Bill Johnson - God Is Giving You Courage for Your Calling (The Making of a King)
Hello, hello, there we go. Did you notice they prayed for a bridge from Reading to Australia? Yes, that would be expensive. There’s a story about a guy to whom the Lord appeared. Jim said, «You can have anything you want,» and he replied, «You know, I hate flying, but I’d love to go to Hawaii. Would you build a highway from the mainland of America to Hawaii?» The Lord said, «That’s really a selfish prayer. I mean, the amount of cement it would take! It’s the deepest part of the ocean; think how far we’d have to go down to put cement in to build this highway. You need to think of something else to ask for.» The guy then said, «All right, help me understand women.» The Lord replied, «Do you want a two-lane road or a four-lane road?» I finally got the guys involved in my humor. A Pennsylvania man is suing Smart Water for not making him smart. I’d like to formally announce my lawsuit against Thin Mints.
All right, let’s get going. Oh goodness gracious, I’ve got to hurry! Open your Bibles, if you would, to the Book of Judges, Chapter 6. I want to take a look at an unusual story in the life of Gideon. I haven’t talked about Gideon for several years, but felt this week that it would be appropriate. And, Bas, I’ll just tell you the end result, which I rarely do. What I want to talk to you about is the making of a king. Now, we are sending out the King family. It wasn’t intentional; I realized it afterward. So, you know, divine accidents. But there’s a process that the Lord took Gideon through. He never became officially a king, but you’ll see in the end that he lived as one. His personhood reflected the nature and the wonder—or Majesty, perhaps, would be a better term—of an actual king.
We’ll look at that later, but God took this guy, who was the least of the least, from a place of absolute weakness and emptiness. He was part of the people of God who were constantly being plundered by the Midianites. Whenever a crop was grown, they would plunder the crop at night, and the people of God wouldn’t get to feed from what they had grown. They’ve lived impoverished under the oppressive rule of Midian for who knows how many decades. Gideon was raised up in that environment, so he had that level of faith and confidence—not really believing that God could or would do anything for him. So, the Lord takes this guy, who is really the least of the least, and makes a champion out of him. But there’s a journey; there’s a process.
Now, how many remember where the Bible says He chooses the foolish things to confound the wise? He chooses the weak things to confound the strong. How many of you know that God chose you? Right? How many of you are just now realizing you qualified through weakness or foolishness? Yes, He chooses it. It’s not that extremely talented people can’t be used by God, because they are all the time, but they just have to die more to get where they can be used. The Lord uses human skill and great talent. He’s the one who gave it to us, but it has to come to a place of surrender; otherwise, we take the glory. And the Lord is very finicky about receiving His glory. He doesn’t mind if we’re in the room and we share in the sense of atmosphere, but He is building a case for the glory of the Lord to fill the earth, and that is done through a yielded, surrendered people.
So, here’s the story. We’re going to start in Chapter 6. Verse 6 says, «Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites.» Verse 7: «It came to pass when the children of Israel cried to the Lord because of the Midianites, the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel who said to them, 'Thus says the Lord God of Israel: I brought you up from Egypt, brought you out of the house of bondage, delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you. I drove them out from before you and gave you their land. Also, I said to you, „I am the Lord your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell,“ but you have not obeyed My voice.'»
We’re going to be reading quite a bit of scripture, so it would be helpful if you’re able to follow along. So here, the Lord says to His people, they are under the weight of oppression, being robbed and taken advantage of by superior military powers, governments, etc. They are despondent, crying out to God—probably not in great faith, but more out of panic, if anything. The Lord sends them a prophet. Now, sometimes I’m thankful when the Lord ministers to me directly. I love when He speaks to me directly, but sometimes He will not talk to us directly. He will only talk to us through a friend, a gift, another person, or a prophet.
I saw this with David years ago. David wanted to build a temple for the Lord, and the Lord wouldn’t talk to him directly about it. He would only speak through the other prophets around him. Why? Because God knows what we need and when. He knows when speaking to me directly would build independence from other people and my need for them, and He knows when I actually need to hear the word of the Lord through the mouth of a friend or a gifted individual. There are times when I need it—my need says it has to come from somebody else, not directly from the Lord. Why? Because He’s building something in me that values the anointing and grace that rests on other people.
So they cried out, and God sent them a prophet. The prophet came and said, «All right, the Lord says I brought you out of Egypt. I brought you out of bondage. I even brought you into a land of promises. I delivered this land to you; it’s your inheritance, it’s your promised land. But I warned you: don’t fear the gods of the Amorites.»
So what has been the repeated sin forever with Israel? The Lord warned them that when they came into the promised land, if they didn’t completely drive out the enemy nations, they would eventually worship their false gods. The warning was: drive them out completely; otherwise, they will be a snare to you, a thorn in your side. The Lord warned them about worshiping false gods, but in this verse, please notice He didn’t say, «I warned you not to worship false gods.» What did He say? «I warned you, don’t fear the gods of the Amorites.» Why? Your fear always directs your worship.
Wow, very good! You can sing the right songs, but in your heart of hearts, be afraid of going broke, and so you hold on to every penny. You’re afraid of not being recognized, so you cling to the opportunity to ensure people notice you’re the one responsible for that act or that gift. Fear takes on an ugly form. Fear is a horrible teacher, a horrible taskmaster. We know enough spiritually to cover our frailties. We take our dysfunctions and give them religious titles, so where fear is no longer fear, it’s now called discernment, caution, or wisdom—any number of names. Fear is a horrible taskmaster.
What fear does is that it always attracts whatever information is necessary to legitimize its existence. That’s good. Fear will always attract whatever information is necessary to legitimize its existence. Fear is a self-fulfilling prophecy, and Jesus warns throughout the whole of scripture—I’m not sure, but I think it’s like 365 times, one for every day of the year—where He says, «Do not fear.» It’s the most repeated command in the entire Bible: «Do not fear.» Why? He was trying to give us a clue. Here’s your biggest enemy: when I’m anxious, I don’t hear from Him well. I need to live from His voice. When I’m anxious, I don’t hear well.
He says, «Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.» The very voice of the Lord is what activates life and sustains me as a believer. It’s not about the wow factor; it’s the fact that His voice brings the substance that I live off of and thrive on. Faith comes from hearing, not from having heard. It’s a present tense relationship, and fear disrupts that.
I used to have an issue with my knee; it would dislocate in football. I remember the first time it happened. The coach ran out, put his foot on this part of my leg, and pulled this part straight out. Then, there was this huge pop; it was nauseating! I’m just trying to make all of you sick. But this happened several times; Chris helped me on one occasion. Now, when my leg was dislocated, it was still a part of my leg; it was still alive. I had a measure of movement, but its function was completely gone. A person bound by fear is still alive, and there’s some measure of connection, but function is gone.
Fear, the scripture says, casts out love. Let’s reverse that: where fear is dominant, there’s no awareness of love. The love of God is the supreme factor in our walk with Christ: «For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.» It’s the love of God that sustains us.
All right, back to this—I’ve got to get going here! Goodness gracious! What are you doing, Bill? So, preaching, that’s what I’m trying to do!
All right, so Gideon—the Lord calls Gideon in verses 11 and 12 of Chapter 6. Gideon’s response is, «Oh my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? Where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about?» Has anybody ever uttered either of these two questions? «God, if you’re with us, how come all this junk is going on? If this is a nation of blessing and favor, how come all this craziness is happening?» And what about the other question: «Where are all the miracles?»
Now, I’m thankful I’ve seen more miracles than I ever thought I would in my lifetime, but I still live with the awareness that there is so much more. How many of you have asked either of those two questions before? «Where are all the miracles?»
All right, the Lord sets you up. He provoked you to have those questions so you would be better equipped to recognize your call. You are assigned to be the solution. Gideon, asking, «Where are all the miracles?» and «If you’re with us, how come this stuff is happening?"—and God begins to speak into his life about his purpose, that he is part of the company of people who are going to bring solutions to this mystery that has been haunting the nation of Israel. He actually stirred the question in him before He ever brought the answer. If you have the question, guess what? You are part of the company that’s supposed to bring the answer.
The Lord asked at one point, «Can a nation be saved in a day?» He wasn’t looking for an answer; He was looking for fruit. Some things are too easy to answer verbally without any substance behind it. The Lord is having us ask certain questions: «If God is with us,» and «Where are all the miracles?» They’re in your hands; they’re in your voice. They are in your hospital visit; they’re in you knocking on your neighbor’s door to see if they’re doing well. «Are you alive?»
Yeah, all right, let’s move on. So we go through Chapter 6, where there’s an offering and a sacrifice that Gideon makes. He’s very intimidated and deeply afraid, and the Lord says, «How can I do this? I’m the least of my family; my family is the least in our tribe.» He starts running all these disclaimers before the Lord, and the Lord answers, «I’m with you.»
If you start wondering what your skill level is, it doesn’t matter. If you start wondering what your faith level is, that doesn’t matter either. Your «yes» matters. Your «yes» matters because He sent you. All you need to know is that God sent you; it’s better than your response, but it’s okay. I’m used to it by now.
Verse 25 presents an interesting assignment. His first assignment after the offering came to pass the same night the Lord said to him: «Take your father’s young bull, the second bull of seven years old, tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the wooden image that is beside it. Build an altar to the Lord your God on top of this rock in proper arrangement, and take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image you shall cut down.»
So what’s the point here? Gideon, we’ve got to rearrange some of your family history. You have a generational thing going on that we need to put a stop to. So, I’m going to have you go to your dad’s house, take his bull, and offer it as an offering. Tear down his altar to the false god Baal and his wooden image. This is where the entire city went to worship Baal, so it’s kind of like the priest’s house. He’s saying, «I’m going to have you do that—that’s a good place to start your journey of courage.»
So Gideon took 10 men from among his servants; he did as the Lord said, but because he feared his father’s household and the men of the city too much, he did it by night. I like that. I like that Nicodemus went to Jesus by night as a religious leader in Jesus’s day. He was afraid to make it too public. I love the fact that Jesus is the one who won’t extinguish a dimly burning wick. He won’t carelessly breathe toward a flame that’s barely lit; He protects what exists. Nicodemus meeting with Jesus at night because he was too afraid; and Gideon, too, was afraid of his father’s household. Who knows what they’re going to do? He was crazy enough to build an altar to a false god!
Who knows what he’s going to do? So he does it by night, but he obeys. Sometimes, in the making of a king, you’ve got to deal a fatal blow to your family history that was leading you anywhere but to serve the Lord. The Scripture is very clear when Jesus said, «If you love your mother, your father, your wife, your kids, etc., more than Me, you’re not worthy of Me.» He wasn’t promoting hatred or indifference toward any family members. The bottom line is that when you love Jesus most, you have more love to give your family. When Jesus is first, you are much more equipped to be a lover, a carer, a servant to your household.
There’s an arrogance that puts people ahead of God, and yet there’s not enough love to go around. Their service to the Lord pales by comparison. So the men of the city rose in the morning and found their god gone—got raptured, burned, or offered as a sacrifice.
The men of the city came to Joash, Gideon’s dad, and said, «Bring out your son so that he may die!» Joash said to all, «Would you plead for Baal? Would you save him? Let the one who would plead for him be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him plead for himself.» Did you hear that? This is like the priest of Baal, the guy who built the altar, the captain of the worshipers of this false god, and he, Joash, said to all who stood against him, «Would you plead for Baal?»
Let the one who pleads for him be put to death by morning. Such incredible courage for a man who had been under the stupor of worshiping a false god! It doesn’t take years to come out of stupidity; it takes a moment—a moment of repentance—to come out of stupidity and into a place where you see the light, and you make your decrees. He makes a confession that guides the rest of his life. «Let Baal defend himself!»
Verse 34 is pretty significant. The verse says, «But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon.» Then he blew the trumpet, and soldiers gathered to him. But here’s what I want you to see in this verse. This may be repeated in the Bible; I’ve not been able to find it, so if you know where it is, let me know. When it says the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, that’s a normal phrasing where the Spirit of the Lord would come upon Daniel or different people in Scripture. The original language says something significantly different here that you need to take note of. The original language says, «And the Holy Spirit clothed Himself with Gideon.»
That’s big! Now, it’s glorious to have the Spirit of God come upon a person, but in this instance, I think He was demonstrating the Holy Spirit-filled life. He says, «I’m going to take Gideon and put him on like a glove.» He illustrates to people what is possible. It’s possible to be possessed by God; it’s possible to be God-possessed. For me, that’s the high point of Gideon’s story.
But let us move on. Chapter 7 is where they are forming an army. Later it says, in Chapter 8, that 120,000 soldiers were killed. We’re talking about a massive army, much bigger than Israel’s. Israel gathers together 32,000 soldiers. It sounds like a lot, but when you compare it to an army that can afford to lose 12,000, we’re talking about being seriously outnumbered. The Lord looks at the 32,000 and says, «There are too many,» and says to Gideon, «Tell everyone who is afraid they have permission to go home.»
22,000 go home. Just imagine for a moment you’re in the group of 10,000. One minute ago you had no fear; now you have 22,000 partners in crime who just went home, and you are now in the group of 10,000. «While I may not have had fear yesterday, today I’m struggling.» Sometimes, that’s actually the process of our maturing in Christ.
So here we are—10,000 people. I’m sure Gideon is relieved he can still go with 10,000, but then the Lord says, «There are too many.» He tells Gideon to take them to the water and watch how they drink. He’ll show him which ones to choose. 9,700 got on all fours, putting their faith down to drink, but 300 brought the water to their mouths while keeping their eyes open. Why? Because they’re warriors. They’ve got to stay alert because they’ve been summoned into battle, and they drink. Those are the 300 the Lord chose.
Now, it could have been 500; it could have been 5,000. The point was that God reduced the army to their point of strength. He wasn’t trying to illustrate, «I can win any war with complacent, half-hearted people who don’t know how to fight.» He didn’t do that. He reduced it to people who had devoted strength. Are you understanding me? Consecrated strength! Whatever strength I possess, whatever insights I have, whatever giftings I have—they are entirely devoted to the glory of God. That’s the kind of approach.
Now He has reduced the army to 300 finest, and then He wins a war with those 300. It’s an amazing story; it’s very fun to read. We don’t have time today, but I want you to go to Chapter 8.
I want to take you to really the target of why I felt to go on this journey with you today. Do you remember what the main enemy nation was in Chapter 6? The Midianites. In this moment, Gideon captures the two kings. Imagine this: you not only just routed and destroyed the Midianite army, but you have the two guys that were the demonized inspiration for the plundering and the decades of torment that your people have endured. You now have the two sponsors right in front of you!
That’s the moment we’re in. In verse 12, when Zeba and Zuna fled, they pursued him and took the two kings of Midian, Zeba and Zuna, and routed the whole army. In verse 18, he said to Zeba and Zuna, «What kind of men were they whom you killed at Tabor?» That was a particular battle. «What kind of men were they?»
And these two kings said, «As you are, so were they; each one resembled the son of a king.» To whom did he just say this? This is the guy known for fear, for insecurity, for the absence of courage. But he was chosen by God, and in God’s dealings with him, He took this guy—perhaps the most resistant to risk—and put him on the front lines. He made such an extraordinary impact; he was willing to go to war with 300 guys with pitchers and flames and trumpets. It’s a weird thing, but they just absolutely won this battle before they actually went to war!
The Lord spoke to him and said, «If you’re afraid, Gideon, go to the enemy’s camp and listen to what they say about you.» The next scene, he goes to the enemy’s camp, which tells us what? He was afraid! Yes, right! When this thing started, God told the army, «All of you who are afraid, get to go home.»
Leaders don’t get the same choice. Leaders don’t have the choice of going home if they’re afraid; the leader has to suck it up and find a way to find courage. No offer to Gideon to go home. If that offer was given to him, he might have gone home when he had 32,000 instead of 300,000, or when he had 10,000, or certainly when he had 300!
But he didn’t. Sometimes, the best thing you can do is just say «yes» to the Lord and literally take one step at a time. «I don’t know what I’m going to do; I don’t know how this is going to work out; this makes no sense to me whatsoever, but I know you have spoken, and I will obey.» It’s the yes to the Lord of absolute surrender.
So here we find his willingness to obey was his best answer to fear. The best answer to fear was just the willingness to obey. If you’re waiting to be inspired to obey, you might be waiting a long time. The reason is that things just get crazier and crazier. Sometimes it’s stepping into that place of absolute willingness to obey, no matter what, that you find courage. You find courage in the moment, not before the moment.
So here we’ve got this incredible thing where Gideon, if you can imagine. I’m thinking of Caleb. You know, Caleb was given this chance to have any piece of land in all of the promised land. The reason Israel didn’t get into the promised land was because they were afraid of the giants. So Caleb’s been sitting on this for 40 years waiting for that opportunity to finally make his request. I think it was 45 years before he finally makes his request. He says, «Joshua, you know Moses said we could have anything. I want the high country. I want the land of the giants.»
He had been waiting for 45 years to go after these giants! We have been kept away from God’s promises because of fear of giants. I want the giants! And imagine Gideon in this moment. He’s been kept for how many decades? His family history has been kept from the blessing of God because the Midianites have been plundering them. Now he’s got the two leaders standing in front of him, and he says, «All right, you want a war?»
«What did those guys look like?» And these two kings, who are familiar with royalty, look at him and say, «They looked just like you—the son of a king.»
Sir, because of our skewed understanding of biblical royalty and kings of the earth, we think in terms of kings as being those with great power who amass great wealth, and they live for their own safety, protection, the promotion of their own family line, etc. But the King of Kings was different, and He sets a new standard for what a king is like.
That King washes feet. That King looks for a coin in a fish’s mouth. That King looks for the opportunity to feed a multitude with a boy’s lunch. That King approaches life differently.
See, because the royalty you were designed for is not about amassing great wealth or building a personal empire. The kingship that you were designed for is one of living in a place where you have access to unlimited resources to serve the people around you well. Because in the Kingdom of God, we rule with the heart of a servant, and we serve with the heart of a king. That’s the design of the Lord!
And this that came upon Gideon in this moment, I think is a very extraordinary statement where there’s the acknowledgment that even though he was from the least of the least of the least and had no self-esteem that could compete with the child of a king, yet in this moment, his enemies recognized the truth.
The enemy told him when he went down to the enemy’s camp, and he heard a dream some guy had and his friend interpreted it: «That’s Gideon; he’s going to kill all of us.» And now the enemy king helps to finish off his own sense of identity: «You look just like you—the son of a king.»
I truly believe that the Lord is putting that kind of a mantle on us, and I realize that there are many who would interpret that as an egotistical thing. Not if we do it right! That’s right—if we do it right! If we do it right, there’s just the ability to carry yourself.
It’s—you’re not a king because of a title; you’re not a king because of people bowing down. You carry royalty because of who your father is. So stop hanging your head; it does not represent him well!
If you’re forgiven, you’re clean! You may have all kinds of explainable challenges in your life, but you’re a king; you’re a queen! Live like it!
I don’t think this is a misapplication of scripture when Jesus taught, «Let your light shine before men in such a way that they see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.» Us walking with royal responsibility to serve well is one of the ways He’s glorified.
I want you to stand, turn to someone, and just tell them, «You’re looking mighty kingly today!» «Queenly!» That’s enough!
What an incredible privilege to be together! I love our Bethel online family. I just honor you guys; I’m so thankful that we get to join together and see you in various places around the world. What a treat!
I want to ask the question: if there’s anyone here who has never made a personal commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ, you don’t know what it is to be forgiven of sin, to be brought into the family of God, if that’s you and you would courageously say, «Bill, I don’t want to leave the building till I know what it is to be forgiven, till I know what it is to truly be a follower, one who is committed to Jesus,» just put a hand up where you are.
We’re just going to make an agreement with you right where you are. Put your hand up high so I don’t miss you. I want to make sure that if there’s anyone here in that place—or our online church family, the same thing for you—just put it in the chat box, and one of our pastors will be there to help you.
Father, I pray that You would give us that sense of royalty without arrogance, that sense of royalty with purpose, that we would carry ourselves in such a way that people truly glorify our Father in heaven.
Everybody said, «Amen, amen, amen.» Bless you! Tom will come up. Hold your places.