The Kind of Man God Uses, Part 1

0:07 We have so many preachers today who, to quote another, are living lives of quiet desperation. They're drawing the breath, drawing the salary, waiting for retirement. Friend, what you need to do is to get a fresh vision of Almighty God. Let me say something to you, my preacher brother. There has never been a greater day. There has never been a greater age, never a greater opportunity to preach the glorious gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ than this day and this age. Don't get the idea that Gideon and these other people breathe different air, that somehow God was different then. Somehow we get the idea today that poor God, He's not able to do what He used to do.

1:01 He's not able today to send revival, to shake cities, to save multitudes, to rescue the perishing and care for the dying and snatch them in pity from sin in the grave. God is not what He used to be. I want to tell you, my dear friend, God is still God. He's not old. He's not sick. He is not tired. The problem is not with God. The Adrian Rogers Pastors Podcast is a wellspring of biblical encouragement, specifically for those called to preach the word, love the church, and lead with integrity. Listen now and be strengthened for the road ahead. I want to talk to you tonight about the making and the ministry of a man of God. And the illustration that I've chosen is Gideon, and you can find that in the sixth chapter of Judges, and we will come to that in a moment.

2:01 But I believe with all of my heart that we need more than ever men of God for this generation, and I want you to be one of those men of God. You see, it was a dark day in Israel, and every man was doing that which was right in his own eyes. And God sent judgment. And the Midianites had come as the sand of the sea upon Israel. They were all hunkered down, afraid, living in caves, living in dens. Gideon himself was threshing wheat, but he couldn't do it out in the open, out at the threshing floor. He's down in the wine vat, hunkered down, afraid, of the Midianites. And the Lord comes to Gideon, and the Lord says to him, Hail, thou mighty man of valor.

3:00 Gideon must have looked over his shoulder to see to whom the Lord was speaking. But Gideon thought of himself as anything but a mighty man of valor. He protested when the Lord called him that. He said, listen, of all the tribes in Manasseh, of all the tribes in Israel, Manasseh is the worst. And of all of the families, my family's the poorest. And of all the kids in the family, I'm the run of the litter. I think you've gotten the wrong man. But the Lord, I believe, with a smile on his face said, you know, Gideon, I think you're just about small enough and weak enough I can use you. I want to tell you something, gentlemen. I have seen men too big for God to use. I've never seen one too small for God to use. God took this man, Gideon, and God loved him, and God used him, and God called him, not for what he was, but for what God could make out of him.

4:07 And don't you dare insult God by saying he cannot use you. God is almighty, and God has the ability to take your life and my life and make you and to make me a man of God. I want to mention five factors in the life of Gideon, and I pray God he will write them indelibly upon your heart and say, oh God, that is the kind of a man I want to be. The very first thing I want to say about Gideon is that he was a man of vision. He had an encounter with the living God. He felt a call from the living God. He was given a challenge from the living God. He was a man captured by a vision of what God wanted.

5:10 May I share the word of God? Judges chapter 6, beginning in verse 12. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. And Gideon said unto him, O my Lord, if the Lord be with us, then why is all of this befallen us? And where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord hath forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. And the Lord looked upon him and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent thee? Here was a man captured by a vision. He had an encounter, I say, with the living God, a challenge from the living God, a call from the living God.

6:11 My preacher, brother, that's what you need, a vision. We have so many preachers today who, to quote another, are living lives of quiet desperation. They're drawing the breath, drawing the salary, waiting for retirement. Friend, what you need to do is to get a fresh vision of Almighty God. Let me say something to you, my preacher brother. There has never been a greater day. There has never been a greater age, never a greater opportunity to preach the glorious gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ than this day and this age. Don't get the idea that Gideon and these other people breathed different air, that somehow God was different then.

7:05 Somehow we get the idea today that poor God, he's not able to do what he used to do. He's not able today to send revival, to shake cities, to save multitudes, to rescue the perishing and care for the dying and snatch them in pity from sin in the grave. God is not what he used to be. I want to tell you, my dear friend, God is still God. He's not old. He's not sick. He is not tired. The problem is not with God. Listen to me. There is not a shred of Scripture in all of the Bible that says we cannot have a mighty revival in this day and in this age. And don't you insult God by saying it cannot happen. Again, I want to say there's never been a greater day, never been a greater age to preach the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

8:03 God has sent revival in dark days before, and God can send revival in this day. Now, what changed this man was this. He had a vision of the living God, and he saw himself in his weakness, but he was transformed when he saw the living God. You see, we need to get our eyes upon God. Do you know it's not really a compliment for a man to be called a great man of faith? I want great faith, but that's not a great compliment to be called a great man of faith. I have a beautiful wife. She's sitting down here on the front row, and I used to, as a younger preacher, would go away and preach and stay for a week or so. Suppose somebody came to me and said, Adrian, while you're gone, who keeps an eye on Joyce?

8:59 What do you mean, who keeps an eye on her? Well, she's young and beautiful. How do you know she doesn't have a boyfriend when you're gone? I say, what? Yes, who is watching her for you? I say, no one. Well, you're not worried about her being unfaithful to you? No, not a little bit. not one scintilla of an iota. Who would I worry about that? You say, oh, what a great man of faith. I say, no, what a great wife. Amen.

9:38 You know, when somebody says, oh, what a great man of faith, friend, what a great God we have. When we understand who God is, then we have that vision. And so God uses a man of vision. You say, well, God appeared in a form to Gideon. He's never done that for me or to me. Well, he may not. But I want to tell you something. You have something far better than Gideon had. You have a New Testament. And you have the Holy Spirit abiding in you. and there is no excuse for you not to have an encounter with the living God. And if you've not had one that has caused your heart to vibrate and beat with a vision, get alone.

10:33 Tarry before God because God uses men of vision. Number two, not only does God use men of vision, but God uses men of valor, of valor. Listen to chapter 6 and verse 12. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. And Gideon knew that he was a man of valor because God said that he was. Not because he felt it didn't of himself, but God took this man, this fearful man, and God transformed him and God made him a man of valor. And then when Gideon got ready to go to battle against the Midianites, God said to Gideon, I want you to choose brave men.

11:28 Listen to Judges 7, verses 2 and 3. The Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, mine own hand hath saved me. Now therefore go and proclaim in the ears of the people saying, listen to this now, whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from Mount Gilead. And they returned to the people 20 and 2,000. Gideon had this great army. And God says, Gideon, you've got too many people. Gideon had 32,000. And God said, tell anybody who's afraid, they may go home. There was a stampede, and Gideon dusted himself off.

12:23 and a great host of them went home and turned their back on the battle and on God. You see, God said, I don't have to have a great multitude to win this battle, and we need to understand that. God, listen, there are more people in this building tonight than God needs to turn this city in this world upside down. We need to understand that. You say, well, we need to grow. Well, we do need to grow, but a cemetery is growing also. I remember the late, great Dr. Vance Havner, who was a personal friend, and back in the days when most of you were not born or in the ministry, in 54, Southern Baptists had a slogan and a campaign called A Million More in 54. Dr. Habner, if you've ever heard him preach, knows that he had kind of a nasal voice.

13:19 And I heard him say one time, if we get a million more like some we got, we're sunk. So God said, look, I want men of valor. Gideon, be a man of valor. Tell all the fearful people to go home. Why is that? Because fear is infectious. There's another very interesting passage dealing with fear. It's in Deuteronomy chapter 20 and verse 8. And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and faint-hearted? Let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart. Fearful people are a pain to a pastor. People who are afraid to try anything.

14:15 Two pastors were talking about how many committees they had in the church. One said, I bet you I have a committee that you don't have. I said, what's that? He said, it's the bucket committee. I said, what is that? He said, every time we get an idea to do something great and big for God, the bucket committee comes and pours cold water on it. Oh, he said, I have a committee like that, and I can tell you who the chairman is. Many of us have committees just like that. They're people who are afraid, and they say that it cannot be done, and they are infected and infested with the sinister minister of fear. Now Paul told young Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 7, God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Are you a fearful person?

15:09 Have you been paralyzed with fear? You will never, ever be a man of God as you ought to until you become a man of valor. Until you're no longer afraid. One of the most pitiful things on earth is to see a preacher preach with fear in his eyes. And there are a lot of preachers like that. Now, what do we do to deal with fear? God has not given us the spirit of fear. There's normal fears. Of course, you'd be afraid of rattlesnakes and traffic and all of that. That's the gift of God for self-preservation. but there is a spirit of fear that comes from the devil. Now, what does God do to counteract that, my dear preacher? If you want to be a man of valor, first of all, God endures you with power. He gives you the spirit of power.

16:07 Where does that power come from? It is God's presence. When you see the living God, that removes fear. Do you remember when you used to walk to school and there was that bully who would kind of pick on you and you were afraid of him? And I remember a bully like that when I was going to school. There was this kid kept on picking on me and picking on me, had me scared to death. One day I had enough of it, and I turned and said to her, you leave me alone. But if you're walking to God, you're walking to school with your daddy or your big brother. It's different. And friend, we need to see that Jesus Christ has said, you go and make disciples.

17:04 And lo, I am with you always. Who can be afraid with Jesus at his side? Now, again, not only does he endures with power, but he enriches us with love. Did you know that love is a great force in overcoming fear? The great question is not, am I brave enough? The question is, do I love enough? Years ago when I was in college, I had a little country church, a little place called Fellsmere, about 130 miles to drive down there to preach on the weekends. Joyce and I lived in a little 25-foot house trailer, and we didn't have indoor plumbing. At least we, well, we had a sink in the kitchen, but we had to go to a house about 50 feet away to shower and bathe and so forth and to use the toilet.

18:11 And we heard on the news that there had been a jailbreak in our area and there was a prison there in Deland, Florida. And the news said that there are three escapees. Two of them are murderers. Two of them are killers. Take the keys out of your car. Keep your doors locked. Keep your children away and be on the lookout. Well, I was to go down on Saturday to Felsmere. Joyce was pregnant and shouldn't travel at that time. And I said, sweetheart, I'm not going to go down on Saturday. I want to stay with you all tonight. Then I'll leave early in the morning. That night, as we were in that little house trailer, we could hear the bloodhounds baying. We knew that somehow they must have traced these escapees to our vicinity. I got up in the gray dawn and got my little Doppler bag and went over to shave and to bathe and to get ready.

19:15 As I walked out in the gray dawn, I saw there about three or four house trailers away a convict, and he was sneaking around behind a trailer. And I'm there by myself. No one else is awake. My wife is over there in that trailer. And I thought, what shall I do? Shall I run? Shall I scream? What shall I do?

19:47 Wise or not, I decided to pounce him. And I was hard as a brick in those days. I'd gone on a football scholarship. And I put my eye on him and went around another trailer. and I jumped out and grabbed him and got him in a hammerlock and put him across my hip and began to put a hurting on him. And he said, let me go. I said, no. He said, I'm not one of them. I said, you see the way you're dressed? And he was dressed in a convict suit. And I endeavored to put him on the ground. About that time, a man came up with some bloodhounds and a sheriff's uniform on. He said, mister, you can let him go. He's a trustee. I don't know who was more frightened, him or me. But you know, I've thought about that.

20:49 That was a dumb thing to do. I mean, almost stupid. Here they tell you they're murderers on the loose. And I go out unarmed and pounce this man. And I thought, why did I do that? I'll tell you why. There's a precious girl sitting here on the front row. And I thought, if I don't do something, she may be in danger. And I tell you, at that moment, there was no fear, only love. You see, it's love that casts out fear. Again, I want to say to you, the question is not, are you brave enough? The question is, do you love enough? But not only does He enduce us with power, not only does He infuse us and enrich us with love, but He enlightens us with a sound mind.

21:48 Now, again, the devil would try to stampede you. Sir, see it clearly, see it plainly, if God be for us, who can be against us? don't you ever ever ever ever ever let the devil intimidate you he has no power none none none none over you except what you allow him to have and you needn't allow it God uses men a vision God uses men of valor.