 Amen. So this morning we're going to look at the Judge Gideon and especially this, particularly this story in Judges chapter number seven. We're not really going to look at his entire life, but we're going to look at this particular story in Judges chapter seven and see what we can take from this story. I'm going to first preach through the story then I'll kind of give you the context for the sermon and we'll apply three lessons from this story to our lives this morning. So we see Gideon here or Jerubal as he is called in the Bible. He is sent into battle against the Midianites who have come up against the children of Israel. Look down at verse number one in Judges chapter seven where the Bible says then Jerubal who is Gideon and all the people that were with him rose up early and pitched beside the well of Herod so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them by the hill of Morah in the valley. And the Lord said unto Gideon the people that are with thee are too many for thee to give the Midianites into their hands lest Israel vault themselves against me saying mine own hand hath saved me. So what is about to follow here is kind of explained here in verse two. God is going to pare down the army of Gideon because God is going to show Gideon something amazing. He's going to show Gideon he wants the people that are with Gideon to know that something amazing has been done by the Lord. He doesn't want the people that are with Gideon to think we were stronger than the Midianites or we fought better or we were braver or we were more skillful. He wanted it to be completely obvious that it was all the Lord that did this and that's what verse number two is about. So he starts to pare down the army that's with Gideon. In verse number three the Bible says now therefore go to proclaim in all the ears of the people saying whosoever is fearful and afraid let him return and depart from Mount Gilead and the return to the people twenty and two thousand and there remained ten thousand. So if you look at just the numbers here and how many people have been pared down so far you know you're looking at an army of about thirty thousand people and about twenty two thousand or this that's what it says twenty two thousand were scared. I mean it's not like Gideon had a great army with him anyway but two thirds of the people were afraid to the point where you know this is like the story that you read about the heroes were like you know I remember like you know the Alamo or whatever stories like this where you know there was a this massive Santa Anna's army is coming against him with tens of thousands of soldiers and here you had a couple hundred guys and you know you hear these stories of you know Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett are there and they're like you know they they draw the line in the sand they're like anyone that wants to leave now you know can leave and like they all chose to basically they all chose to stay they all chose to stay even though they were facing certain death that's not the case here all right most of the people here were afraid and when you know Davy Crockett came to them and said you know I know you're afraid but anyone who's afraid can leave pretty much everyone left in this story all right so it's not really a story of of the bravery of man here all right so two thirds of them leave and but you know this is what God wanted but I'm just trying to point out that this wasn't a great army to begin with here look at verse number four then the Lord said unto Gideon the people are yet too many bring them down under the water so I'm sure Gideon's not really excited about his army at this point and God says we need to get smaller numbers here and the people are yet too many bring them down to the water and I'll try them for thee there and it shall be that whosoever 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 so he brought down the people under the water and the Lord said unto Gideon everyone that lapeth out of the water with his tongue as a dog lapeth him shall thou set by himself likewise everyone that boweth down upon his knees to drink and the number of them that lapped putting their hand to their mouth were 300 men but the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water so God says he's going to separate the men in this fashion and he does just seems kind of trivial but he basically says anybody that basically just puts their face in the water to drink I'm going to separate them in a pile and anyone that bows down on their knees and drinks out of their hand I'm going to separate them into a pile and the vast majority again we had 10,000 people that were left the vast majority of people just dropped their face right into the water and that was the 9,700 and then God says that 9,700 can go away and the people that drank with their hand they stay so God sends again sends the majority of the people away to the point where there's only 300 people left look down at verse number seven and the Lord said unto Gideon by the 300 men that lapped while I save you and deliver the Midianites into thine hand and let all the other people go every man unto his place so the people took victuals in their hand that means their their provisions their food their you know their their their stuff and their trumpets and he sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent and retain those 300 men and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley and it came to pass the same night that the Lord said on him arise get thee down unto the host for I have delivered it into thine hand the host meaning the enemy army but look at verse number 10 but if thou fear to go down go thou with fear and thy servant down to the host and thou shall hear what they say and afterwards shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host now God if you know anything about the story about Gideon in the previous chapters we've studied through this when we studied through judges but Gideon I don't want to say he lacked faith but you know he he required signs from God and God knew this about Gideon so you know he tells him to go down to the host but he's like all right if you're if you're nervous about that if you're scared about that I'm going to give you a sign basically he's like I'm going to show you some proof here and that's what the next few verses are look at verse number 12 so he went down with Fira serving under the outside of the armed men that were in the host so they sneak up to the edge of the army Gideon and his man Fira here and the Bible says in the Midianites and the Amicalites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude and their camels were without number as the sand of the sea side for multitude so we've got tens of thousands possibly hundreds of thousands of people in this army and Gideon again has 300 men and when Gideon was come behold there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow so they've snuck up to the edge of this army and he hears this man telling he hears a man from the enemy's army telling the story to another man in the enemy's army behold I dreamed a dream and well a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian and came onto a tent and smote it that it fell and overturned it that the tent lay along and his fellow answered and said this is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash a man of Israel for into his hand had God delivered Midian have God delivered Midian and all the host and it was so when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and the interpretation thereof that he worshiped and returned into the host of Israel and said arise for the Lord had delivered into your hand the host of Midian so he basically hears these two enemy soldiers talking about how you know there's this rumor spreading around this enemy army that you know the sword of the Lord and of Gideon is coming for them and the Lord is with Gideon and basically they're going to be destroyed by this man named Gideon so that gives Gideon the confidence to actually go and do what God said that he should do look at verse 16 he divided the 300 men into three companies and he put a trumpet into every man's hand with empty pitchers and lamps within the pitchers and he said to them look on me and do likewise and behold when I come outside the camp it shall be that as I do so shall ye do when I blow the trumpet I and all that are with me then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of the camp and say the sword of the Lord and of Gideon so they're going to announce who it is that is surrounding them verse 19 so getting in the hundred men that were with him remember he sent he's only got a hundred with him there's another hundred on the other side and there's another hundred around the camp so there's these 300 men and groups of hundred kind of in a you know in in kind of in a triangular shape around the plant the the army so Gideon the hundred men that were with him came onto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch and they had put new and they had newly set the watch and they blew the trumpets break the pitchers that were in their hands and the three companies blew the trumpets and break the pitchers and held the lamps in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands to blow with all and they cried the sword of the Lord and of Gideon and they stood every man in his place round about the camp and all the host ran and cried and fled now just imagine this scene you've got these few hundred men around the camp and it's at night and they they start making all this racket and blowing these trumpets and holding up these lamps and they cause panic in this entire army and what happens is the army just freaks out and they all turn on each other and they all start fighting each other and the army of Gideon does not appear to have to fight anyone here they just have to stand there and do what God told them to do and the army literally destroys itself hundreds of thousands of people just begin to destroy themselves as Gideon and his 300 men stand and watch this so this morning I want to give you three lessons from this story I'm gonna give you three lessons from the story of Gideon that we see here and really what I want to do is give you three lessons if so I guess the title of the sermon could be three lessons from Gideon but really you know what the point is is that how to have the Lord fight for you in your life because Gideon's men did not do the fighting here as a matter of fact the Lord told Gideon that he did not want his men to do the fighting at the very beginning which was the entire reason for paring down the army to almost no one from twenty some thousand or thirty thousand people down to just three hundred God was telling Gideon that I am going to do the fighting for you so how can we get God to do the same amazing things for us in our lives what we have to do is apply the exact same things that Gideon did here I mean look many people do not have faith that the Lord can do things for them in their life many people look I mean many people look I get it I get it many people don't think that the Lord can actually move things for them in their life I get it they don't think that because quite frankly and you're gonna see from these three items that I'm gonna show you this morning many people have never seen that happen in their life I'm gonna show you why many people are not really going to see that happen in their life but I'm gonna show you three things that Gideon did and three things that we can do to where we can see God move in our lives we can have God come in and fight these amazing battles for us look this was not something where Gideon and his army looked back on this and they're like man that was like that was a weird coincidence no they knew for sure that God had stepped in here and done something and I'm telling you that it is possible for you in your life to have God step in for you to where you will look at what happened as it's happening and say well the Lord is really moving things for me here how can I how can I have that happen I'm gonna give you three points this morning on exactly what Gideon did how we can apply that to our lives and get the same results look at verse number nine look at verse number nine verse number nine it says and it came to pass the same night that the Lord said unto him arise get thee down to the host for I've delivered it into thine hand the first thing that we need to do is arise and get to the host no matter what and then he knew that Gideon was going to be fearful yet he told him arise and get to the host God was not going to move if Gideon and his 300 men didn't actually go to the host go to the enemy army look you have to do what you're told by the Lord that's the first thing you can't stay where you put yourself in your life or where you can't stay where you think is best in your Christian life Gideon did no deciding here he just he just went where God told him to go and look most Christians will never get to this place most Christians are done with this sermon before I even got to point number one and that's the reason that they won't see God do amazing things like this in their life because they just want to stay where they are they just want to stay put look I think just think about this for a second if you're an analytical person think about this for just one second what are the odds what are the odds that when I mean spiritually and physically this applies to everything what are the odds that when you got saved you were in the right place physically and you were in the right place spiritually let me calculate it for you 0 the odds that you are in the right place spiritually are especially 0 and for many people the odds that you're in the right place physically are pretty much 0 once you get saved but what that's the nice thing about somebody knocking on your door and getting saved by somebody knocking on your door that means there's a church somewhere nearby that that person came from but this right here this first point this first point is why you know if you ever heard somebody like who's down on soul winning or a church or a pastor who doesn't like soul winning there you know one of the things that they'll say is well if all these people are getting saved out there you know how come you don't see these people at church well first of all you do see some of them at church but second of all the the answer is not that they're not getting saved the answer is that they're just staying put they're staying put they're not arising they're not listening when God says arise and get to church when God says arise and get into the Christian life now that you're saved they just not they're just not listening that's why I'm telling you most Christians won't even get past step one in this sermon they're just not going where God wants them to go it doesn't mean that they're not saved because you're not saved by going where God wants you to go going where God wants you to go is you doing something it's a work it's you doing what God wants you to do like it was an actual work for Gideon to take his 300 men give them the pictures give them the trumpets give them the lamps say you go over here I'm gonna go over here when you hear me do this look he's doing work there that's not what saves us but they're just staying put they're not going where God tells them to go and look like I said it's extra sad for somebody getting saved at the door because there's a church in their town it's not far away where the soul winner came from turn to Proverbs chapter 3 turn to Proverbs chapter number 3 you see why is that that when somebody gets saved they just I'm gonna read for you Psalm 37 verse 23 as you're turning to Proverbs 3 and you're gonna look at verse number 5 Psalm 37 in verse number 23 says this the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his way look not everyone's a good man not everyone's gonna do good not everyone's gonna go out there and do what the Lord wants them to do look at Proverbs 3 5 the Bible says trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding not everyone's gonna give the Lord all their trust but they they they trusted in Jesus for their salvation but not everybody is just gonna trust God with everything in their life they should but not everyone's gonna do that not everyone is gonna do the good thing not everyone's gonna do the right thing you know but when you see these things I was thinking about the mission strip and I was thinking about you know max's testimony this morning and it just it got me to thinking you know I got me just thinking about just my time at Verity Baptist Church I mean think about like I think about my time at Verity Baptist Church and I think about you know friends I had there I mean friends that I have there but I think about friends that I had there because there's certain friends that I had there that aren't there anymore there was a friend that I had there and his name was Matthew Stuckey and I mean he was he was a friend of mine that was that was at Verity Baptist Church he's no longer at Verity Baptist Church anymore I think of another friend of mine that was there a man named Joe Jones was there and I think about this time that we were all there and you know what it was really fun it was really fun when we were all there and we were at church and we got to hang out and see each other on three times a week but here's the thing about this man named Matthew Stuckey is Matthew Stuckey he moved to Verity Baptist Church he moved from where he was to Verity Baptist Church Joe Jones moved to Verity Baptist Church with his entire family for a very specific purpose to train to go into the ministry and I just got to thinking I just got to thinking what if this man Matthew Stuckey and what if this man Joe Jones what if they never would have moved there what if what if those two men would have just stayed where they were what if they just would have stayed put what if they did not arise and go where God wanted them to go Verity Baptist Church would still be there there'd still be hundreds of people that go to Verity Baptist Church I'm sure Verity Baptist Church would have still moved into this great new building is still just been would have been growing as a ministry if Matthew Stuckey and Joe Jones never moved there but guess what they didn't stay there and now Matthew Stuckey is Pastor Stuckey and Joe Jones is Pastor Jones and they're now leading ministries in Idaho and all of the world in the Philippines where countless souls are being saved because they decided to what to arise and go where God told them to go I mean if we never if we never kept going where the Lord wanted us to go what they could have just okay so maybe they just moved to Verity Baptist and then maybe we all just stayed there but they not only moved there for the first step but they kept arising and going where the Lord wanted them to go I mean look it was fun there it was fun it was fun all being together and being in that place but the problem is is that when the God says arise and go you have to arise and go if you want God to do what to do amazing things and that's exactly what is happening with Pastor Jones and Pastor Stuckey is amazing things are happening amazing things are happening in Fresno I mean I mean just think of the souls that are saved just think of the lives that are changed because God had men that would arise and go and then he could show his amazing work through that action but the point is most Christians won't even get to that first step most Christians won't even arise and go to church I mean you know how many you know you know how many levels above arising and going to church I just explained to you I mean you talk about people moving across the country to go to a church and then moving across the world and leaving everything behind so the Lord can do amazing works I mean it seems silly that somebody would get saved at the door and they wouldn't travel half a mile to go to church when you look at it from that perspective but that's exactly what the majority of people in the Christian life are doing it was like 30,000 people the vast majority 99% of this army went home and two-thirds of them went home gladly on their own because they were afraid so I think it's important to see the percentages of the people that were just gladly like we're afraid we're out of here and God knew that both the Christians today are exactly the same Christians today are exactly the same look at verse number 21 of Judges chapter 7 so the first point is this the first point is you have to arise and go to the host you have to get up and go where God wants you to go if you want God to move in your life do amazing things in your life you have to go where he wants you to be look at verse number 21 look at verse number 21 of Judges chapter 7 what's the second point the second point is this after they went to the host and they broke the pictures and they blew the trumpets and they screamed the sword of the Lord and of Gideon and chaos ensued and this army started destroying itself I'm sure this wasn't a super safe environment to just be standing there but look what it says that they did it says and they stood every man in his place round about the camp and all the host ran and cried and fled the second thing that you have to do you not only have to arise and go where God tells you to go you have to stay there you have to stand in that place you got to stay amongst the chaos at times you got to stay amongst the threatening scene and the danger and I mean look they stood the Lord fought but they stood there they stayed there they didn't run away they didn't run every man stood in his place amongst that fighting and amongst that chaos even though they weren't the ones fighting they stayed though turn to Psalm chapter 27 and that leads me straight to verse number the third point that I want to make this morning is that you have to stand there and you may have to you may have to wait on the Lord look at Psalm 37 look at verse I'm sorry Psalm 27 and verse number 14 they stayed amongst the chaos amongst the screaming amongst the fighting amongst the persecution amongst whatever comes in this Christian life you have to stay where God wanted you to be look at verse 14 of Psalm chapter 27 the Bible says this it says wait on the Lord look at this be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart and then he says again he says wait I say on the Lord you know what this is talking about here you know what this is telling us whenever the Bible repeats something you should listen the Bible is saying you know you're gonna have to be there for more than five minutes the Bible is saying wait on the Lord you have to stand every man in his place but it might not happen overnight you have to wait on the Lord you know be of good courage no matter what chaos is going on no matter what streaming is going on but see this time that we are in now this time this people this generation these these generations you know what the problem is we want everything right now we don't want to wait on anything America's today are just like yes I want it all right now but God is saying you're gonna have to wait on the Lord that means that there's a time variable in standing in the place that God wants you to stand you know be in the place God wants you you say for how long as long as it takes as long as he wants you there see people today they just it's it's pitiful but people today just that they have no staying power today go to James chapter 1 this is why Jacob said to his son Reuben he said unstable his water thou shall not excel because if you're unstable you can't stay anywhere you can't get ingrained you can't get set where God wants you to be you know unstable is water that shall not excel at what at anything your spiritual life your physical life your your life out in the world whatever it is James chapter 1 verse number 8 the Bible says a double-minded double-minded man is unstable in all his ways see people are people are too fickle today even if you do get a Christian to stand up and go where he's supposed to go go where she's supposed to go they're too fickle they're too easy to get knocked off of that horse and it's not gonna work out you're not gonna see God do amazing things in your life because it requires waiting on the Lord it requires standing where God wants you to be and and being there for more than five minutes God says wait on the Lord wait wait be of good courage why would I need courage because they were fearful to go to the army they were scared I'm sure the people that actually did go were still scared but they went and they stood there look if you have no staying power nothing will work for you and the Lord will not work for you I mean this one this goes from the spiritual life to the to the physical life I've said this before but you know I've said this it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert in anything like 10,000 hours that's like four years you're talking about a full-time job just like I go to this job and I don't understand things and I it just doesn't seem to be working for me that's because it takes 10,000 hours if you go to a job and all of a sudden you're good at your job in two weeks it's not a good job it's not a job that requires a lot of skill it's not a job that because it takes it's it's a job that's quick and easy that's what that means nothing that is worth accomplishing is quick and easy but people can't wait they can't wait in their personal life they can't stay with anything and guess what if they can't wait for you know something in their personal life in their in their work life they certainly aren't going to be able to wait on the Lord that's why you see that's why you see people that's why you see people they go from job to job to job to job to job they're never successful in church I've never seen it anyway because it's just it's just a sign of that they can't wait on anything they can't stick with anything see but the Christian life the Christian life you know what the Christian life you know what the Bible tells you the Bible tells you get saved and then get in the Christian life and the Bible tells you know what clean it up but you got to keep it clean like whoa that's where people like people people can clean it up and clean it up for you know a couple weeks maybe a couple months whatever it is but if you can't keep it clean it's not going to work out see they can change some people can change but they can't stay changed does that make sense do you know do you know that I mean I don't know if like a lot of people know this and like I think a lot of people don't know this because you don't see a lot of people that are good at it what do I mean I mean changing people say oh you're you by the time you're 30 you're just who you are well that's true for the vast majority of people just because most people that when they're 30 years old they just get set in their ways and they're just that's it but that doesn't mean they can't change that doesn't mean that it's not possible to change who you are you know you could be 35 years old and you could change your character you know you could be 45 years old you could get saved and you can change who you are it's just not a lot of people do it so you get these sayings like yep you're just set in your ways by the time you're 30 you know by the time you're 30 your music preferences are set and everything set and all the secular psychologists and the witch doctors out there will tell you that you're just set that's it that's because that's what they see with the vast majority of people but you can change and you can stay changed you can change your character when you're 60 years old and you could stay changed who in the world would want to just like become some person and then there's that's who you are no matter what because again again if you lived your life and he gets saved when you're in your 30s like I did what are the odds that you're the person at that point that God wants you to be it's 0 you've never understood the Bible your entire life you've never really known what it says you did it you weren't saved you weren't studying the Bible you weren't doing what God wants you to oh but I just had all the perfect character I just was the the person that God wanted me to be the odds are 0 you have to change to what God wants you to be but guess what there's a time factor there you have to stay changed if you want to wait on the Lord you have to stay in the place that he wants you to be and guess what you're going to keep finding out where God wants you to be more and more and more as you learn the Bible you're like okay I'm saved and oh I need to get this stuff out of my life oh you know God wants me to go and preach the gospel to people what in the world there's growth and then you got to go to that place and you got to rise and go and arise and go and arise and go but you got to stay there and you got to wait on the Lord I mean turn to Rome as well I mean just think like just think church life just church life many people just can't they can't they can't do it you know just think of church life all right I mean you know you can't I'm not trying to hurt anybody's feelings here okay but I mean look you can't just come to church and act however you want you can't just be like I'm going to be in church and this I'm going to be myself don't be yourself here don't be yourself be who God wants you to be be who God tells you you should be look at Romans 12 in verse number two I mean literally God is telling you to change it says and be not conformed to this world but be ye talking to all of you transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God as soon as you find out the will of God conform to it change to it and stay changed stay there God wants you to change your character if it needs to be changed in areas you and if look if you can only do that temporarily it's God's I mean what are we talking about in the sermon we're talking about God intervening and doing amazing things in your life if you can only do these things and conform and go where God wants you to go and you can only stay there temporarily it's not going to happen you're not going to see Gideon moments like this you'll likely never see it in your life and that's such a shame it's such a shame if you don't get to experience those types of moments turn to second Chronicles chapter 20 let me give you a demonstration of this in the Bible a demonstration of this in the Bible so we have a man we have a situation here in second Chronicles chapter 20 where King Jehoshaphat who's a good king made some mistakes but all the kings did but he's a good king you love the Lord he had Moab and the Ammonites were coming up against him in war and look down at second Chronicles chapter 20 verse number 13 and the Bible says this it says all of Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones their wives and their children and upon Jehaziel the son of Zechariah the son of Benaniah the son of Jail the son of Mataniah the Levite sons of Asaph came the spirit of the Lord in the midst of the congregation and he said the spirit of the Lord Harkin ye all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Thou King Jehoshaphat thus saith the Lord unto you be not afraid nor dismayed by the reason of this great multitude again they are they are outnumbered but the spirit of the Lord is saying don't be dismayed by the reason of this great multitude for the battle is not yours but God's tomorrow go ye down against them does this sound familiar behold they come up by the cliff of Ziz and they shall find them at the end of the brook before the wilderness of Jerul you shall not fight you shall not don't miss this here you shall not need to fight in this battle what look at the next few words set yourselves stand ye still and see the salvation of the Lord with you this is not talking about their spiritual salvation here this is saying get down there and watch the Lord fight but hey they had to go they had to actually go there oh Judah and Jerusalem fear not nor be dismayed tomorrow go out against them for the Lord will be with you but they had to go and they had to stand and they had to wait on the Lord because it was the Lord that was coming to do the fighting at the end of the day folks if everything in your life all the plans that you think you have everything that you think that you have figured out it's God that does the fighting for you you're stressed out about something in your life about I don't know how this is going to work out or I don't know this situation how it's going to go and you're praying about it but what you have to understand is whether you win or lose it depends on whether God shows up to fight that's it and for God to show up to fight you have to go where he wants you you have to be where he wants you and you have to stay there you have to stand in it it has nothing to do with your strength whether or not you win or lose in the things that you are worried about I'm sure you all have different stresses if I would put you in a corner right now and tell what are you stressed about right now in your life I'm sure everybody has things that they're stressed about who has a perfect life where nothing possibly could go wrong right now raise your hand every single person has these stresses all the time and whether or not these things are taken care of you for you depends on whether or not God's in the fight period not whether or not you know you you figure it out and all you have to do is be where he wants you to be all you have to do is be present think about that all you have to do is be present in the place where God wants you so you have to ask yourself this morning are you in the right place are you in the right place well I mean you're like well pastor I'm in church I'm listening to you scream at me right now but how long are you going to be in that place why it why is why do pastors have to get up and say people come and people go how many time how many of you heard that in a sermon before people come and people go why do pastors have to say that look I don't want people to go I don't want people to come here and then go no pastor wants that well maybe in certain bad cases but I mean in general nobody wants people to just take themselves out of the Christian life nobody wants that everybody wants the pastor wants the exact same thing that the Lord does he wants people to arise from their house he wants them to hear the gospel wants them to arise he wants them to get baptized wants them to get in church start arising and arising and arising and going and growing and growing and growing in their Christian life and he wants them to stay in that that's what the pastor wants the pastor doesn't want the average Christian life to last three years or whatever the current average is pastor of no church that I know that is preaching the Bible and preaching the correct gospel wants people to get in the Christian life and be a soul winner for two years and then stop nobody wants that but the reason you hear that phrase that people come and people go is because pastors have to explain to the church people why people aren't here anymore why you know the the church turns over to a certain degree all the time no I mean the church should if everybody is doing what they're supposed to do if everybody is arising and going where God wants them to go and they're standing where God wants them to stand and they are growing and they're arising and going and they're staying and they're waiting on the Lord and they're waiting on the Lord and they're waiting on the Lord I know people that have waited on the Lord for years before God came through for them but they were waiting on the Lord in the true sense that they were at the place that God wanted them to be they were serving in the capacity that God wanted them to serve and then God did amazing things in their life unbelievable things in their life and they will tell you I just had to wait on the Lord I just had to be look it's not complicated for us how in the world did God handle the mechanics of getting all these people to get this rumor floating through the camp and get all scared and each individual person and then he didn't turn them all into robots he literally scared them and they literally killed each other how did God work that who cares we didn't have to be part of that all we had to do was stand where God wants us to stand that's it you don't have to figure out you'll see these things if you do see these things in your life you will see them and you will look and you'll just be like that is absolutely amazing how that happened you're like how in the world could that have happened other than God just putting that together like that there's just no possible way and you'll see it and you just but what did you have to do it you just had to be there you just had to be standing there and just waiting on the Lord are you in it for the long haul if so look down to verse number 25 look down to verse number 25 look and when Jehoshaphat 25 and when Jehoshaphat his people came to take away the spoil of them they found them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies and precious jewels which they stripped off for themselves more than they could carry and they were there three days in gathering the spoils it was so much they didn't do anything and then God just gave them all these spoils to the point where it was days and days and days you think they're ever gonna forget this you think they're ever gonna forget what God did for them here you remember that time we went to battle and we did nothing and we got more spoiled from that battle than we had taken from any battle that we had ever fought before in our lives and the old men will talk about this when they're on their deathbeds remember that one battle when we collected spoil for days and days and days and how far hard did we fight well we didn't fight at all God fought everything for us all we had to do was show up all we had to do was be there and look when God does do these things there's a reason that you will see in the Bible that when God does all these amazing miracles he does wins all these amazing victories that the people build memorials that's why they do it why why do they build memorials because they build memorials so they can remember what God did for them in these times and don't forget that that's the parting message here if you get to this point where God moves and does amazing things in your life build a memorial in your heart get in made an ephod and then they all started worshiping it don't do that that's a lesson in itself you could get to the point where God does do amazing things for you and then you could get into those amazing things and then those amazing things could become your new God but build a memorial and don't forget what the Lord did you remember the fear that you had remember how afraid you were remember how uncertain you thought those times were use those extreme that fear that you had and that uncertainty that you felt use that to remember I remember the times I remember the times and I'm so thankful for the times where we really struggled in my family where we really struggled and we really had some hard financial times in in our family and I'm really thankful for those times my wife will tell you the same thing that she remembers hard financial times in her family but those things are so valuable their memorials keep that those emotions that you felt keep them as a memorial so when God does do amazing things when you do get in the right place when you do go where God wants you to go and then you stay there and then you wait on the Lord and then he comes through for you and you see those amazing things you can look back and you will never forget what he did for you in those times look folks this story of Gideon it's an amazing story but you could have that same story is the lesson this morning you every single person in this room could have God use them to do amazing things in this Christian life don't leave it on the table just do what Gideon did arise and go and then stay there and then wait on the Lord and it will happen it will happen for you let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer your heavenly father I thank you for this story I thank you for Gideon Lord I thank you for these men that went even though all they had to do is stand