Awakened to Grace

Chad Roberts: Welcome to Awakened to Grace. I'm Chad Roberts, and I'm so glad that you're joining us today. I believe God has connected us for a great purpose. We are just weeks away from the national release of my new book, Blind Faith: Seeing God Through Darkness, that is being published through our partners at Lifeway.

It's available on Amazon or anywhere that you buy books in any format you prefer. Through this book, we will learn together how to trust a God you can't see. I hope you'll go right now and pre-order your copy of Blind Faith: Seeing God Through Darkness.

You probably have heard the term "fleecing God." What does fleecing God mean? Well, what Gideon did in his immature faith, what I've done before in my immature faith, is it means that you put God to the test. Fleecing God means that you are seeking His divine guidance, but on your terms. It means that you want God's help but on your conditions, and it's not mature, and it should not be with us.

He took his sheepskin and he laid it out one night, and he told God, "If this is really You and You're really calling me, then let the sheepskin, let the... I don't remember now which order it is. You can find it for yourself, but one day was let the ground be dry and let the sheepskin be wet." The Bible says it happened that way, and the sheepskin was so wet you could wring it into a bowl.

Then he played the game day two, and he said, "This time, let the ground be wet," that's the order I think, "and let the fleece be dry." Sure enough, God patiently, graciously did it. But do you know what that is, brothers and sisters? For the mature, faith-filled believer, that is saying, "God, prove Yourself to me." Brother, sister, that's not faith.

Do you know why fleecing God is so disrespectful to the Lord? And listen, what is a modern-day example of fleecing God? "Well, God, if You cause a thunderstorm to happen at 3:30 PM next Thursday, then I know that's You." What? "God, if my Aunt Mabel calls on Friday after 8:00 PM, then I know You're talking to me." That's fleecing God. That's silly. "If two pigeons land on the hood of my car, then I'll know it's You." No.

Do you know why that ought not be for the believer? Because, brothers and sisters, we have the Holy Spirit living inside us, who knows the mind of the Father, the Spirit of God. He'll reveal God's will to you, and we walk by faith, not by sight. All Gideon knew to do was to walk by sight. He had no faith. So he fleeces God, and God graciously answers.

Then the next question that Gideon has for God: he first concludes, "Well, God doesn't care about us." No, in reality, He absolutely does. That's why Israel went through what they were going through. "Well, can God be trusted? Does He really...? If God knew what He was doing, He wouldn't call me." No. You have to, at some point, believe that you are who God says you are. Not what your family says, not what you say, not what others say. You are who God says. Period. End of story. Amen?

Listen, brothers and sisters, I've had to walk this out. I remember getting a letter when I first started the church. I was so young. This older pastor wrote me this long letter, spelling out all the reasons why I shouldn't do it. But you know what? That pastor didn't call me. God called me. Amen? And don't worry, I'm friends with him today. As a matter of fact, he's attended several of our services. But he tried to convince me to not do what God had called me to do. You've got to follow God and not others.

The third question that Gideon had was, "Well, God, will You take care of me personally?" This is the most intriguing aspect of Gideon's story for me. God did not send Gideon straight to the battlefield. God did not tell Gideon, "I want you to go face the Midianites tomorrow." No, He actually did something that was probably more scary, probably more difficult.

He told Gideon, "I want you to go to your father's house because, hear me, you have to be the real deal at home before you're the real deal in public. Amen? You've got to be the real thing at home before you do on the battlefield. Period." So he goes, "I want you to go to your father's house." Now remember, the whole village is worshipping Baal, and there is a biblical contrast between the altars.

For an Israelite, their altar to the Lord was very simple. It was uncut rock. I mean, it wasn't beautiful, it wasn't... it was just very simple. But Baal's altars: extremely elaborate. They were built on high places. Asherah poles were part of it, carving images, all this stuff. God said, "I want you to go to the high place, and I want you to tear down the altar of your father and build an altar to the Lord."

Oh my goodness. Friends, he could have been killed for that. As a matter of fact, they tried to kill him. But you know what? Again, Gideon was so fearful. The man was so afraid, so filled with fear that he did it in the dead of night where no one would see him. Isn't it something that the Lord still accepts our feeble attempts? Isn't it so good that God doesn't write us off and say, "You're not who I thought you were"? No, He moves us along, doesn't He? He grows us up. He grows our faith. Isn't God so good?

Here he is so fearful, and he's so filled with doubt. He goes in the dead of night. The village wakes up the next morning, word gets out. It's Gideon. They're ready to kill him. God turns the heart of his father. Joash stands up in front of the village, and he goes, "Hey, you know, I was thinking, if Baal is a true god, then why didn't he defend himself? Maybe we've got this all wrong."

The point is, before Gideon sounded the trumpet in battle, he had to first sound the trumpet at home. Do you need to do the same? Do you need to clean things up at your home? Are there things that you're permitting, things that you're overlooking, things that you are allowing? Start with home. God had a great plan for Gideon to become a great conqueror, but he could have never conquered the enemy on the battlefield until he first conquered the enemy in his home. Let us learn the same principle. Amen?

Then the last question today. He wondered if God cared. Yes, God absolutely cared. That's why they were being disciplined. He wondered if God really knew what He was doing. Could God's wisdom be trusted? Yes, God did know what He was doing. He did choose the right man. And then he wondered if God would really care for him and really take care of him personally. Would He protect him? Yes, God did, in fact, do that.

Lastly, the last question he had was: will God keep His promises? So Gideon, because of what he did at home, stirred the village and gained some confidence. Turns out, God was right. Gideon was a pretty good leader. This farmer, this average man, actually was a good leader. He sends out messengers to other tribes of Israel, and he goes, "Hey, we're building an army."

"Are you a general?" No. "You a commander?" No. "You even a soldier?" No, but we're building an army, and God is with us. All of a sudden, you turn around and there's 32,000 men ready to go to war. I'd say that's pretty doggone good. A farmer with 32,000 men ready to go to war, but there's a problem. The Bible records in Judges 6 and 7, do you know how big the Midianite army was? Oh, it wasn't 32,000. It was 135,000 men.

Could you imagine that? And you're not going to believe what God says to Gideon. The unthinkable happens. You're not going to believe it. God says there's too many. I did not know this until preparing this week. I did not know this. Gideon tells the army, he goes, "All of the men who are faint-hearted, you may go home." That decimated the ranks.

Did you know that was actual scripture? Moses commanded it in the book of Deuteronomy. And he said, "If you are faint-hearted, you can't go to war with us." You know why? Because fear spreads. You got ears to hear this morning? I need to know you're with me. I need you to hear this. As we navigate the uncharted waters of the future, let me tell you what we don't need: faint-hearted Christians. People who will do natural math and not faith math. You'll spread among the ranks. No, if you've got feeble faith, if you've got weak faith, we don't need you on our teams. Amen?

What are we looking for? People of faith. People who will say, "This doesn't look right on paper, but if this is the way God's leading us, God will do it." And I'm just telling you, don't ever say I didn't tell you. I'm telling you, God's going to lead us in territory that is scary. God's going to lead us in territory where either we sink or we swim. Which are we going to do? I don't know about you, but I plan to follow God.

He decimates the ranks, and then you're not going to believe what he says. This is just almost too much to handle. He goes, "There's still too many men." 10,000. "God, Lord, if You subtract 135,000 and You subtract 10,000 of that, do you still see the problem? Do you still see how outnumbered we are?" God goes, "Yeah, it's too many." Are you kidding me? You're kidding me.

God says no. God says, "What you're going to do is you're going to observe the men when they drink out of the water. If they get down on their hands and their knees and they drink, or if they take it out of their hand. Those who take it out of their hand, that's who I've chosen." That wasn't 7,000, and it wasn't 5,000, and it wasn't 3,000, and it wasn't a thousand. It was 300 men. You're kidding me. 300 men to face an army of 135,000. You know what God says? Nobody's going to get the glory but Me. Nobody.

With 300 men, do you know what scholars call that? A Gideon revival. That's when God multiplies by subtracting. That doesn't make sense to us. Our church experienced a Gideon revival some years ago. You got time for me to tell you a quick story? Is anybody in a hurry? You can call Uber Eats if you're hungry. Doesn't matter to me. They can... you can DoorDash you something. Doesn't matter.

I won't be much longer, but in 2016, I was in Nicaragua training pastors. That's where the eyesight first happened. But before that happened earlier in the week, I was with a pastor who lived in Nicaragua. We were at his home on his property, and he had the most beautiful, the most healthy, the most lush banana tree. He said, "Chad, do you know why that tree is so healthy and vibrant?" I said, "No." He says, "Because we prune it."

Right then, I'll never forget it, friends. I know the voice of the Holy Spirit. Right then, the Holy Spirit told me as clear as day, "I'm about to prune your church, and I'm going to cut it down to the root." It made me shiver because I knew it was the Lord. I come home, and from October of '16 well into the first quarter of '17, toward Easter, we had a Gideon revival. People began leaving left and right. I mean, we weren't all that big to begin with, but key people, key families in key leadership positions, key tithers, and key givers.

A couple of our largest donors left. Some left because, you know, they didn't agree with something, whatever. But most left because they... it was the strangest thing. They would come to me and they'd say, "Chad, our time is done here. We just sense that the Lord's moving us. We love you, we love the church, but we just sense that God's telling us to go." Broke my heart. But I knew what God was doing. He was pruning. He was cutting.

The Lord told me, the Lord said, "Chad, just hold on because the tree is going to come back more vibrant and more healthy than ever. Amen?" And I believe you are part of that fulfillment. There are many others who are going to be part of that fulfillment. But here is my point. This is what I want to convey today. As our church enters this new phase, as we go into these uncharted waters, as we step into realms of faith, I want you to know we cannot be mesmerized with numbers. We can't.

Do you know how many are here today? Neither do I, and it doesn't matter. Because I've preached when there's a lot, and I've preached when there's only a few, and it doesn't matter. Amen? What I've learned is as fast as God can multiply, He can subtract. So our hope better not be in numbers. Our hope better not be in offerings. Our hope better not be in the strength of ourselves. It has to be in faith and faith alone. Amen?

These sermons are planned months in advance, and I know in my heart it was no coincidence that after talking to the architect and now hearing numbers that makes me tremble, hearing numbers that I'm just... I mean, I think I passed out. I'm pretty sure I did. It's time to sit down with banks. Our confidence has to be in a God that doesn't do math the way we do math.

The currency of the kingdom of God is not the US dollar. The currency of God's kingdom is faith and faith alone. Amen? And I'll tell you this, when it comes to faith, God's made us very well to do. You know why? Because through the years, He's stretched our faith. He's grown our faith. He's tested our faith. Brothers and sisters, a faith that can't be tested by God cannot be trusted by God. Don't get upset when God tests your faith. Don't get angry when God tests your faith. He's preparing you for something greater.

So here they go, 300 men. They're not given shields. They're not given spears or javelins. You know what they're given? Trumpets. Emmy, my 12-year-old, came home last week from school with her first instrument, and she got a trumpet. I looked at Sadie and I said, "We're in a new phase of life. Jesus, take the wheel." But you know, a trumpet in the Old Testament was a shofar, a ram's horn. It's what the shofar, the ram's horn is what they blew that brought the walls of Jericho down. You don't think Gideon didn't know that?

All 300 men were given a shofar. All 300 men were given a jar. Man, I'd love to know how big it was. All 300 men were given a torch. And this was the battle plan. This is all they had. They didn't have a military mind. They didn't have a general or a commander. All they had was a farmer that made himself available to God, that when God said yes, he said, "I'm not sure." But God brought him along.

This was the battle plan. This is amazing. Gideon said, "You watch me and you do everything I do." This was a man that was hiding in a winepress, and now look at the leader God has made him. He tells these 300 warriors, "You watch me and you do everything I do." In the dead of night, remember, he tore down the altar in the dead of night. Well, God knew, "Hey, this is the same man I'm going to use to destroy the Midianite army."

In the dead of the night, while they were all asleep and drunk, they blew the shofar. They broke the jar, and they lit the torch. And they cried with a mighty voice, "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!" You know what God did? God sent confusion to that wicked army. They turned on themselves and slaughtered themselves, and God brought the victory that day. God routed the enemy that day.

Here we are thousands of years talking about it. Thousands of years later. Who gets the glory? God, and God alone. So, brother, sister, are you available to God today? Are you available for God to use you? God may be telling you yes, and you may be saying, "Hold on." God may be telling you yes, and you're the one saying, "I'm not sure about it." Why don't you step out in faith and say, "God, I'll do what You tell me to do. I'll trust You with the results. I know You're not going to do things the way that I would."

Did you know that I'm a pastor, husband, and father of four who suddenly went blind in 2018? Today I teach people how life is not random, but it is actually orchestrated by God for a great purpose. Learn more about my story and Awakened to Grace at chadroberts.org.