 This story starts with the fact that Israel the people who Gideon belong belong to that they didn't serve God They disobeyed God and as a result of that they found themselves in bondage and they found themselves in some really shady waters They found themselves in some big problems and God sent them a prophet to warn them that what they were doing is not good But they still didn't obey God and so next thing that God does God doesn't plan how to wipe him out or destroy them God is looking for a man with whom he can share his plan and his desire to save the country and he finds this man Who is least likely hero Gideon and begins to tell him that he wants to use him to set his country free And of course Gideon says no way. That's not me. I am I am not the kind of guy. I don't want to be a hero I don't want to help nobody. I'm just trying to here survive Let me just kind of pause for a moment and tell you something about our God Different people have different obsessions Some people are obsessed with shoes some with purses others with cars Some people are obsessed with houses some with clothes Some people are obsessed with Instagram some would snapchat and others with Twitter God also has an obsession God's obsession is also God's weakness God's obsession is people. He's always been obsessed with people When he made the Sun the stars and the moon and everything He set on his throne opened his mouth and everything was made When it comes to making you and me God got down from his throne Rolled up his leaves sleeves and the Bible says with his hands. He made us with his hands Angels were on the side and they took notice He has a special interest in the human species and When we disobeyed God They thought God will do what he did to Satan when Satan disobeyed God. He simply said that that's it It's over. I'm preparing a lake of fire and that's where you will go Except what people disobeyed God? God started to move things so that these people don't go to hell and angels took an aside and they noticed He's obsessed with people When they make mistakes he moves heaven and earth He lets Jesus go on across and die for them because somehow these people are important to him and When Jesus died on the cross for us for people and he went to heaven God sends the Holy Spirit so that the rest of the people will find God God uses his army instead of protecting heaven. He dispatches his army to protect people God's obsession always has been people God didn't care about gold. God didn't care about diamonds and God didn't care about silver God always cared about people God didn't care about planets or even universes. That wasn't his main Obsession what's on his mind always was always is and always will be a human people You and I Are his obsession? God narrows his whole attention and his whole care to one thing and one thing alone And that is humans He doesn't necessarily like Specific people. He likes all kinds of people people who are good and people who are bad People who are smart and people who are not so smart People who do good things in life and people who don't measure up in life people who are white or black tall or short young or old God's obsession is people and Satan knows that Satan knows the way you get back at God You don't create an army and go against God. That's completely pointless. You'll never stand the chance But if you mess with people It's his weakness It hurts God when people hurt To that degree that at one time God said that people matter to me so much that any time you touch my people He said you touch an apple of my eye. I Don't know if ever an accident you scratched on the apple of your eye or something some little thing God underneath and how sensitive it has become to you when your eye was Touched inappropriately. I Want to let you know today every single human being that walks on the streets of our city Is as tender and as important to God as your eyes God's obsession is people God loves people God loves sick people and God loves healthy people God loves people who believe in him and those who turned their back and even don't want to acknowledge his existence God loves people who worship him and God also grieves and hurts and loves people Who want to have nothing to do with him? God loves people That's why he started the church for people That's why God wants to give miracles for people not to elevate the man That's why God wants to ask to have home groups for people That's why we invite people not so that we can just grow an organization or the social club can become big But because God's heart from the beginning and it is now his attention and his obsession has always been people and When you get close to God you find out that to be true Because God loves people and there's so many of them on earth There are seven billion something people on earth every single one of them is as important to God as you are Every one of them is as important to God as you are God doesn't have a luxury of choosing Percentage of people that he loves and the other percentage who cares what happened to him God doesn't have a luxury of saying this is my people and these people well their heathens well Their Muslims whether Hindus whether well their Buddhists well their atheists Well their pagans well their Satanists God doesn't have a luxury of seeing the world through those eyes The way that God sees the world is that every single person who bleeds bread who bleeds red and who has Nostrils and who has breath in their nostrils. God looks at them and his heart beats for them as A mother's child as mother's heart beats for his child You know the brother that I presented today with the dreadlocks is actually my brother But many years ago he wasn't serving Jesus. I am the oldest of five. I have two brothers and two sisters and when my brother wasn't serving the Lord and The enemy took hold of his soul and he was doing a lot of other things that were not healthy He was making poor decisions and these poor decisions will hurt my mom and my dad Sometimes it will hurt them so much that when I would walk into the house of my parents and my brother wouldn't be there my parents will be depressed and Sometimes he got in literally you it became kind of Depressing to walk into their house Well, I would avoid going to their house because I knew it's the same story My brother is not doing well and my parents are not doing good either and sometimes I would in my mind I wouldn't say it to my parents, but I would think in my mind not parents You have four siblings who are doing good and one Not so good Why don't we disown him? Why don't we focus on the four that are doing good and forget about one who's not doing good? I'm like and I was always upset in my heart. I'm like how can mom lose a perspective not see four One is a handsome youth pastor You know then they have two sisters who are doing really good I have a brother and all of them are serving God and here is one person who is not doing well Why don't you just get happy about four and not really? Don't lose perspective when you have one not serving God But see when you are a mom and you're a dad you don't have a luxury of seeing like that Only I can see like that, but if you're a mom and dad one person is not doing good. Nobody's doing good That's why the Bible says that Jesus will leave 99 and Go look for the one because if one is missing 99 is missing in God's eyes. God's obsession is people I want us to catch that tonight. This is not about bribing people to church This is not about just growing and making this big auditorium There is awesome places in tri cities where auditoriums are filled But this is about to communicate that there is a God who created people and people sinned against him And he loves them still and willing to do anything it takes so they are with him And they will never be happy until they're with him because he created us It's as though on purpose that we cannot function without him a fish cannot function without water Your body cannot function without air and your soul cannot function without God Without God no matter how much alcohol no matter how much money no matter how much things you throw into your soul It's this bottomless pit never no amount is ever enough until a drop of God's love comes in and something begins to bubble inside Something begins to kick in inside God loves people and Because God loves people God has a very big vision He comes to the Gideon and Gideon's insecurities are so high and Gideon's vision is so small His whole idea about life is how to survive his whole idea about life is how to go to work make money Sleep go to vacation and then repeat the whole thing again and God comes to him and says I want to save a whole Nation through you and Gideon says God you're speaking to the wrong tree. I am not that kind of person I don't want to be a hero. I never struggled with in see I never struggled with this savior syndrome when I was in high school everybody always wanted to reach high goals I never had any goals Because I don't care about these things. I don't even want to be a successful farmer God. I just want to survive and God says well you want to survive But I want to use you and I have a very big vision Why do you have this big vision because I have a big love for people? I Know this the day disobeyed me But my love for these people is bigger than that and I could overlook that and I want to pick them up and get it I want to use you. I Want to tell you something today each person if you're a follower of Jesus Christ You have no luxury of living a life of survival You have no luxury of living a life from paycheck to paycheck You don't have a luxury to live a life or just to get a bachelor's degree get married have two children a dog a truck and a house You can only do that if there would be no God and if there would be no hell and if there would be no savior And if there would be no Holy Ghost but because there is Holy Spirit because there is heaven because there is hell and because there is Pain and suffering in this world you and I do not have a luxury to know a God who loves the world And have a this tiny vision for this world that he loves and simply live a life caring about our pain and not caring about the pain of others When we rub shoulders with Almighty God The warmth of his love very soon will begin to touch our heart and we begin to see our life as very small Compared to this big vision God's big vision is because God's of big love God has big love and we want to keep up with God I want to see thousands and thousands of people give their lives to Jesus Every single service. I'm not talking about once a year. I'm talking about every single service the eight people who got baptized today I want to one day we will see on Wednesday night 80 people getting baptized Because why not because I am smart brilliant and talented and because I have big ambitions I grew up without any ambitions in life whatsoever But when my pastor started to introduce me to a God whose ambitions is so high because his love is so high It stretched my ambitions and my insecurities to at least a little bit more Maybe God can use a man like me with a thick accent a man who has maybe some physical other things that should have not been there But if God can use a man like this God can use a woman and a man like you To touch a generation and to touch people who today are suffering and he wants to pour his love through you and me You