Tips for Teaching This Week’s Session of The Gospel Project for Adults

Listen to this week’s leader training podcast with Y Bonesteele, team leader for The Gospel Project for Adults, for a summary and guidance in leading your group.

This week’s additional resources for study and preparation:

• Article: “Gideon’s Army” by Matt Capps
• Article: “God Wants Your Weakness” by Vaneetha Rendall Risner
• Sermon: “Gideon’s Tests of Faith” by Chris Hutchison
• Sermon: “What God Cares About Winning” by Aaron Weiss

Transcript of Leader Training Podcast:

Hi, this is Y Bonesteele, team leader of The Gospel Project for Adults. Welcome to another Leader Training podcast. Today we are in Unit 8, Session 3, God Strengthens His People, with the core passage of Judges 6:36-40 and 7:1-9; and with the key concept of: God Almighty strengthens us in our weakness.

We are continuing in Judges, looking at Gideon today. The context on p. 98 of the Leader Guide mentions it’s the longest and most complex of the narratives of deliverance in the book of Judges so we’ll try to summarize the events around our focal passage as we go along.

So the beginning of Judges 6, we see the Israelites back into their pattern of sin and evil, so the Lord handed them over to the Midianites. And they cried out to the Lord, and the Lord brought a deliverer. Pack Item 7 shows that cycle if you want to take a look again. So God called Gideon, “the weakest in Manasseh, and… the youngest in [his] father’s family,” as seen in verse 15, and Gideon knew it and he was scared. But God promised that He would be with him and Gideon asked for a sign that it was truly God speaking to him. This was the first of 3 signs that he would ask for, assuring that God was speaking and was with him. After that Gideon tore down the altars to foreign gods as the Lord commanded, and as his enemies gathered near, “the Spirit of the Lord enveloped Gideon” in verse 34 and he was able to rally more Israelite men. At this point then, is where we see our focal passage for this session. So for the second time, Gideon asked for a sign: putting wool fleece on the floor and having it wet with dew and the ground dry. Then he would “know that [God] will deliver Israel by [him]” (verse 37). And that is what happened. Then Gideon again, for the third time, asked God for a sign. He knew he was asking for a lot because he asked God not to be angry with him. He knew he was pressing it, but he somehow needed another sign to reassure him of God’s presence. One commentator states that it was normal for fleece to get wet from dew laid out overnight so to make sure it really was God, he asked for the more difficult event of having the fleece dry and the ground wet.

Now for years, well-intentioned Christians would use the phrase “laying out a fleece” as  a way to talk about how they wanted to be like Gideon and test God, or find out God’s will in telling them what to do. Yet, first, we must note that what Gideon did here was a sign of weak faith, knowing that God had every right to be angry at him. But God in His mercy was patient with Gideon even though his faith was weak. And in terms of determining God’s will, Gideon already was told and knew God’s will. He merely wanted a sign to reassure him that God would do what He said He would. Thus, this is neither a technique for us today to determine God’s will nor is it saying we should test God at all. We already have all of Scripture to tell and show us who God is and His plan for our lives and salvation. So this passage on Gideon’s test is descriptive, not prescriptive. Meaning it describes the events, it doesn’t prescribe it to us for us to model. There are many passages in the Bible that simply describe the events but aren’t meant for us to repeat.

But what are we to think of Hebrews 11 and Gideon’s mention in the Hall of Faith there? His name is mentioned in Hebrews 11:32 as one of the men of faith. Like we mentioned in the last session concerning Barak, Gideon is mentioned here because he stayed the course. He had his moment of needing reassurance, but in the end, he was obedient and faithful. And ultimately, God is gracious and patient with us. We all will have moments of weaker faith or doubt, but God sees our perseverance, and if we continue in the faith, even with little faith, but faith nonetheless, He will see us through.

How might we seek assurance from God when we feel our faith in His promises is wavering? Gideon was looking for a sign and sometimes we try to look for signs too, or sometimes we try to find people who would agree with what we’re thinking. But how we should go about it is to look to His Word, pray for God’s peace, and talk with those who have lived faithful lives to encourage us.

In the next set of verses, we see Gideon continuing the course. In verse 1, it says, “Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the troops who were with him, got up early and camped beside the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them, below the hill of Moreh, in the valley.” Gideon was called Jerubbaal back when he tore down the Baal altars and Asherah poles back in chapter 6, verses 25-32. Verse 32 states, “That day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, since Joash said, ‘Let Baal contend with him,’ because he tore down his altar.”

So Gideon had 32,000 troops and the Lord told him he had too many. And God gave specific reasons why he was going to decrease that number. Verse 2, “else Israel might elevate themselves over me and say, ‘I saved myself.’” God wanted to make sure that the Israelites knew God was winning this battle. And sometimes He not only allows weakness, but He actually makes the circumstances seem insurmountable that we would acknowledge Him and give Him the glory. This here is such a case of His orchestration of weakness that He would get the glory. And in so doing, He also administered grace. He allowed all the men who were fearful to turn back: verse 3, “whoever is fearful and trembling may turn back and leave.” And 22,000 left and 10,000 remained. But for God, that was still too many. And by separating them on how they drank water, those who drank with their hands were 300, and that’s who remained and stayed for battle. 9,700 men went back to their tents. And with the 300, Gideon prepared for battle and God told him to attack the camp, “for I have handed it over to you.”

Why does God so often work through our weaknesses then? Again, to show us that He is in charge, to remind us that He is all-powerful and we are not. When He works through our weaknesses, we can honestly proclaim, that was all God. We know we can’t take credit for any of it.

God in His grace strengthens us in our weakness over and over again. Even after verse 9, God assured Gideon again by letting him overhear an enemy soldier share a dream that they would be overcome by the Israelites. God didn’t have to do that, but He did. And in the end, God had the victory: “the Lord caused the men in the whole army to turn on each other with their swords” in Judges 7:22. God works in our weakness to show His strength and His victory. And we see that ultimately in how He redeems a weak and sinful people who could not earn salvation on our own, but only through the work of His Son, Jesus, that we are redeemed.

Onto the Group Experience then, start with the icebreaker of sharing our fears as layed out on p. 104 of the Leader Guide. Continue to the Context section, pulling out Pack Item 7: The Judges Cycles to remind the group of the cycle the Israelites kept going through. Also ask the group to take out Pack Item 8: The Judges of Israel handout to continue to see how God raised up judges and deliverers for the people. (Make extra copies of Pack Item 8: The Judges of Israel in case your group didn’t bring their copies or for new people.)

In the Recap section, ask what stood out to your group and add insights from your own study as you recap your study this past week.

Onto the Group Activity, with 4 boxes, if you want to break up into 4 smaller groups, feel free to do so. If not, you can also do it as a whole group activity. Have the group read through the verses and write down what Gideon needed and what God revealed. For verses 36-38, the first box, from verse 37, we can note that Gideon needed to be reassured that God would deliver Israel by him. Now honestly, at first reading, I wasn’t sure if it was “God delivering” that Gideon needed to be assured of, or “by him” that was the stress, and I’ve come to think that it was both. That he needed assurance that God would truly deliver and that Gideon would be the one He was using. God revealed it as Gideon wished. The fleece was wet and the ground was dry. In the next box, verses 39-40, Gideon needed further reassurance of the same thing. And God revealed it by making the fleece dry and the ground wet.

In 7:1-3, the answers are a little more subtle. Though Gideon didn’t ask for it, he needed more assurance that God was the one in charge. And God revealed how He would work in weakness, work with less to show His glory. God allowed those who were fearful to turn back, whittling down the number of men from 32,000 to 10,000. And in verses 4-9, seeing that Gideon would need to see God’s mighty power at work in weakness, God wanted to make it even more dramatic and He whittled the troops down to just 300. What He revealed is  that nothing is too impossible for God and that He would always be victorious no matter the circumstances. He would use weak vessels for His glory to bring glory to those who are His.

In what ways does Gideon exhibit faith in the Lord? He obeyed; He did what God told him to, from tearing down the altars of the foreign gods, to getting ready for battle and whittling down the troops when God commanded it.

In what ways can you see his lack of faith? He constantly needed reassurance and signs when God already spoke to Him directly.

How might we seek God’s strength and assurance in faithful ways? Look to Scripture, to prayer, and to those who have walked the faith longer than us. We have people we trust that can assure us of God’s call and we also have the Spirit of God inside us to give us peace.

Continue through the Summarize and Head, Heart, Hands sections. The Head question is What traits of yours have you considered weaknesses but might help you be used by God? Certain traumas or trials in our lives can be weaknesses that can be used to encourage others. Maybe someone who’s shy had found that that helps him or her relate to other shy people better which in turn can encourage them. This could be true of any disability or weakness that can turned into an encouragement to others with the same issues.

Then to the Next Steps, all 3 Next Steps are good challenges for the group. 1) Stepping into your calling, 2) Giving the Word priority and 3) Praising God for answered prayer or life’s successes. If you have time, go over these as options of responses for your group.

If you have time, Psalm 28 then talks about the Lord being the strength of His people. In our weakness, we know He is always strong. Hey, thanks for joining me on another Leader Training podcast. Send comments and questions to [email protected]. And have a great group time!