In this inspiring episode, Brad delves into the story of Gideon from the Bible and its relevance to our lives today. Gideon, a young man hiding in fear, was called by God to be a mighty warrior. Brad highlights how God’s perception of Gideon contrasts with Gideon’s own view of himself, illustrating a powerful message about self-worth and divine purpose.
Brad emphasizes that, like Gideon, we are often unaware of the potential and greatness God sees in us. He encourages listeners to step out of their comfort zones and embrace the empowerment that comes from faith. The conversation underscores that God equips us to achieve remarkable things, even when we feel unworthy or fearful.
The episode also explores how distractions can cloud our recognition of God’s calling, and how faith is tested through various challenges and steps. Ultimately, Brad reaffirms that the victory is not ours alone but belongs to God.
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(upbeat music) - Hello, my name's Kamal Grant and this is You Don't Know What You Don't Know, the latest podcast on the Hope Cast Network, where I, Kamal Grant, go talk to leaders in the consumer package goods world because I need to know more things. I'm trying to launch a new brand called Magic Middle. And I want to get it on all the grocery store shelves. So I'm talking to leaders in the industry so I can learn from them so I can learn and let the world know. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - This is the Hope Cast Network. Stories and shows you actually want to listen to. (upbeat music) - My name is Brad and this is your weekly calling. Well, I hope you're excited about football because it's kicking off. It just kicked off yesterday. I'm a panther fan, so you can go ahead and pray for me now 'cause it's probably gonna be a long season. But today, I was thinking about what do I want to talk about to kick your week off? And I want to talk a little bit about Gideon. It's not the Bible and I'm not talking about the Bibles in your hotel room, but the Gideon's put there. I'm talking about Gideon. If you want to know, Gideon is one of the judges. He's in Judges chapter six in the Bible. And when we meet Gideon, the Israelites are scared of the Midianites at this point. Now, the Israelites have basically been following other gods and falling down and then coming back to God for forgiveness and help and God's been rescuing them. But this time, God goes to Gideon. And when we find Gideon, Gideon is hiding in a wine press. He's not much older than some of your children that he's listening right now. He's probably about 19 or 20 years old and he's down in a wine press. And if we go to Judges six, chapter six, verse 11, "The angel of the Lord came and sat down "under the oak and ophra that belonged to Joash, "the aburizi. "Ababurizi, right," I think I said that right. "Where his son Gideon was threshing wheat "in a wine press to keep it from the Midianites. "Giddin' is so distracted. "He can't even see the angel of God watching him. "He's sitting there and he's doing his thing "because he's scared of the Midianites. "They're big, bad Midianites, right." Then the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon. He said, "The Lord is with you, "Mighty warrior." Some of you are driving to work right now and you're distracted. You are thinking, "I don't wanna know about anything, "but what's on my mind right now." God's trying to tell you something and you got those headphones on. You're distracted. You've got noise in your mind, but it's not goodness. And God sees you and God sees me as a mighty warrior. What I'm pacing is that. It's so awesome, right? Like, there's so many times I never see myself as a mighty warrior for God. But see, God sees more in Gideon than Gideon sees in himself. Much like God sees more in me and you than we see in ourself. Pardon me, my Lord, Gideon said. But if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all the wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, "Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt? "But now the Lord has abandoned us "and given us into the hand of the Midian." The Lord turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have "and save Israel out of Midian's hand. "Am I not sending you? "How many times have you heard God? "Have you felt God saying, "Am I not sending you right now? "Why are you questioning me?" See, Gideon's having the old fashioned pity party. In my house, I call him pity, party of one, pity, party of one, it really annoys my wife, by the way. But I'm telling you, he's having a pity party, but you know what? God does not want to enable. But God is with to empower. God does not enable. But God is quick to empower. Think about that right now, while you're driving or running. God will empower you to do things you can't even imagine. Doing. I think that's amazing. I don't know about you, but that just gives me like the biggest grin because I know God's gonna empower me to do great things for him, just like God's gonna empower you to do great things for him. Pardon me, my Lord, getting replied. But how can I save Israel? My plan is the weakest in Manasseh and I'm the least in my family. The Lord answered, "I will be with you "and you will strike down all the Midianites, "leaving none alive." Okay, this is great because what God's doing is he's laying a foundation. See, God lays foundations. He laid foundations in my life, right? Like I would never have thought I'd be where I'm at today, but God equipped me. It's taken years of equipping and empowering, not enabling, there's big difference to get me where I'm at today. So, I'm gonna kind of sum up the rest of the story, but I wanted you to know like we can't be distracted. All these distractions are just simply that, distractions. We don't need them. When we're distracted, when we're comfortable, and we've just got our headset on and we're walking and ignoring what's around us, we miss what God is equipping and empowering us to do. And we need to be able to know that. We need to know that we are mighty warriors. You, listening right now, are a mighty warrior. Say it after me. I want you to scream it. Say it where you are right now where you're listening. I am a mighty warrior. I am a mighty warrior because you are. So, in the end, Gideon, he has to get, he has to test God. So he says, "Hey man, I'm gonna come back in the morning "and I want you to be here. "I want you to prove that you're gonna be around." So Gideon comes back the next morning, "Guess who's there?" And God, the angel's there. He's like, "Hey man, I'm here." He's like, "Okay, I'm gonna ask you another favor. "I'm gonna lay out this fleece on the ground. "I want the ground to be dry or wet. "I want the fleece to be dry." Well, comes back. Fleece's dry, ground is wet. And then he says, "I know you're getting annoyed. "I know you're getting annoyed." But I want to come back and I want the ground to be dry and the fleece to be wet. And you know what happens? He comes back and it's just how he asks for it. Fleece's wet, ground is dry. See, all these are steps that Gideon needs because God's about to send him into a battle against the Midianized and he wants Gideon to have faith. He wants us all to have faith. So Gideon needs to be equipped and God is equipping him because in this battle, the victory belongs to God. The victory belongs to God. So he goes into this battle. God, someone gave you 32,000 people, soldiers, Gideon's like, "Woo, we're going to Denny's tonight, bro. "We're gonna eat." And then God says, "Actually, "we're gonna redo some down about 300." So you're gonna be outnumbered a ton to none. You're gonna be outnumbered like one person compared to a football team. You're gonna be the Washington Generals and they're gonna be the love trotters. It's gonna be bad. So Gideon's like, "Okay." But you know, to get into that point where he was like, "We can do this." God had to take all those steps. Think about your life right now. How many steps is it taken to get to where you're at right now? How many steps have God that God's put in your life to test your faith to get you to where you're at? Think about that right now. So Gideon ends up going into battle and you know what? Here's the cool part of the story. They didn't even kill anybody. No, they played instruments and banged drums and the Midianites got up and started killing each other. All of them were killed. Victory belongs to God. Think about that this week. Think about that. My challenge to you is to do something out of your comfort zone. I challenged the students at my church to do something out of their comfort zone when I talked about Gideon this past week. I want you to do something out of your comfort zone. Maybe it's calling your old friend. Maybe it's apologizing to someone. Maybe it's helping someone in need. Pray about it. Pray about what God wants you to do. And you will be able to do it. That's my challenge to me and to you. Let's pray. Dear God, I thank you for this day. I thank you for the listeners right now who are listening to this. I pray for their week. 'Cause their week is coming up. I pray for their jobs, their families, Lord. And with God, I just pray that this week is as if full as they embark on something that could be a challenge to them. Doing something out of their comfort zone and knowing you will be there with them. Lord, thank you again for this opportunity. We give you all the glory in your holy name, Amen. My name is Brad and that was your weekly call. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (gentle music) [BLANK_AUDIO]
