Okay, I'm in Judges chapter seven, verse one and two.

We're in the story of Gideon.

We're in this series called Unpossible.

And I hope that by now you've realized it's a very difficult series.

We're asking some very serious questions about how we relate to God and how we relate to the unforeseen, unfortunate events that come into our everyday lives.

Well, as I was preparing this week, I thought, you know, I went back to a guy named Bobby McFerrin who wrote a song, Don't Worry, Be Happy.

And I used to love to sing that song, but as an adult now, I mean, this was when I was younger, I started taking a closer look at the words.

And in the song, which is quite famous, actually still gets millions of hits on Spotify.

But basically he says, don't worry, be happy, because in everybody's life comes a little trouble, and if you worry, you make it double.

So he says, don't worry, be happy.

But then he goes into this, he says, Ain't got no place to lay your head.

Somebody came and took your bed.

Don't worry, be happy.

The landlord says your rent is late.

He may have to litigate, but don't worry, be happy.

Ain't got no cash, ain't got no style, ain't got no gal to make me smile, but don't worry, he says, be happy.

And in the end he goes, it will soon pass, whatever it is, don't worry, be happy.

And then he says, I'm not worried, I'm happy.

Now, if you look at the entire song, here's what comes to your mind.

You're happy, you might be delusional.

You got no gal, you got, somebody stole your bed, I guess they broke into your house.

You can't pay your rent, your life is in shambles, and yet you're saying, be happy.

And sometimes, that's exactly the way those on the outside looking in at the Christian faith think that we view life, that we've got our head buried in the sand, and everything's falling apart around us, but we just say, don't worry, be happy.

What they don't realize.

is that we know something very special.

And because we know it, we respond to the difficulties of our lives totally different than anybody in the world.

And we've been saying in this series that in the same way that Stephen Covey came up with seven resolutions by which to live in the business world that would lead to ultimate success, as Christ followers, we've developed seven resolutions that come right out of the story of Gideon.

We're not really developing them, we're just kind of extracting them from a text that already exists.

We're saying that if we live by these resolutions, then we too, no matter what comes our way, we'll have a peace that passes all understanding, we'll be rock solid.

In fact, we've used the quote out of the book that says, what if we realize that we don't have to be controlled by external forces and could in fact reshape unfortunate events into significant spiritual wins?

So in order to do that, you and I need more than a song.

We need meaning.

We need to know that these events come into our lives and our response matters.

And what we've said all along is, what if God allows these events into our lives in order that there would be a cosmic victory, based on our response, a cosmic victory of good over evil and that you and I actually play a part in that.

that we are partners together, workers together with God.

So here's what we've said.

We said when things come into our lives, based on the story of Gideon, we're making resolution number one, that we will see the unfortunate events of our lives as faith builders, leading to the greatest accomplishments of my life.

So from now on, when some unfortunate event comes into my life, I'm gonna say, wait a minute, because I know the story of Gideon, I know that God will take advantage of every opportunity to build my faith and trust in him, so that when he asks.

me to do the big thing, I will believe him, I will trust him, and I will be more than successful.

I'll be more than a conqueror." So he said, we're going to look at every unfortunate event with different eyes.

This is a chance for God to pull the rug out from under us.

And then to show that he is faithful and true to rescue us, that we might have our faith built, that we might live an extraordinary life.

Second, resolution two, we've said, we're also going to affirm that there will be times that God will require us to do something that seems unreasonable, which makes perfect sense because we don't have the reason and the wisdom and the knowledge that God has.

So because God wants us to be victorious when the odds are heavily stacked against us, that That means that we're gonna get a word from God, instruction that in our minds might seem unreasonable or even illogical, but because God is privy to all the information around us.

Our enemy, what they're gonna do, what they're planning, those who are trying to bring us down, what they're doing, what they're planning, because He has all that knowledge, He knows what we need to do to gain the victory.

So now we come to resolution number three, and it goes like this.

I will live with the resolution that God will always lead me to do that which brings Him the most glory.

This is the toughest one of the bunch.

I will live with the resolution that God is always going to lead me to do that which brings him the most glory." Let me go back to the text in Judges 7, verse 1, early in the morning again, Jerubabel, or Jerubel, that is Gideon and all the men camped at the spring of Herod.

The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh.

We went through this last week.

The Lord said to Gideon, you have too many men.

cannot deliver Midian into their hands or Israel would boast against me." And then he says, if they are delivered, if they have a victory, And they have too many men, which we know, I don't know how God could come up with that number.

We don't in our own understanding because they're already, it's already 135,000 against 32,000 from the get-go.

But God says, if I don't sift them, if they have too many men, they will boast against me.

And they will say that our own strength has saved us.

So here's what God's saying, so important.

He's saying, if Israel goes into this battle against the Midianites with four to one odds, and wins, even though it's four to one odds, you know what they're gonna do?

They're gonna say, man, look what we did.

They're gonna go walk around high-fiving each other, and they're gonna be saying, man, we were outmanned, outnumbered, out-resourced, but look what we did.

Look at us go.

We won the battle anyway.

We're a bunch of farmers.

They're a bunch of warriors.

But look how strong and courageous we are, and we were, and we did it.

And God said if I allow that to happen, the next time they face the enemy, they're gonna rely on their own wisdom, strength, and resource and they're gonna be defeated.

So in order that glory might flow in the right direction, I'm gonna have to sift their army.

So he gives them the fear test, 22,000 go home, 10,000 remain.

The fervency test, 9,700 go home, 300 remain.

300 against 135,000, and if that's the number for all you mathematicians, the odds are exactly 450 to one.

And when the odds are 450 to one, the only way you can be victorious is God.

Now this is the most difficult resolution of all and this is the most difficult principle by which to live.

And that's why I'm going to ask you this weekend.

that I'm gonna ask you to engage your brain.

This is hard work, because I have to hit this from five different angles, because we all hear messages through a filter, our personality, our education, whatever it is, however it is we view God.

So I've gotta hit it five different ways in order that wherever you are, the light's gonna come on, okay?

So here's first of all, here's the truth about us.

Most of us feel glory starved.

When I say glory, I'm defining that as the Bible word would be defined as adoration, honor, distinction, renown, praise.

When I was a little boy, my mother used to tell me that I would sit on her lap and I would look her in the eye and I would constantly pull her chin and say, look at me, Mom, look what I did.

Look at me, look at me.

She goes, you would do that, it would drive me crazy.

Anytime you did something halfway decent, you'd come over and grab my chin.

Mommy, look at me, look what I did, look what I did.

The Bible says you and I, have a lot in common with the illustration I just gave you.

We feel that we need to be seen.

We feel that we are entitled to much more glory than we're already receiving.

In fact, most of us, our depression and anxiety is directly tied to the fact that we don't think we're getting enough glory, enough honor.

enough adoration.

So we feel glory starved.

In fact, most of the decisions, think about this, most of the decisions that we make in our lives about our career, about our relationships, about life in general, most of them ask this question, what decision should I make in this arena of my life that would give me more glory?

More adoration, more notoriety, more distinction, more renown.

And then when something threatens our glory.

We dig in and fight for it.

We want adoration and honor and distinction and renown and praise.

The problem is that while we're doing that, we fail to recognize that.

I recognize that God is not going to share his glory with anybody.

And there's a reason why.

I had a university student when I was doing ministry in Savannah, Georgia, come to my office one day and say, look, Pastor Jeff, I got to tell you, God is a glory addict.

He seems to not be able to get enough glory.

Why is God so glory conscious?

Why does it matter that his name is revered?

Let me put it to you like this.

Let's say my son Delaney, let's say he was 12 years old.

He was 12 years old at one point, but he's 12 years old.

Let's say that I learned he has a quite serious disease and the doctor has told me, look, your son, if he doesn't get this treatment, is not going to live.

Now as a father, you know, if you hear that from about one of your children, you would rather God take your life if it's meant to spare the life of your child.

Now let's say I have the cure for my son.

I have the remedy.

You might say that I become jealous for him.

I want him to come to me and listen to me and honor my words and trust in me and give me the glory and distinction and renown because in doing so, I want to attempt to draw him away from all the imposters and counterfeits that are offering him something that they can never deliver.

I have the way to life, but others are going to try to distract him and convince him that this is the way to life.

Now in that way, I become jealous for Delaney and in the same way God is jealous for Delaney.

for you.

You're constantly bombarded with promises that can never deliver, and yet you demand your freedom to pursue them.

Now, if God truly loves you, he's not going to sit on his hands.

while you glorify, while you hold in high regard, while you treat as excellent and splendid something that can never satisfy.

This is the thing.

If God truly loves you like a father would a child, a son or a daughter, he's not gonna just sit by and do nothing while you ruin your life.

And in this way, God is a jealous God.

So what does God do?

Stay with me now.

This is an important question.

Because in those seasons of your life, when you think God has abandoned you, the reality most often is.

He's trying to save you.

I just finished a documentary called The Last Dance.

It's the story really of Michael Jordan and the famous three-peat bulls of 91, 92, 93.

By the way, I want to inject something here.

I don't know how many of you know, but the Bulls were not the first NBA team to three-peat.

That was actually the Minneapolis Lakers that obviously later became the Los Angeles Lakers.

The reason I know that is because when I played high school basketball, we did what was called a mic and drill.

That was a...

drill for big post players and there was a player for the Minneapolis Lakers called George Mikan and the drill was named after him.

They were the first to repeat.

But in this Last Dance documentary, Michael Jordan is interviewed.

But if you pay close attention, Scottie Pippen is also given a lot of time in the documentary.

I remember reading an article that I've kept, December 13th, 1999 in Sports Illustrated.

It's called No Babe in the Woods.

That's the title of the article.

It talks about how Scotty Pippen was born in a small, very small house crammed with a lot of people.

A very poor family.

We had the talent of playing basketball so that by He got a big contract.

He was gonna make, which was a big deal back in those days, 14.7 million a year all the way through 2002, which means he's gonna make almost $45 million in three years.

With endorsements, he's gonna make close to 50 million.

He had a 70-foot yacht, 74-foot yacht, he had a $100,000 Mercedes.

But what I found interesting is in the article in Sports Illustrated, somebody interviewed him and said, tell us your thoughts during, before a game starts, what are your thoughts?

And here's what he said, and I quote, he says, before every game in Portland's Rose Garden, I have eyes for only one." And then it goes on, second, third person, he'll let his gaze drift over to the court side seat occupied by Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft and owner of both the Trailblazers and the Seattle Seahawks.

A man with a personal net worth of 40 billion.

Pippin looks at his employers' geeky exterior and he wonders, how does he do it?

Tell me how I can make a billion.

I just want one of them.

Tell me how I can make a billion dollars.

Tell me how I can become a billionaire.

Now, if you're like me, you're stopping and thinking, dude, you make 95 million.

Is that not enough?

Is 95 million not enough?

And it says in the article that he lives with a kind of chronic illness.

discontent.

I also remember telling you the story about the baseball player.

It was arbitration day and his wife was interviewed.

At that time he was making 26 million.

He was asking for 52 million.

Sorry, he was asking for 68 million.

So he's making 26, he's asking for 68.

They settled an arbitration for 52 million.

And when his wife was interviewed after the day of arbitration, this is what she said.

She said, this is the saddest day of our lives.

You think about that.

It's the saddest day of your lives that you didn't get 68 million, you only got 52?

If your ultimate glory and worth is placed upon anything temporal, you will suffer chronic discontent because your soul knows that for which you are ultimately living.

If money and fame are the answers to life's most penetrating questions, there'd be a lot less suicides and drug overdoses in Hollywood and on Wall Street.

And we've said before, you cannot fill an eternal void with temporary means.

I read another article, why are there so many grumpy old people in America now?

Why are there so many grumpy old people?

And the idea was that used to, the older you got, the more wisdom you gained of what's really important.

and you gain the sense of internal satisfaction.

You were content in the things that truly mattered.

And you realize the things that you had chased all your life could never deliver.

So in your old age, you're peaceful, you're kind.

But now, according to this article, we're living in a country where the old people are grumpy.

And the article says it's different now.

A new generation of grandparents got so sucked into materialism and liberty that they've missed the most important events of their children's lives.

They are estranged from their families and that's why they're grumpy.

Having given their greatest efforts and energies to all the things they thought would deliver the shalom life they come to the end, worn out, exhausted and frustrated, awakened to the reality that they've wasted their lives.

Now, please stay with me.

We're shifting between that second and third angle.

Why do you think God made us?

Why did God decide, I'm going to create people, not just a beautiful, universal landscape.

I'm going to make people.

And it can't be because God was lonely and he was looking for companionship because again, as we've stated, even the name of God is plural.

God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, there's perfect unity and community in this relationship within the Trinity.

So that means if God didn't create us because he was lonely, why did he?

And the Bible seems to suggest, in fact in no uncertain terms, that God created us because God is love.

He does not merely love as an action.

He is love by nature.

which means it's what he does and who he is.

So God did not create us because he needed to love, but because he wanted to love, because that's who he is.

Now, the question is what kind of love?

And we've talked about the four different words for love.

You've got eros, which is an erotic love, in a relationship, husband and wife.

You've got phileo, which is a friendship love.

You've got agape, that most of us know as unconditional love.

But do you know the number one word of love associated with God the Father?

other than agape is the idea of storge.

That God wants us to understand that our relationship with him through our entire lives, in order that we can understand, the number one metaphor is father and child.

The father and child.

wants and desires.

Now we're talking about a human father.

I'm a father and I desire to be glorified, honored, and held in high regard by my son.

Why?

Because when he's younger, I know that if my son will trust me, that he will come to me for the answers to the deepest needs of his life, and I will be able to give him the wisdom that I've learned over the course of my life that will lead to true inner peace and joy.

And I know if he holds me in high regard and glorifies me as his earthly father, that I will then be able to give him knowledge and wisdom that will lead to life and vitality.

Now, if God truly loves you, he will not let you glorify things that will never deliver without a fight.

We've got to get this through our heads.

He loves us.

He's jealous for us.

So what does God do during the course of our lives?

He sifts the things that you glory in or give ultimate glory to until he's the only thing left.

Do you see what I'm saying here?

That's really what God does.

What happens in your life when you become a Christ follower?

You say, well, those people's lives who aren't Christ followers, their lives seems to be going well.

Hey, we're not talking about them.

We're talking about you.

You've been bought with a price.

You are part of an eternal kingdom that cannot be shaken.

God possesses you and owns you.

But there is no better master, because he always has your best interest in mind.

And what God does through the course of your life, when you think he's abandoned you, he's taking those things away that you think you can't live without, so you get to the end of yourself and glory primarily and only and ultimately in him.

Because when you do the shalom life, the inner peace, the inner joy comes your way.

You know, just recently, my wife and I were talking, and I don't know why I do this, but sometimes we men are a little bit in need of some words of affirmation.

So I was talking to my wife Rob, and I said, you know, I was thinking the other day why I married you, and she goes, why did you marry me?

I said, well, honey, number one, remember I'm a guy, I am unbelievably physically attracted to you, and it's still true today.

It's just the way it is.

You're beautiful, your eyes are beautiful.

When you go away, like you did for a month, just not too long ago, and you come back, I realize how beautiful and gorgeous you really are and how lucky I am.

Thank you.

And she shakes her head, and I say to her, why'd you marry me?

Now when I said that, I was hoping to get, because you're unbelievably handsome, because I just can't see you enough.

But instead, there's this long pause, and I'm waiting, okay, I'm waiting, what is it?

She has to think, and finally, in a slow, methodical way, she says, well, to tell you the truth, I married you because God brought us together.

That's all I got.

Now, that shows you her spiritual depth over my shallow feelings and emotions.

But what she's basically saying is, I'm with you because I knew God made you for me and me for you.

Can I tell you something that I've been trying to say for a very long time?

When I married Robin, I glorified and gloried in her See in my mind at that time.

She was my Savior now not from my sins But I felt that when I got married I'd have no more problems in my life I'd never be lonely again.

I'd have a relationship.

I'd have someone in my corner I would have someone to go through life with to grow old together.

So in my mind, I'm thinking man Now five years into the marriage you still start to realize marriage is tough.

And the things, your expectations you place on your spouse, no man or woman can ever live up to.

It's impossible.

And then it dawns on you that marriage is gonna take effort for the rest of your life, and it's gonna take give and take, and grace and mercy.

And I don't know at what age I realized that what I was asking of my wife, only God could deliver.

But let me tell you what happened.

When I came to that realization and I stopped placing those kind of pseudo-savior thoughts onto Robin, and instead turned to God and said, God, I know that you're the only one that can give me what I'm looking for, you know what happened?

I started loving my wife even more.

Why?

You cannot be right with anything on the earth until you are ultimately right with God.

When you glorify most in Him, and that's when He's most glorified, is when you're most satisfied in your relationship with Him, then you relate to everything as you should.

You don't try to get something out of it that it was never meant to deliver.

So because God is jealous for you, He keeps trying to get you to turn your attention ultimately to Him, and then you'll relate to everything else in a healthy, spiritual way.

So I'm telling you that until you're right with God, God is gonna frustrate your lesser loves.

That deal you lost, promotion, house, car, vacation, holiday, award, honor, notoriety, God did not abandon you, but was merely destroying your lesser loves so that you could turn to the one thing that could deliver everything for which you're searching.

C.S.

Lewis put it this way, aim at heaven and you get earth thrown in, aim at earth and you get neither.

Jesus said, what good is it if someone gains the whole world yet forfeit their soul?

I'm trying to suggest to you that God loves you so much that he's willing to do something drastic to force you to open your eyes to the reality that Jesus is all you truly need.

And as we've said before, you're only gonna see that when Jesus is all you have left.

Now let's go back to the story, because we're dwelling on one verse and one phrase because there's so much here.

The Lord said to Gideon, you have too many men, I cannot deliver many into their hands.

Or Israel would boast against me, my own strength has saved me.

So God asked Gideon to sift and decrease the army with two tests.

The reason for such diminution would be that God might...

rise might be high and lifted up and be glorified, that they would not put their trust and faith and hope in anything in the temporary, but ultimately would trust God's wisdom, His Word, and His instruction.

Because they're outmanned, out-equipped, outnumbered, 300 against 135,000, 400 to one odds.

And God wants total victory.

Again, someone will say to me, is God a glory hog?

No, He's not a glory hog.

He wants a relationship with you of full trust and dependence.

And because He's the only one who can and will deliver what you're ultimately searching for, that you might have the ultimate victories of your life.

He is going to set about the journey in your life, frustrating the things that you put glory in until ultimately you give honor and distinction and worth to Him.

Now, this is getting hard, I know, but I need you to stay with me.

I wanna keep going down this road just for a moment and then I'll make two applications and we'll be done, but stay with me.

Listen to what Oswald Chambers wrote.

Now he said, sometimes can be very difficult to understand, but we're gonna read it, and then I'm gonna go down the line on a few things and express what I believe he's trying to communicate, okay?

He says, depart or departure from God's love is the common nature of all sin.

And when the departure from this love is associated with a desire to progress in the direction of a selfishly appointed end, rather than of the end divinely appointed, this is the common nature of the person.

sin of the world spirit and of humanity." What's he saying?

He's saying that all desires have a fulfillment.

that your desires are God-given until you meet them with illegitimate ways and then you have unholy desires.

But from the get-go, all desires given by God have a godly fulfillment.

All desires given to you by God have a goal or an objective.

And that ultimate goal and objective is that you and I would go to God and allow God to meet the deepest desires of our hearts.

So in the Lord's Prayer, we're even told that we're to pray, give us this day our daily bread.

to God for and trust God for daily bread.

We're told in the scripture that greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

Jesus does for us what no one else does.

And in doing so, he meets the deepest needs of our hearts because the God of the universe who would die for us gives us ultimate meaning and significance.

Acceptance we're told in the scripture, we're accepted by grace through faith in what Christ has done on the cross.

Nobody gives us unconditional acceptance based on something someone else has done.

and meaning, only Jesus gives you the opportunity to live for eternity.

Not just to get there, but to live right now.

And there's no greater meaning in your life than to do what you do and to live how you live for something that's bigger and more lasting than yourself.

Chambers goes on to say, at first we experience a need, then we hunt for the satisfaction of the need.

When the need is met, we turn our whole nature in the direction of the thing that met the need.

We then discover that the need is only temporarily met, and in fact creates more insatiable lust.

Now what he's saying is, you have a need, you go get it met.

It's met, but then you realize it's back to a deeper, more intense degree.

So then you start going back to it, but because it's not meant to ultimately fulfill the desire or need that you have, it creates insatiable lust where it gets to the point where you're addicted to that thing.

And then he talks about the last limit.

He says, the ultimate fulfillment of every desire is God, but we will never find him until we are driven to the last limit.

Now here's what he means.

You ever heard the story about where somebody says, why do you always find the thing you're looking for in the last place you look?

Well, the answer is because you stop looking after you find it, right?

The last limit in Oswald Chambers' mind is that God is so loving, patient, and kind that he knows you're gonna try all kinds of things through the course of your life, and he's gonna let you.

But if you'll keep searching to the last limit, ultimately every desire ends in God.

And only when you keep moving through the things that promise ultimate fulfillment, only when we keep searching to the last limit will we discover God.

So here's what God is forced to do.

Stay with me now.

Because he loves us as his children, because he wants shalom, peace for us, because he is the end of everything that we glorify.

He's willing to do whatever it takes for us to come to the end of ourselves and trust ultimately in his power.

his wisdom and his love in all seasons of life.

And when you fail enough times relying on your own power, wisdom, and love, it is God's hope that you then will turn to him.

You know, I think if you remember what happened in the words of the Apostle Paul, it's an amazing scripture, that the Apostle Paul talks about how he has a thorn in the flesh and how that impacted him to a great degree.

And then he came to the end of himself.

I'm talking about 2 Corinthians chapter 12.

Not too long ago, I'll get to that, but not too long ago, I was in a situation where I had been through a season that was just so long.

And I remember being backstage here on a weekend, exhausted, because I was trying to preach, trying to minister, but at the same time, going through a very difficult phase of life.

And I remember after the second service, after the final service on a Sunday, I was just leaning against the wall, backstage, seated on the floor, And I said these words to God, God, I can't do this anymore.

And you know what happened?

It's like God said, finally.

Suddenly I was revitalized, I can't explain it.

God said, okay, are you willing to give this to me now?

Because up to now you've been fighting this battle on your own, and you're trying to manipulate everything around you for your outcome, but what if I have a different outcome in mind?

I'm telling you, it came to me as clear as a bell.

God's saying, look, I'll instruct you to do, you keep praying, seek me, I'll instruct you and guide you, but I've got an objective here that you can't see.

Stop trying to manipulate everything around yourself and what you want.

Settle down.

Trust me with the outcome.

Come to the end of yourself and try to manipulate the world around your glory.

And when you do that, I'll take over and I'll take you on the journey of your life.

You know, oftentimes in our lives, God desires a different outcome than we do, but we don't see it.

So we keep fighting him, or in the words of the Apostle Paul on the Damascus Road, we keep fighting against or kicking against the goads.

God prods us in one direction and we keep fighting because we don't want that outcome.

but maybe God does.

Now listen carefully, you theologians out there, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12, eight through 10, three times, I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me but he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness.

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness so that Christ's power may rest on me.

That is why for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses and insults and hardships and persecutions and difficulties for when I am weak, then I am strong.

Now here's the bottom line.

Here's the overarching truth of this passage with which most of us are familiar.

Paul is simply saying, the more I rely on God and the less I rely on me, in every category, knowledge, wisdom, love, strength, everything, the more I rely on God, the stronger that I am, the weaker that I am in my own self, and the stronger I ultimately am because I am residing and depending on the power of God.

However, let me take you down a little different road here because in verse 7 he says, "...unless I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in my flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure." Now I want to look at this just for a second.

I've never been able to look at this close, but quickly.

There's a few things in the text.

Number one, the word is messenger.

So a messenger has been said.

It's angelos or angel.

Out of the 175 times in the New Testament, this word is used.

Most of the times it refers to a real angel, a messenger, an angel.

Second, we're told that the messenger or the angel comes from Satan, so now we're talking about a demonic force.

Then we're told, Paul describes it as a thorn in the flesh.

But this is a metaphor used in the Greek language both inside and outside the biblical world to talk about a stake through the heart.

In my mind, this is an emotional thing Paul is dealing with, not a physical one.

He's simply saying, I want God to take this away because it's breaking my heart.

There's something happening.

If you know the context of Corinth, it's very possible, although I don't know with certainty, that the Thorn are the false teachers that are coming along and trying to teach the people after Paul has been there to teach them about the goodness of the gospel, and they're leading people astray.

And so Paul says, take these false teachers, or maybe it's one false teacher, take them away.

Put it into them, because every good work that I'm doing, they're coming along and destroying, it's breaking my heart.

Isn't it amazing?

You ever prayed to God, God, get him.

Somebody's causing a lot of heartache in your life and you pray, God, get them.

Give them what their actions deserve.

Where's the God of justice?

But God says to Paul, Paul, you mind your own business and keep doing what I'm asking you to do.

Don't you think I can circumvent what he's doing and accomplish what I'm doing?

You know, I read a quote by Tony, oh, the pastor in Texas, Tony Evans one time who said, God can use your enemies.

Paul's question to God is, how can I achieve victory in the churches with this bozo hanging around?

I can't fight this anymore.

And God's response is, hey, that's good.

That means you're going to depend on me more.

And I'll give you the grace that you need to make it, but you keep worrying about you.

You keep doing what I'm asking you to do.

And remember, I can connect all the dots and I can use even something like that for my glory.

He says, three times, I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.

But he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness.

Three times, Paul begs God, take this away.

And the Greek verb translated as sufficient indicates a constant availability of divine grace to sustain you.

And therefore, Paul says, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me.

I know there's no way to victory, there's no way victory can come through my own power and strength, only through the power of the strength and the wisdom of God.

That's a great lesson for anybody in ministry.

that God releases the power and strength and knowledge and wisdom in your life to the degree to which you are totally, hopelessly, helplessly dependent on him.

The less of you, the more you get of God.

The more of you, the less you get of God.

God allows the unfortunate events of our lives in order that Ultimately, we will learn to depend on his way and his time and in doing that We will glorify God and the people around us who are watching us will also glorify God because they'll know there's no way I could go through that They must have something unique There must be a secret to being able to stand in the midst of such difficulty.

I guess the point is that do you really believe that God is able to work everything together for good for those who love Him, called according to His purpose?

Do you really believe that?

Even your sin, even your enemies, whatever it is that you're facing, do you really believe?

sooner gao that God can take things that are negative in and of themselves and bring them all together and accomplish something extraordinary.

Now just quickly, I've got a friend by the name of Danny Gugliomucci and I've mentioned him before.

He's bigger than life.

I met him first in January 2012.

He's the father of the church planting movement all through Australia.

Founder of Edge Church, which has campuses really all over Australia, growing fast.

The thing I like about Danny is he's never met a casserole he didn't like.

He loves to eat, he's Italian.

And one time he was chowing down on his favorite food and he looked over to me and said, he's a man of constant humor.

And he said, never tell about my grandmother, Pastor Jeff.

I said, no.

He said, man, one time she received a card from the mortuary and she looked over to me and said, they only want me for my body.

Another time, he goes on to tell me that when he dies, he wants to be cremated because he knows that's the only way he's going to have a smoking hot body.

And then finally, Danny said, you know, one time I told the doctor that obesity, he was complaining about my weight.

And I said, doctor, obesity runs in my family.

And the doctor said, nobody runs in your family, Danny.

One of the toughest things.

Danny, with all this humor in the midst of all this.

One of the toughest things to do is see your own people, your own loved ones, your family suffer.

And that is the story of Danny's life.

He had to coach one of his sons through a very public mental breakdown.

Not too long after that, his other son was struck by lightning and it took his life.

Now you can imagine, takes the life of a man away from his wife and his kids.

It was such a freakish accident that the local newspaper reported it and described it as an act of God.

What kind of God would cause or allow such a horrific event in the life of a fully devoted, unconditionally dedicated, loyal and unwavering follower of Jesus Christ?

You know, because I know Danny, I decided to ask him that question, so I did.

And Danny smiled, and here's what he said.

God is up to something glorious, I can feel it.

Danny said that at the same time he was fighting cancer in his life.

I know that we're going to know the future glory.

I know that everything, anything we lose in this life will be replaced to an infinitely greater degree.

I know that.

How can you have that kind of faith and trust that no matter what's going on, God's going to work it all together and glorify himself?

How can you do that?

Then I was reminded of the Hebrew word, hineni.

Interesting word, hineni.

This is the Hebrew word that is spoken by some pretty significant people in the Bible when they're asked to glorify God through their suffering.

Henene is a reply given when there's a total surrender in the mind of the one who speaks it.

And you know what it means?

Here I am.

It means here I am, I am fully attentive, God, and I'm fully aware that what you're asking me to do and endure.

is going to require some pain and suffering, but you're going to be glorified.

And men are going to be drawn to you.

Samuel said, "'Hineni!' Here I am, Lord.

I'm listening." Isaiah said, "'Hineni!' Send me, Lord." Abraham said, "'Hineni!' Yes, Lord, I'll go." Esther said, "'Hineni, here I stand.'" The stories associated with this great word are always associated with two things, great extraordinary accomplishments and suffering.

The stories of the people who said, Henene, here I am, send me.

I will suffer for your sake that you might be glorified.

These were people who were absolutely sure of what Job learned near the end of his life, that only God who brought creation into order through the picoseconds of the universe and expansion and contraction, and the God who took all of that chaos, moving so fast, and formed it and shaped it in a beauty pattern and design, is the same God that takes all the chaos in our lives.

shapes it into beauty, pattern, and design for his glory.

Can I tell you there's a real revival happening around one and all right now.

I just attended our Young Adults Tuesday night.

And I sat in the auditorium and I watched these young people on fire for God.

We've been praying for revival and I thought it hadn't come yet.

It's there, it's here.

I just wasn't looking to the right places.

I've seen the glimpse of it in prayer meetings, weekend services.

We're asking God to open our eyes and to do something special here.

We're asking Him to allow us to see Him in a way we've never seen Him before and to be able to do things we've never done and be able to feel things we've never felt.

But what most of us don't realize, if that's what we really want, if we want God to be glorified in our lives, that we see Him and experience Him and feel Him, and that He is high and lifted up above any man, any worship team, any church, that if he's the one that's gonna be glorified and be high and lifted up, then we gotta be able to know, hineni, here we all are, God, use us to glorify your name.

Revival comes, but it's always historically associated with people who are willing to pray and who are willing to do whatever God asks them to do in order that he may be high and lifted up.

There are so many stories I can tell you how God has used the word revival.

difficult events, to open our eyes, to know that the only person we can truly trust, everything, the end of every desire, the end of every hope, is Jesus.

But when I finished the chapter in the book from which I'm preaching this weekend, I wanna end with this.

My daughter and I, we were in Cappadocia, Turkey.

Beautiful city.

And every morning at five o'clock, I would get up because the balloons, as soon as five o'clock comes, the balloons, the hot air balloons would just rise over the city.

And I found a coffee shop that I could study every morning.

But my daughter, the whole time we were there, we were only gonna have five days there, and she kept saying to me, Dad, I wanna ride the ATVs through the desert.

the Cappadocian desert.

I've heard so much about it.

So we went online, checked it out.

We went down to the local tourist place.

We bought our tickets and reserved our times.

We couldn't wait.

It was the last day.

So we went down, when we walked into the office, we knew immediately something was up.

And we learned quite quickly that they somehow had forgotten our name and we were not on the list.

We could tell them talking, we could listen to them talking, but we couldn't understand everything they were saying.

They told Sian and I to sit down over in the corner and we're thinking, we're not gonna get to do this and they're gonna offer us another ticket, but we're not here tomorrow, we're gonna miss this.

And this is so popular, it's booked out all through the summer season.

So you can imagine these groups going out in the Cappadocian desert.

There's like 50 ATVs in each group.

There's like 10 groups.

Think about it.

500 ATVs going different routes all through the desert.

And that all these, all these groups have to go rather slow because you've got little ones too.

So you can't go through there and romp through there.

So, but still you get to ride through there and see some incredible scenery.

We waited about 10 minutes and we were ready for the bad news when the owner came over and said, Mr.

Vines, I'm very sorry.

We didn't get your name on the list somehow, but we've come up with a solution and here's what happened.

I wanna tell you at that point I was not glorifying God.

I was not happy at all because I really wanted to do this for my daughter.

A car came to the tourist office and picked only Sian and me up.

We rode in leather style.

They took us out to a remote place.

There were only three ATVs and the owner of the place personally took Sian and I through the Cappadocian desert at high speed.

It was the ride of a life.

And he said to me, you know, you guys are blessed because usually we can't go this fast.

We can't go where I've taken you.

He was taking us in places where I'd have to duck down.

So my head didn't hit the underpass we were going through rivers and streams and Sean goes look and he kept saying do you want To go faster and I want to say no and sounds good.

Yeah So we were going riding.

We had the ride of our lives when we thought it was gonna be the worst And in a All right God here I am use me I don't know I know that things may not turn out the way I think they're gonna turn out but you know what I want To live for your glory to such a degree that I'm willing to do whatever it takes Dallas Willard said, "'What if God has you exactly "'where he would want you to be "'if you had all the information he has?' Oh.

You know what?

God is always going to lead you to do, not that which is easiest, not that which is most convenient, not that which will glorify you, but he will lead you to do, as tough as it may seem, through the course of your life, journey after journey after journey, he will lead you to do what gives him glory.

the most glory.

Are you in?

Father, thank you for the power of your word in Judges 6 and 7 as we continue to go through this narrative.

I pray as I always pray that anything I've said here that is consistent with your word, that it would go deep into our hearts and change the way we live and the way we see the unfortunate events of our lives.

If I've said anything that's not consistent with your word, that would fall by the wayside.

be trampled on and forgotten.

My prayer is that you would bring revival as you are bringing revival now to this place.

As we are seeing, feeling, doing more than we've ever been able to see, feel, or do before.

As we are getting these Jesus revelations that come our way, as people are getting saved as their eyes are being opened.

As the next generation is saying, hineni, here I am, send me.

May it be so in Christ's name, amen.

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