. When the 300 trumpets sounded, the Lord calls the men throughout the camp to

turn on each other with their swords. The army fled to Beth Sheeta toward Zera,

as though the border of Abel and Menelah near Tabith. So this is the attack. Not at all what we

were expecting. But picture this. I mean, just picture you're in that camp and you're in a deep

sleep and it's dark and suddenly you're awakened by smashing jars, trumpets blasting every direction,

torches appear, you know, in the camp. Hundreds of men shouting, you know, you wake up already

disoriented. The Midianites believe that they are surrounded by a massive army, panic erupts

in their midst. And in the darkness and in the chaos, they begin attacking each other.

Pretty good plan, right? Pretty good plan. So there were three groups of 100 and they were

tactically around the camp and they were causing so much chaos that they didn't even go in

with swords. They didn't even go in with weapons. They didn't even go in with all of these things

because the Midianites basically killed themselves.

Powerful, powerful, powerful thing.

And the last section here says Israelites from Natali, Asher and Manasseh were called out.

They pursued the Midianites. Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country to Ethraim

saying, come down against the Midianites and seize the waters of the Jordan ahead of them

as far as Beth Bara. So all the men of Ethraim were called out and they seized

waters of the Jordan as far as Beth Bara. They also captured two of the Midianite leaders, Orib

and Zeb. They killed Orib on the rock of Orib and Zeb on the wine press of Zeb.

They pursued the Midianites and brought the heads of Orib and Zeb to Gideon who was by the Jordan.

So in all of this chaos, they flee. And now all of a sudden the battle expands to more.

And I immediately said, well, wait a minute here. Didn't God just say, okay, the 300,

that's going to be it because I'm going to use 300? Gideon wasn't disobedient to God here.

By calling for additional Israelites, we have to look at the timing of this.

So God chose the 300 to break the Midianite army. So he says, with 300 men that lapped,

I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. He said in 7 and 7.

There's a nuance in here. So God didn't say human participation was unnecessary.

He demonstrated that human participation wasn't the source of the victory. So he broke the camp

and then the rest just kind of took care of what else was going on. So once it was broken,

the Israelites participated in pursuing and God gives them the victory.

So Gideon started out by saying, how can I save Israel?

And he learned here that the answer to that was he couldn't. He couldn't save Israel,

but God could through him. And so often this is my response. What can I do

to help? What can I do if my kids have a problem or my grandkids or if a friend or if someone at

work or even this situation at work, people are looking to me as to what can I do to fix this

problem? And the answer is nothing. I can do nothing. We trust in me.

So this story is ultimately not a story about what Gideon did with 300,

which is the story that went through history about Leonidas in the 300. Look what Leonidas

did with just 300 men against the Persians. This isn't a story about what Gideon did with 300.

It's a story about God's power on display through human weakness.

And this should be, people, the story of our lives. God's power on display in us.

A couple things.

God sometimes reduces our resources to increase our dependence on him.

God wants us to lean on him, not on what's around us.

Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is pushing through the fear.

I would often ask my dad. My dad was in World War II and he was in a B-24 Liberator and he was a

Liberator was about four to five missions and my dad was on 36 missions.

And I would ask him, I said, weren't you afraid? He said, yeah, I was terrified.

I was terrified, but I just did it. I just did it. I had to do it. He just pushed through.

So courage isn't the absence of fear. It's the ability to push through when fear is all around us

and in us. God is already working where you are afraid to go. We all have places where

we're afraid to go and things we're afraid to do. God knows these fears that are in our hearts.

We don't always make them known to others around us, but God knows them and he's already working

us through those fears, whether we know it or not. God uses ordinary people to accomplish

extraordinary things, that's you and I. The battle belongs to God, but we still have to participate

in it. So God didn't need Gideon to be fearless or his army to be strong. He simply needed them

to trust and obey and show up, and he did the rest. And that's exactly what happened.

We don't have to have all the answers. We don't have to have all of the resources. We don't have

to have the strength. We don't have to have the confidence. We simply have to have the courage

to show up, to trust in God, and take those next steps. Sometimes the 300 in our lives,

the place where we feel outnumbered or inadequate is exactly where God teaches us

that his strength is greater than our limitations, where he says, my grace is sufficient,

for my power is made perfect in your weakness.

Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church as we praise God and discuss his word.

Don't forget to join us for Worship Live Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.

Be blessed and have a great day!