Are You Ready?

We we set aside a portion of our worship service every Sunday morning where we just pray. We believe that God has called the church to be a house of prayer, not just a a house of singing or a house of preaching or a house of tithes and offerings, but He called it a house of prayer. So we want to dedicate some time every Sunday where we just pray. This month we are praying for our Sauldam Students ministry. So what I want to invite you to do is just grab a neighbor, buddy up, pray for a few moments, and I’ll put a bow on it here in a second. We’re just asking God to bless the middle and high school students of our church. Thank you. Take it away.

Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit. God, would You please get a hold of the middle and high schoolers of our church? God, I know some of them know You as Savior, Master, and Lord, and Redeemer. God, I know that some of them have a vibrant relationship with You. God, I know some of them they they are sharing their faith with their classmates. They’re reading their Bible. They’re praying. God, for them, I pray that You would just You would just supercharge their faith. God, You just take it so much deeper, make it so much sweeter for them. God, for those that are in our church, middle and high schoolers that don’t know You yet, please get a hold of their hearts. Help them to see that You are better than life. You’re better than sports. You’re better than dating. You’re better than school. You’re better than video games. You’re better than Snapchat and social media. You’re better. You’ve made us for Yourself and our hearts are restless until we find our rest in You. God, would You please grab the hearts of the middle and the high schoolers of our church? Lord, thank You for Becca. Thank You that she has stepped up. She’s leading this ministry. Thank You for the adults that are coming alongside her to pour into these students. God, please get a hold of all that and do something with it that only You can do. Do the same thing right now with the sermon. God, I confessed to You earlier this morning that this is one of those Sundays where I’m coming in and I’m like, I don’t know so much about what I’m about to share. Lord, I confess sometimes I think that it’s it’s me who does the work, my preparation, my eloquence, my delivery, whatever it is. God, how ridiculous. I need You to do something. I need You to get a hold of this, God. I need You to I need You to share this message with the church. Please get a hold of us. Work in us. Enliven and revitalize, renew us. God, You’d send us out to be ambassadors of Your kingdom wherever we go. God, please do this. Do do something here this morning that we could only look at and say the God of the universe was there. God, we love You. It’s in Your great name that we pray. Amen. Amen.

Awesome. If you have your copy of the Bible, I want to invite you to open it up to Judges chapter 6. Judges chapter 6. We’re going to continue our series through this Old Testament book. If you’re still learning the road map of your hard cover Bible, then you just open up the front cover and eventually you’re going to hit Genesis. I want you to make it through the first six books. You’ll hit Joshua. Then the next one is Judges. Judges is an interesting moment in the life of the people of Israel. This is before they have kings, but after they had great leaders and patriarchs like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. So, they’re in this hinge moment where these foreign nations are dominating and invading them, and they need to be saved from all these oppressors. So, God keeps raising up these judges, and the judges would save them temporarily from whoever it was that was coming after them. The story that we’re going to look at this morning, it’s the first of a couple chapters in this book of Judges about a guy named Gideon. Gideon is someone that you might find infinitely relatable. Honestly, we’ll see in a few moments. Gideon multiple times puts God to the test. God tells him to do something and Gideon says, “I might do it if You meet me on my conditions.” We will see Gideon struggle with leadership decisions as God takes him into a battle where Gideon is already outnumbered. Then God starts whittling down his forces to only have a couple hundred soldiers. And we’ll see Gideon kind of struggle with some of that. This is the first judge that I personally can relate with. I can’t relate with some of the great judges. We’ve already looked at these incredible deliverers that answered God’s call immediately and did whatever it took for God to save His people Israel. But I can identify with a guy like Gideon who needs God to be gracious and patient and just so kind to him.

As I was studying, getting ready for the sermon, this question kept coming up in my mind. It felt like God was asking Gideon, and I wonder if God is asking us, are you ready? Are you ready for the next thing God has for you? Are you ready for the next assignment that God has for your life? Could be big, could be small, but are you ready? I think about how God brought Becca and myself and at the time our two kids down here to Sauldam. Was I ready? I think about Kim Mulaney answering the call to become our kids director. Was she ready? I think about Michael answering the call to step up and lead our music ministry. Was Michael ready? I think about Robbie and Robbie launching Celebrate Recovery a few Sundays ago. Was Robbie ready? I think about Matt Mulaney who has launched another ministry that just helps people with their physical needs called the net. Was Matt ready? Man, I think about the middle and high school students of our church. Are you ready for God to use you to welcome a new student to your school? Moms, are you ready to continue to parent your children with the the the fear and the love of God? Men, are you ready to continue to be leaders wherever you are? Everybody, are we ready to forgive our enemies? Are we ready to answer the next thing that God has for us?

As followers of Jesus, we have got to remain ready for whatever God wants to do. But make no mistake, what we’ll learn this morning in Judges chapter 6 and what you see in your life is that when God calls you to do something, the thing He wants you to do isn’t actually about you. When God calls us to do things, He’s actually calling us to do things for Him. The assignments God gives to us, whether it’s pastoring a church or buying groceries for the person behind you at Food Lion, the assignments that God gives to us aren’t for our fame, but for the glory of God.

And the Bible is full of these moments where God looks at someone, calls them to a task, and says, “Are you ready, Arthur? Are you ready for the next thing? Kristen, are you ready for the next thing? Mr. Herald, are you ready?” God’s looking at Sauldam Baptist Church. Are you ready? The big thing I want you to take away from this sermon this morning is this: God is the point of your calling. You might get to play a role in the story, but you’re not the point. I get to be pastor of our church, but I’m not the point. You might get to be the dad or the parent or the grandparent of your family, but you’re not the point. God is the point. God is the main character in all of these moments of our lives.

And that’s what we see this morning. Judges chapter 6. Let me catch you up to speed once again. Israel is doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord like they’ve been doing. God has saved them from their sin. He saved them from a foreign oppressor and then they follow Him for a time and then they fall away yet again. This time the new enemy that’s taking over is a people called the Midianites. The Midianites, that’s an interesting group of people. They have a mixed bag sort of a history with the people of Israel. Sometimes the Midianites helped the people of Israel, like Moses’s father-in-law. He was a Midianite. And sometimes the Midianites are hurting God’s people. This is one of those latter situations where the Midianites are coming into Israel and they are just pillaging the Israelites.

Every time the Israelites are planting crops, every time they’re trying to build their barns, every time they’re trying to make some forward progress, the Midianites and some of their buddies are coming in and just destroying stuff, raiding the fields, taking everything for themselves. So, the Israelites are having to hide in caves and hide, and they’re living in fear. And It says in verse 6 of Judges chapter 6, Israel becomes poverty-stricken because of the Midianites. So the Israelites begin crying out to the Lord, “God, where are you? This doesn’t look like blessing and prosperity to me. Lord, this doesn’t look positive or encouraging. This does not look up and to the right. Where are you, God?” God answers His people, and instead of giving them just pure words of comfort, God actually sends a prophet to rebuke them. God says in Judges 6:7-10, or rather 8-10, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: I brought you out of Egypt and out of the place of slavery. I rescued you from the power of Egypt and the power of all who oppressed you. I drove them out before you and gave you their land. I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God. Do not fear the gods of the Amorites whose land you live in,’ but you did not obey Me.”

Israel’s back to square one. So what do they do? God’s rebuking Israel. Israel’s got these foreign nations invading them. They need a savior. The good news is God still loves His people, and He takes their problems seriously and personally. In fact, as you read the passage this morning, what you will see—at least my argument—is that all three persons of the Trinity get involved in delivering Israel from these foreign nations.

Look at verses 11 through 24 with me. The angel of the Lord came and he sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press. You don’t do that. You thresh wheat on a threshing floor where the wind would be able to carry the chaff away. Gideon is below where the wind would be. Gideon is having to hide, remember? Because he’s hiding all of his crops from these foreign nations. Gideon is threshing wheat in a wine press.

The angel of the Lord appears to him and says, “The Lord is with you, valiant warrior,” as Gideon’s just a farmer. And Gideon says to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened? Where are all His wonders that our ancestors told us about?” They said, “Hasn’t the Lord brought us out of Egypt? But now the Lord’s abandoned us. He’s handed us over to Midian.” The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the grasp of Midian. I am sending you.” And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Look, my family is the weakest in Manasseh”—that’s one of the tribes of Israel—“and I’m the youngest in my father’s family.” “But I will be with you,” the Lord said to him. “You will strike Midian down as if you were just one man.”

Then Gideon said again, “If I have found favor with you”—he already has found favor with Him. God’s already approached him and saying, “I’m with you. I’m going to do this.” But, “God, if I have found favor with you, give me a sign that you’re speaking with me. Don’t leave this place until I return to you. Let me bring my gift and set it before you.” And God says, “Okay, I will stay until you return.”

Verse 19. So Gideon went and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from a half bushel of flour. He placed the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. He brought them out and offered them to Him under the oak. The angel of God, the angel of the Lord says to Gideon, “Take the meat with the unleavened bread, put it on top of the stone, pour the broth over it.” So he does it. The angel of the Lord extended the tip of the staff that’s in His hand, touches the meat and the bread, and then fire comes up from the rock, consumes the meat and the bread. Then the angel of the Lord vanishes from sight. When Gideon realized that he was the angel of the Lord, he said, “Oh no, Lord God, I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” But the Lord said to him, “Peace to you. Don’t be afraid. You will not die.” So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it the Lord is peace, and it is still in Ophrah today.

Man, if nothing else, what you see immediately is that God gives Gideon a mission. But what I believe is happening here is that God the Son, Jesus Christ, is the one that personally appears to Gideon. Let Me lay out my argument for you. This is for the nerdier folks in the room. If you’re not nerdy, you just look at the stained glass because it’s so beautiful. And if you are nerdy, I want your eyes up here. Okay.

So, in the Old Testament, God has angels and God would send angels to go and be messengers for Him to His people. That’s all an angel is, a maloc. That’s just a messenger. So, God would send His maloc to people and they would carry a message. Thinking Gabriel, folks like this. All right.

Angels continue on into the New Testament. You ought to be thinking Christmas time with the messages that go to Mary and Joseph and Elizabeth and all of them. However, in the Old Testament, there’s a certain angel that continues to appear. It’s not an angel from the Lord. The Bible calls it an angel of the Lord. The angel of the Lord.

When people see God in the Old Testament, people are deeply afraid. Like think Isaiah 6 when Isaiah is before the throne of God and he’s he sees God high and exalted and all Isaiah can do is get to his knees and say, “Woe is me. I’m a man of unclean lips and I’m come from a people of unclean lips.” He knows God is holy and lifted up. And if you are sinful in the presence of a holy God, what you deserve is to be smited because God can’t tolerate that.

When people see the angel of the Lord, they do the same thing. Look at what Gideon says. He says, “I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” Verse 23, God still speaking says, “Peace to you. You won’t die.” Gideon thought he was about to die. The same response people have to God, they have to the angel of the Lord.

The angel also speaks as if he he is God Himself. The angel makes promises on God’s behalf and on His character that it seems the angel Himself is going to carry out. And finally, once you hit the New Testament, the angel of the Lord is nowhere to be found because we have seen His glory. Glory as of the one and only Son from the Father. Glory that we have beheld who embodies grace and truth Himself.

Man, if nothing else, what you see, you see God give Gideon a mission that’s all about God Himself. But what I believe is happening here is that before Jesus is incarnate in His glorified yet still mysterious state, Jesus comes and He walks and He talks with Gideon. God comes and gives a mission to Gideon. Look at what the mission says. He says, “I am sending you and I will be with you.” The angel of the Lord is commissioning Gideon to a task to deliver God’s people.

It’s almost like God shows up in Gideon’s campsite one night and says, “Hey man, are you ready? I’m about to save Israel. Are you ready? You’re just thrushing the wheat here in this wine press. I’m going to make you a warrior. Are you ready?” And Gideon naturally has some questions which God doesn’t answer. Verse 13. Gideon talks about his lack of qualification. God doesn’t sugarcoat that. Doesn’t matter. God is simply giving Gideon a mission and a promise. He’s saying, “I am sending you. I will be with you. I am giving you this job and I am going to guarantee your success in it.”

Like I said, I believe Jesus has appeared to Gideon commissioning Him for a task that would make God look really good. Now, what we all know is that Jesus has done the same thing for us. After Jesus was lifted up on the cross as a sacrifice for our sin, paying a way for us to be made right and reconciled with God the Holy Father, Jesus died. And after Jesus died, He came back and He was resurrected back to life, securing an eternal freedom for us that we get to walk in. And it’s because He lives that we can live.

And after Jesus rose and resurrected from the grave, He walks and He talks with His disciples for some length of time. And then in Matthew 28, just before Jesus ascends and then sends the Holy Spirit down to live within us, Jesus says these words to His disciples, He comes near and He says to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I’ve commanded you.

And remember, I am with you always to the end of the age. Does that sound a little bit like what God is saying to Gideon? Go. I’m going to be with you. Jesus has said the same thing to us. He has given us a mission. Man, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ as your rescuer from sin and as the master of your life, you have been given a mission. It’s not to raise a picture perfect family. It’s not to pump up your 401k. It’s not to get all the accomplishments and the successes that you can rack up. Man, Jesus has given you a mission. A mission to represent Him in making disciples, helping people go from death to life in Jesus. Helping people know Jesus and walk with Him.

I love the way another church in our area puts it. They say the mission of their church is to make disciples who make disciples who change the world. Man, they just got that from Jesus. That’s the mission you have. So, I got to ask you a question. Are you obeying it? Are you obeying the great commission? Now, I’m not trying to guilt anybody. I’m not trying to slam anybody with shame or anything. I think so often as followers of Jesus, we come to these hinge moments in our lives and we’re like, Lord, like what what do you want for me? What’s Your will for my life? We might do a Facebook survey. We might talk with a friend over coffee. Might peruse some of the ministry needs at Sauldam. When I wonder like Jesus is up in heaven and He’s looking at us and He’s like, “Huh, it would have been really cool if I would have given them a mission before I left.” No, He has. I mean, you’ve got a job. It’s not necessarily to make Saul bigger, man. Our job as followers of Jesus is to help more and more people trust in Jesus Christ as their savior and master. Are you obeying that?

Some of us are in the room this morning and your job is not to help other people become followers of Jesus because you’re not yet a follower of Jesus. You might know a lot about the Bible or think you do. You might have been in church for a long time. The hymns and the songs are very familiar. And if Michael just knew your timing, he would have had that song. But the thing is, you’re not actually a born again follower of Jesus Christ because you are still the ruler of your life. God doesn’t actually have authority over how you spend your time or your money. When people interact with you, they see a lot of you, not very much of Jesus. You’re still trying to figure out a way out of your sin and your shame. And it might be through putting money in a plate or taking the Lord’s supper or maybe you got baptized when you were a kid like I was.

Like let me tell you my story for a second. I grew up in a Southern Baptist church much like this. My family’s super involved in church. Father was a deacon, served on lots of committees. My mom was a Sunday school teacher, served on lots of committees. I was at church like every time it was open. That was just kind of who we were. You know, it’s like secondary daycare for us basically. But I remember as a kid being super disinterested in Jesus getting to actually run my life, but very interested in not going to hell. So as a kid, as an eight-year-old, I got baptized because I I thought, man, if I get baptized, then that means I don’t go to hell. I can just live however in the world I want to. I’ve done the ceremony. I’ve kind of bought my way in. I’ve paid the membership. Now I get to shop at Costco. That’s what I thought it was.

It wasn’t until 15 that someone really invited me to believe the gospel. You see, I had John 3:16 memorized. I knew that for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son so that anybody who would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. I knew that, but I didn’t know it. Like, I didn’t actually experience the truth of that. And I wonder if that’s where some of us are this morning. You know, vaguely that there was a man named Jesus Christ who was at least elite in His religion. He was elite in His righteousness. He He obeyed all the rules. He even did some miracles. And One time He even said that He was God, and He died on the cross for me, and God sent Him to be some sort of Savior for me. Yeah, I’ll take a little bit of that, but I’ll also take a little bit of success in the world’s eyes, and I’ll take a little bit of running my own life, and just kind of work through the buffet of life. And what I’m inviting you to this morning is to give all of your life to Jesus. Man, you will never be truly satisfied in this life until He gets to be the King of it. Because until Jesus is King of your life, everything else can be. Your spouse, your parents, your job, some substance, performance, the things that have been done to you in the past, some version of your life that you aspire to in the future, that will be King of your life until Jesus is. And nothing else will satisfy you.

And here’s the bad news. If you give—if you live your entire life not being satisfied in Jesus and chasing after all these things with just a little bit of Jesus on top, then what happens is when you die, you will spend eternity separated from the love of God, experiencing the wrath of God on your sin that you’re building up right now. Jesus did not just come to satisfy us. He also came to pay off our sin debt so that anybody can have freedom in the name of Jesus Christ. Anybody can be forgiven from God. So there are some people in the room that your job is not to tell other people how to follow Jesus because you have not followed Him yourself. What I want to invite you to right now is to stop listening to me and you say, “Jesus, I give You my life. I might know a lot about You or think I do. I might not know much about You at all. But I give my life to You. Please forgive me. Please satisfy me. Please use my life.”

And for the rest of us, our prayer is, God, would You help me to obey this mission You’ve given me? God gave Gideon a mission. God has given us a mission, too. But God doesn’t just give Gideon a mission. The second thing you see in this passage is that God the Father gives Gideon the courage he needs to carry it out. God the Father gives the courage. It seems that the angel of the Lord leaves Gideon, but later that night, God’s presence returns through the divine voice that we know to be God the Father. Look at verses 25-27. On that very night, the Lord says to Gideon, “Take your father’s young bull and a second bull, seven years old. Then tear down the altar of Baal”—that’s a false god—“tear down that altar that belongs to your dad, and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. Build a well-constructed altar to Me, the Lord your God, on top of the mound instead. Take that second bull and offer it as a burnt offering on the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down.” So Gideon took 10 of his male servants and did as the Lord told him. But because he was too afraid of his father’s family and the men of the city to do it in the daytime, he does it at night.

So God Himself comes to Gideon and gives Gideon a mission to deliver God’s people from the oppressive hand of the Midianites. Part of the issue, though, is that the Midianites are oppressing Israel because Israel has left God and they’re pursuing false gods. Israel has left God and they’re pursuing these false gods. Even Gideon’s own dad—Gideon’s own dad seems to operate some sort of communal shrine to these false gods. In Gideon’s own backyard, it’s happening. So God says, “Hey, before you go be a national leader, I need you to make a little local dust-up for me. Go cut down this altar.”

God calls Gideon to make two incredibly costly sacrifices. Man, God calls Gideon to sacrifice that seven-year-old bull. I don’t know much, but from what I’ve been understanding—and Kenneth, please don’t tell your dad if I get this wrong—from what I understand, a bull that would be seven years old would be a highly effective breeding bull for a family. I’m getting some. Thank you. Okay. For Gideon to go after the seven-year-old bull would mean that all of that prime cattle, all that prime livestock, which the family and the community has been enjoying for years, and is counting on for years to come. Gideon’s going straight at that. Gideon is going at their number one asset. And God says, “Sacrifice it. Don’t just cut it up. Don’t just kill it. But when you sacrifice it, you’re going to do it on a new altar because you’ve torn down the false god altar.”

Gideon has to make a costly sacrifice that would directly affect himself and all of his community and neighbors. And here’s the deal. Every movement of God requires tearing down some altar. Every movement of God will cut down some idol, some lesser god. Manly. It reminds me of this guy. His name was Boniface. He is a Christian missionary back in the 600s. He goes to what we now call Germany. In Germany, they worship this god named Thor, which we have movies about now. And they had in this particular area, they had this oak tree dedicated to Thor. Boniface. This missionary understood that the gospel of Jesus Christ would never take hook in this community until that oak tree was cut down.

That’s what my man does. He goes and he cuts down this tree that’s dedicated to a god these people thought was alive. The only reason they didn’t kill him, Boniface wrote, is because they were waiting to see Thor strike him down from the heavens. Thor never does because Thor’s not alive. And all the people when they see their altar to this god in this oak tree, when they see it cut down, they start worshiping Jesus Christ because they understand that Jesus Christ must be the real true God.

Maybe you’re not a missionary to German people worshiping Thor. Maybe your altar is your finances and you’ve got to cut down the idol of your financial habits and you need to start giving your money away. Maybe for you your false god is your stomach and you just eat and consume and you got to tear down that idol through fasting. Maybe for you, your idol is your image on social media and your presence and keeping up with the Joneses. And you got to cut down that idol by getting rid of it and spending more time in God’s word. Every time God makes a move in our world, idols fall.

Gideon naturally would be afraid of this. He does it at nighttime. But that’s okay. God just is looking at Gideon and saying, “Give me what you’ve got. Give me the courage you do have. Give me the faith you do have, and I will work through it.” God is still doing that today. God is still going to call you to cut down some altar. And He still has courage for you. In fact, if you’re taking notes, I want you to write down Romans chapter 8 verses 31-37. That is the God who fights for you. That is the God who is calling you. That is the God who encourages you.

So, we’ve seen God the Son give a mission. We see God the Father speak to Gideon and help him through this moment. This Old Testament passage gets even richer when we see God the Spirit give Gideon the success. Jump with me to verses 33 through 35. All the Midianites and their friends, the Amalekites and some more people, the people of the east, they gather together. They cross over the Jordan River and they camp in the Jezreel Valley. Then verse 34, the Spirit of the Lord envelops Gideon and he blows a ram’s horn and the Abiezrites rally behind him. All the people that were just worshiping Baal who needed that family bull, they rally around Gideon. While Gideon verse 35 sends messengers throughout all of his tribe of Manasseh, they rally around him as well. He also sent messengers to other tribes in Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali who also came to him.

Man, what you see happening in this moment is God giving Gideon the success for the mission God gave him. It’s almost like God intends to do something through your life and cares more about it than you do, and is going to give you the success if you follow Him in His plans. Man, when you follow what God wants you to do, some measure of success is going to come. That’s not to say that it’s going to be easy or that there won’t be pain. There will be and it will be difficult. But God, the Holy Spirit will give you the success. In fact, God is the only one that can give you success.

Gideon’s assignment grows from an isolated neighborhood clash with his dad’s buddies into a national security risk. Yet God’s past faithfulness in Gideon’s life assured Gideon of God’s future faithfulness. And as God gave Gideon courage the first time, Gideon knew that God was going to help him this time. So God, how does God help him? Verse 34 it says, “The Holy Spirit envelops Gideon.” Envelop is an interesting word. The Holy Spirit covers Gideon as if with clothing, like a robe, your clothes, a jacket. It’s the same word of like the garments that the priests would wear to offer the sacrifices. They’d be enveloped in these holy robes and coverings. Notice the Holy Spirit doesn’t fill Gideon. He just covers him. He gives success in this assignment and then the Holy Spirit would leave. That’s what happens in the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit comes on somebody, gives them success for something and then leaves. Yet the Holy Spirit also or the Bible, the Old Testament has promises of a day to come when the Holy Spirit would not just rest on God’s people but would indwell God’s people.

Now see, as the spirit envelops Gideon for this assignment, Gideon experienced fruit in his obedience. Gideon blows the trumpet and his tribesmen come to him. Gideon sends messengers out to the other tribes and even more people come to him. This is not to say that just because God gives you an assignment and you obey that everything will go well. I’m the first to tell you obeying God brings joy at a cost. Obeying God brings joy at a cost. You might want to begin financial giving here at our church. And you will experience joy through that, but that comes with a cost of denying yourself comfort through spending your money on what you want. You might want to experience the joy of a deeper fellowship with God through fasting. But that comes through a cost of feeling physical hunger. Obedience is costly, but it is good. And it brings us closer to God. And it brings us in line with God’s mission. And as we align with God in His mission, God will carry out His task.

Are you ready? Are you ready? God looking at Gideon and He says, “Are you ready? Are you ready for what I have in store? Are you ready to follow me in this assignment?” Sauldam Baptist Church, are you ready? Who knows what 2026 has for us? Who knows what faith move God might call our church to, but are we ready? I’m truly curious. God’s calling. I mentioned a moment ago, the Holy Spirit offers us a better thing today than what Gideon ever had. Man, Gideon, he just had the Holy Spirit come and rest on him. But that’s not who we are. That’s not what we have. On the day of Pentecost, everyone there was filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in different tongues as the Holy Spirit enabled them. So much so that the early church began to be marked by God and His activity within their hearts. And what we get to experience today 20 or 2,000 years later is that same filling.

I say then, walk by the spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh desires what’s against God’s Holy Spirit and the spirit desires what’s against the flesh. These are opposed to each other so that you don’t do what you want. But if you’re led by the spirit, you’re not under the law. Now, the works of the flesh are obvious. Sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I’m warning you about these things as I warned you before that those who practice this won’t inherit God’s kingdom. But the fruit of the spirit, the activity of the spirit through your life is this. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. The law can’t come against this stuff. When the Holy Spirit comes inside of you, He starts to transform you and He changes your outburst of anger into gentleness. He changes your desire for selfish ambition into servantheartedness. And you get to control if you’re filled with Him or not.

Are you ready, man? Do you want to follow God and whatever God has for you as I send you out and God looks at you and says, “Are you ready for whatever I’ve got for you?” I want to give you a promise from God’s word about what God can do in and through your life. From Ephesians chapter 3. Now to God who is able to do above and beyond anything you ever ask or think according to the power that He works in us. To God be the glory in your life, in the church, and In Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Sauldam Baptist Church. God loves you, and God sends you to go do whatever He wants you to do. Thank you, guys. You’ll have a great Sunday.