Highland Park Baptist Church - Sermons
When God Interrupts Your Life
Well in 2013 there was a typhoon that came and hit the islands of the Philippines and there is it hit the Philippine coast. It left a trail of devastation amongst the people there and the loss of life was quite staggering. Thankfully there were many nations all over the world who saw what had happened through this particular typhoon and they quickly mobilized a number of different organizations and individuals who would come and to help bring relief and resources to this impoverished nation. One disaster relief team was from Texas and they gathered a number of people amongst the Texan Baptist Association there, various Christians from all over the Baptist denomination came together to learn and to prepare for distributing, assembling, and training others in working the water filtration system that would be so paramount to many of the residents there in the Philippine Islands to get some drinkable water there after the typhoon had swept through. So they'd spent a number of weeks preparing, training the people, countless dollars were spent buying the water filtration system. People had invested a lot of their time in getting prepared for this trip then they paid their own way to fly out to the Philippines and they waited for the the freighter ship to come carrying all the water filter kits that they would then distribute and and utilize for the people. But somewhere along the way the freighter hit some rough seas and ended up sinking to the bottom of the ocean. Once the Christians there heard what had happened they were really discouraged and downhearted because what do we do now? We've spent all this time, all this money, all this resource in preparing to to minister in this way and now we don't know what we're supposed to do. We don't know how we're supposed to to be of use now that we're here because the main way that we were going to minister is now gone. And that is something that can happen very quickly and and oftentimes happens in the Christian life that where we are trying to do something for God we're trying to minister in various ways and then for whatever reason there comes an obstacle there comes an interruption to our life there comes a detour in the course of events that really kind of gets us off kilter gets us into a place where we never envisioned ourselves being. And if you're anything like me you sometimes just find yourself asking why? Why did this happen? I'm trying to do the right thing I'm trying to do what God wants me to do and now all of a sudden there's something that kind of just has knocked me off course. And we know that God is sovereign we know that God is in control he can do anything he wants and we know that he knows all things nothing catches him by surprise. So if God is in control of all if he is sovereign if he knows all that it's going to happen why then does he allow or sometimes even bring interruptions into our life that can really just cut our feet out from under us that can really just knock us on our back and leave us just discouraged frustrated fearful and sometimes even angry. Now again not all interruptions or big and and life altering sometimes we go through the normal course of life and there are just these little interruptions we get stuck in traffic and so we're late for that meeting we're supposed to go to or you know we're busy at work and someone comes into our office and and there's a brief interruption from what we're trying to do or whatever it may be you come home and you're trying to get something done at the house you're trying to work on a project but then the kids are needing your attention or or whatever it may be things just happen and it causes us a delay in what we're trying to do it causes a distraction those are just the little interruptions or they can be very big interruptions in our life we've been saving our entire life to to retire and to go travel but then because there's a downturn in the economy now we have to work longer than we ever anticipated that we'd have to just to make ends meet we thought things were going this direction and we were raising up a family raising up our children you know God was doing great things and then our children get older and they start making choices for themselves and they go in a direction we never anticipated and now all of a sudden there's an interruption in our life and we're left asking why why is this happening or maybe we get that diagnosis from the doctor and we had all these plans for our life but now just with a few words all those plans are gone away and now we're facing a health challenge that we were never prepared for why does God allow sometimes these interruptions to come into our life well I don't have the answer for everything that that happens in life and why God allows all those things in our life but scripture does speak as to why God allows some of those interruptions in our life and I want us to look at a passage in scripture the life of an individual that many of y'all are probably familiar with and you'll see when God showed up in this person's life and brought some interruptions that he was not anticipating we see at least three core truths about these kind of interruptions that I hope will be a blessing to you and hope that when you do encounter those small or big interruptions that you'll you'll approach them with a little bit more grace and you'll trust God even though you may not understand what he's doing in your life so if you have your copy of God's word go ahead and turn to the book of judges towards the beginning of your bible the book of judges chapter six is what we'll be spending the vast majority of our time and we're going to be looking at an individual by the name of Gideon now some of y'all are familiar with Gideon somewhat if you've been in church any length of time you've probably heard about Gideon as he went into battle with just 300 men and God used that that small little mass of people to do a great work of deliverance for Israel you may have heard about Gideon's fleece where he was trying to discern the will of God I don't recommend doing that but he he tested whether or not this was God's will by laying out a fleece that's not a prescription for us as Christians but it just shows that he really struggled with doubt and with fear and with questions and so that's who we're going to be talking about some of you may be familiar with Gideon from the international Gideon's network that distributes bibles all around the world they get their name from this individual someone that God used just a small group of people to do a great work as we get into Gideon's life a couple things you need to be aware of one we find ourselves in this passage in this transition period in the nation of Israel Moses has stepped off the scene he's already liberated them from Egypt and they have now gone into the promised land Joshua who led them into the promised land and and led them to conquer the promised land he's now gone to be with the lord and now they're in this space between Moses and Joshua and the kings saw David Solomon those who had come before them there's this transition period where there is no king God is their king but unfortunately they continue to rebel against God God has to bring discipline into their life they end up repenting and then God brings a deliver that's what judges means judge is not a a person in a court but it's the word literally means deliver God raises up specific delivers at different times to liberate Israel from their enemies when they rebel and so that's where we pick up in judges chapter six Israel has in a state of rebellion and God's about to step in in a big way and interrupt everything so we begin in verse one and this is what it says then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord so the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel because of the Midianites the children of Israel made for themselves the dens the caves and the strongholds which are in the mountains now one thing you need to understand is the rebellion that's going on here with Israel is they were called to worship God and God alone they were to push out the people of Canaan get away get do away with all their idols all their their pagan practices and they were to worship God alone they didn't do that they kept some of the Canaanites there in the land and that led them into idolatry the two prevailing idols that Gideon is going to be struggling with at this time is Baal and Ashroth those two idols are very prevalent amongst the Midianites and the Amalekites that Gideon is going to be battling against these idols demanded child sacrifice a horrible practice of burning your children alive this these idols practice all kinds of central perversions that corrupted the people of Israel and Israel had fallen into this practice of what is called syncretism is this idea that we can worship God of Israel but also we can include these other gods as well and as long as we are worshiping God but also including this we can have our cake and eat it too that's where Israel was and God hated it and he was going to bring judgment upon him and he had promised all the way back during the time of Moses if you step away from me if you are a bell against me I will use the enemies around you to discipline you and that's what we see God doing they were busy living their life however they wanted to live and now God is going to step in and interrupt what's going on so one of the first things I want us to see as we continue through this passage here is that God God's interruptions are actually invitations for us to learn important lessons when God interrupts your life when God steps in and disrupts what you're doing whether it be in small ways or big ways a lot of the times it's because he has a lesson for you to learn he wants you to learn these important truths Israel needed to learn when you step away from God he loves you enough to take those gifts away from you so that you'll turn back to him like any good parent he cares more about your character and your relationship with him than he does about your comfort God will let you rebel God will let you get away from him but only for a time his patience is long but at some point he loves his children enough to say okay enough is enough and now you need to come back home and that's what he's doing with Israel notice what he does next so the many nights are coming against him and notice what happens in verse six so Israel was greatly impoverished because of the manyenites and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord now what we need to understand with the manyenites they were a nomadic Bedouin tribe in Saudi Arabia who when they needed supplies they would rush into Israel they scripture says they were they would outnumber the people it was like locust coming in and they would take their crops they would burn their fields they would take their cattle they would camp out in the land until they had all that they wanted and then they would leave leaving the Israelites completely impoverished completely unable to provide for their own and so God was using them as a curse to bring his people to their knees to call out to them and that's what they do in verse six they begin seeing their impoverished state and they call out to the Lord it's funny how it's not until things get really tough that people begin calling out to God when things are good when things are easy when things are going well we're content we feel like we're good and and we we don't focus as much on prayer or trying to discern God's will or getting into his word but when things get rough when your health begins to fail when your loved ones are kind of getting away from God and you're worried about them and in the course of their life that's when we really get strong in prayer sometimes God removes those things out of our life so that we realize just how dependent we are on him and that's what God did for the Israelites he is punishing them not because he doesn't love them not because he's trying to hurt them but because he's a good heavenly father now one thing that we're going to see is we get further into Gideon's life is just because they recognize that they are impoverished just because they recognize they need God to move their life does not mean that they've really gotten their life back where it needs to be as we're going to see Gideon has to go out and they he has to destroy many of the high places and idol worship that they're doing even though they're calling out the God they're still worshiping their idols again this whole idea and it's prevalent in our culture as well where we can worship God but live like the world we can worship God but worship live and and act like the the people around us and God's trying to get them away from that so it says they call out to the Lord and this is what the Lord does before he raises up Gideon he sends them a prophet notice what the prophet says and verse verse seven it says and it came to pass that when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord because of the many nights that the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel who said to them thus says the Lord God of Israel I brought you up from Egypt and I brought you out of the house of bondage and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of those who oppressed you and drove them out before you and gave you their land and I also said to you I am the Lord your God do not fear the gods of the Amorites in the land in whom you dwell but you have not obeyed my voice he tells them I've told you all this you know the stories you know what I've done in times past you know what I what I've been able to do and what what I did with your forefathers bringing you out of Egypt and I've given you all of this and you've taken the blessing and turned it into an idol and so I've removed the blessing and he says I warned you if you go back and duder on me 30 duder on me 31 you see where God gives them blessings and curses he says if you follow me if you listen to me if you obey my word I will bless you I will protect you and make you fruitful if you disobey me if you run after idols if you do those detestable things then I will curse you and I will bring your enemies against you the prophet of the Lord is just reminding them of God's word he's reminding them of God's truth that's why we make such a big point in our times of worship here to get into God's word to get into the truth of what God has told us because when we get out into the world when we get into the the busyness of life it's easy to forget God it's easy to lose sight of who sustains us of who provides for us of who protects us God is the one who brings every blessing into your life and when you forget that you are just asking for God to begin removing those blessings so that you remember where they all came from we recognize that discipline is important we recognize that it's important every good parent disciplines their child intuitively we know that except when it comes into our own life when God actually begins to discipline us that's when we begin pushing against it that's when we begin grumbling that's when we begin fighting against God's loving hand you know I have several siblings and I remember when we were children I never had a problem with my brothers and sisters were getting disciplined didn't bother me at all it only bothered me whenever I was getting disciplined now there was a time where whenever we would get disciplined I always wanted my mom to discipline me not my dad many of y'all probably can relate to that and I remember the reason why I wanted my mom to discipline me whenever we got in trouble is because more often than not what she would do if me and my brothers would get into a fight she would if if I were at fault she would bring me into the back bedroom close the door my brothers and sisters they would you know be up against the door with their ear you know listening for my screams and howls of pain when she was spanking me but what my mother would do she would bring me into her bedroom she would say okay I'm gonna take this belt and I'm gonna hit the bed and I want you to scream every time I hit the bed and so she'd hit the bed and I'd howl and scream she'd hit the bed and I'd scream and howl some more and my brothers and sisters I know they're out there doing yeah he finally getting what he wants because that's what I would do whenever they were getting disciplined and then it clicked she's probably doing the same thing with them it became a lot less enjoyable whenever they would get punished but the point is we want other people to get disciplined we want other people to get justice we want other people to get what they deserve when they've wronged us when they hurt us but when we have sinned when we've gotten away from God we are less likely to appreciate the discipline that God brings into our life but God does it because he loves you as I've gone through life and as I've been growing in Christ one thing I've realized more and more is the scariest thing in life is for God to say okay I'm gonna leave you to your own devices because if God were to leave me to my own devices I would mess up every good thing in my life and so when God intervenes in my life when God pulls me back from the brink of all the destruction that I'm running so fast and so hard towards it's a blessing it is a good thing and I thank God for him getting me off of the course that I so often try to run towards and that's what he's doing with Israel he's saying guys remember who I am remember what I've done in the past remember what I promised I would do if you ever got away and that's what I'm doing right now so when those interruptions happen don't see that's an interruption but see that's an invitation that God is trying to teach you something important about him and about you and about your relationship with him he cares so much more for who you are and your relationship with him than he ever does about our daily comforts in those hardships of life whether they be minor or whether they be major don't grumble when those interruptions come but praise God that he's stepping in and he's disrupting our normal so that we can see something extraordinary in him so that's one reason why God interrupts us it's to teach us an important lesson that we need to learn and if we don't learn the first time guess what he's loving enough to bring it right back around at a later date when we will learn that lesson again and again until we finally get it but notice what he does if we go on into verse 11 notice what happens now the angel of the Lord came now if you highlight our underlying your Bible I want to encourage you to highlight or underline that phrase angel of the Lord that's important we're going to come back to that in just a second an angel of the Lord came and sat under a terabith tree which was in ophra again not ophra but ophra all right which belonged to Jo actually a bizarite the son of Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress in order to hide from the Midianites now a couple quick things here the angel of the Lord there's a lot of debate about who the angel of the Lord is because there's lots of angels that tend to show up all throughout scripture we know of a few of them we know that Lucifer was an angel at one point before he fell and became sick and we know that there is Michael the art angel who's often referred to as the chief protector and guardian over the nation of Israel we also know of Gabriel who is primarily a messenger angel he delivered messages messages to Daniel delivered messages to Mary the mother of Jesus and so we know of a few angels but the angel of the Lord seems to stand out from all other angels that are mentioned in scripture and while there is some debate as to the identity of this angel I'm convinced that the angel of the Lord is a pre-incarnate Christ and here's the reason why I say that this is a pre-incarnate Christ Christ before he came in flesh is because all the other angels when they would appear before people in their glory these people would begin to fall down and begin to worship these angels and the angels would say no no no please don't worship me I am not God please don't worship me only worship God and then they would deliver their message or whatever it may be when it comes to the angel of the Lord whenever he appears he speaks as though he is God we'll go back and look through the scriptures and the way he's speaking it's not as though he's talking given a message from God but as though he is God himself speaking and when people on the occasions begin to fall down before this particular angel and worship he doesn't stop him he allows them to continue which again that's only reserved for Christ that's only reserved for God and so I believe that this is a pre-incarnate revelation of Christ to get in commissioning him for what he's about to call him towards so notice what he says says the angel of the Lord appeared to him and this is see this is what he says starting in verse 12 he says the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said the Lord is with you mighty man of valor okay now pause there for just a moment is getting really a mighty man of valor not at all and this is where I usually struggle with the whole story of Gideon is because he's often pictured as this mighty man of valor and faith he's eventually mentioned in the book of Hebrews as a great man of faith I keep going back to a story and I'm thinking he doesn't seem like a mighty man of valor he doesn't seem like a great man of faith in fact I want to show you a quick little picture here this is a picture we have of a threshing floor now as you see here it's just kind of an open flat slab oftentimes these would be up on the hilltops because in that region of the world there in the mornings and in the evening there would be a breeze that would come off of the Mediterranean Sea and would blow across the land and if you were up on a hilltop on a flat slab like this you could take your cut grain you could throw it up into the that wind and the chaff which is just the husk around that seed of wheat would blow away and the seed which is heavier would fall to the ground and then you would be left with all the seed that you could then grind melon to flour and make bread and things like that this is where you should be threshing your wheat the problem with it is it's up on a hilltop it's in a flat area you could see people doing this for miles out that's not where Gideon is threshing his wheat here's where Gideon is threshing his wheat he's down in the wine presses now if you see these are these are deep little grooves that are cut into stone you can see one in the back there is kind of filled in with dirt but what they would do they would take all the grapes they would put them into the wine press and then you would get down into the wine press and you would stomp it with your feet and as you stomped on those grapes the juice from the grapes would run down into a lower wine press and then that's where you would collect your wine you let it ferment and all that sort of stuff Gideon is he's got all this wheat into one of these little holes here and he's trying to reel in discreetly kind of hunker down in there and he's throwing his wheat up no breeze can really get in there and so he's just he's wearing himself out trying to hide but trying to do this very important task of getting this wheat the bank flour but he's scared out of his mind he's discouraged and he's trying to hide from the mini-nights because they'll come in and they'll take all of his wheat and probably kill him too and so he's not a mighty man of valor in fact some scholars and theologians when they read this passage and what the angel of the Lord said when he calls him a mighty man of valor they think it's sarcasm they think he's saying oh look at you you mighty man of valor in the wine press threshing your wheat I don't think that's what the angel of the Lord is doing though what you see God often doing is he looks at us and he doesn't see us where we are and what we're doing but he sees what we can be when he is in control of our life he looks at Abram a man who's well past childbearing years and he says I'm going to call you Abraham because I know what you can be you're going to be the father of many nations he looks at Peter and Jesus says you know what Peter you kind of shoot your mouth off a lot and you kind of get yourself into trouble and all this sort of stuff but I see that you can be a rock you can be one of the pillars of the church and so I'm going to call you Peter which means rock you see time and time again throughout scripture God calling out what is in people the potential that's in there if they would just surrender to God and that's what's going on here with Gideon God looks at him this pre-incarnate Jesus looked at him and says you are a mighty man of valor not right now where you are but what you will be when I'm done with you if you'll just submit to me notice what else happens here as he goes on looking verse 13 he says Gideon said to him oh my Lord if the Lord is with us then why is all this happening to us and where are all of his miracles which is which our forefathers told us about saying did not the Lord bring us out of Egypt but now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites now real quick the passage does tell us that God gave them over to the Midianites he did deliver them into the Midianites hands but never once did it ever say that God had forsaken them that's how Gideon feels that's how the Israelites feel but that's not what God has done God has never forsaken his people God has never abandoned his people and so I understand that there are times where you feel overwhelmed where you feel like the the cards are stacked against you and you feel like you're facing situations and circumstances there have been interruptions interruptions that have been introduced into your life and you feel like I don't know how to get back on course I don't know what to do I don't know how to take the next step for it I understand but don't fall for the false notion for the lie that the enemy wants to sow into your heart that God has forsaken you the God has abandoned you listen as a father I would never abandon my children I don't care how far away they run and how much they rebel I may be disappointed in what they do but I'll always love them and I will never forsake them in the same way your heavenly father loves you and will never abandon you will never forsake you some of you are sitting here today and if you hear nothing else you need to hear that because here today you're feeling abandoned and forsaken but God is with you and in fact I want you to notice what the angel of the Lord says as Gideon is saying this he says in verse 14 he says the Lord turned to him and said go in this your might and this might of yours and you shall say Israel from the hand of the many nights have I not sent you basically Gideon go do this in your own strength and notice what Gideon says just real quick he says surely he says oh my Lord how can I save Israel indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I'm the least of my father's house the angel of the Lord is just getting him to recognize where he is he says God I can't do this in my own strength I can't do this on my own I don't know how to get through this situation I don't know how to do this thing that you're calling me to that's a good place to be when you're at your end that's good you've heard it said before people will say God will never put more on you than you can stand that's a lie God constantly puts on us more than we can handle because it's when we can't handle it that God gets the glory and so yes God is putting more on Gideon than he can handle notice what the angel of the Lord says next he says surely I will be with you and you shall defeat the many nights as one man here's what he's basically saying the answer to Gideon's problem is not more soldiers as we're going to see in a little bit he doesn't want getting to have a lot of soldiers it's not chariots it's not weapons it's not military military strategy he doesn't want Gideon to have any of that all Gideon needs is God's presence with him that's it and I don't know what your struggle is I don't know what your challenges I don't know what situation God has allowed to come into your life and what it's causing you to have anxiety and fear and feeling overwhelmed I don't know what it is and honestly I don't need to know what it is because I know what the solution is it's God's presence in your life we need God to be in our life to reign in our life to rule in our life and that is what each and every one of us need because in God's strength in his presence that's when we are strong you know what makes heaven heaven God's presence if God wasn't there it wouldn't be heaven it would be hell and the beautiful thing about the Christian church is God's presence is always with us because the moment you believe he has put his Holy Spirit within you you will never be without God's presence you'll never be without his strength and so when he says go we can go and boldness and with strength knowing that he's going with us that doesn't mean everything's going to be easy doesn't mean that you won't have any problems in your life it just means that God's presence is with you and that's all we've ever needed bar none so he commissions Gideon to go forward so what we need to understand right off of that the interruptions in God's the God brings into your life our invitations for you yes to learn important lessons but it's also an invitation to partner with him in his work he's inviting Gideon to partner with him in liberating Israel you've been praying for a deliver or getting your it now I'm inviting you you're cowering in the winepress but I'm inviting you to get up and to follow me will you trust me will you just trust in my presence in your life now real quick we're gonna fast forward through a couple little things to get to another little important section in here so let me just give you the cliff notes for what happens between now and when Gideon goes to battle Gideon has to go and the first thing he does is he goes and destroys some idols in his father's household you see before God can lead Gideon to liberate Israel from its idols he has to begin in his in his own house he has to liberate his own family from the idols that they've bought into and so he goes in and in under the cover of night because he's afraid of his dad and he's afraid of the surrounding community and what they'll do he goes in he smashes the idol to bail and he tears down the pole to ashroth and he burns them and then he waits for the morning to see what happens and as the town comes around and his father comes out to see what he has done they all want to kill Gideon because they know that he must have done this and interesting enough Gideon's father says wait let's not do this if bail can't defend himself then why do we need to defend him which is interesting because Gideon's father didn't do anything to get rid of the idols but he's inspired by Gideon's actions he sees what his son is doing he sees the boldness that his son is beginning to step out on and aspires him you know fear is contagious but faith is also contagious and Gideon's father begins to get more bold and to stand up for what he knows is right and so then the malachites and the Midianites they begin hearing about what Gideon has done and they're coming in to wave war against Israel and they mass their armies out on the hillside there in the valley of gesreal also known as the valley of armageddon there there are massed out there and there's 135,000 Midianites and Amalekites who are about to wave war against Israel. Gideon gathers his troops everyone that he can manage up and he gets a be a measly 32,000 troops they're outnumbered four to one and then God goes to Gideon he says Gideon is too much you have too many troops now again remember they're outnumbered four to one and God says too many I can't work with this Gideon because you have too much of an advantage in fact notice what he says turn with me real quick to chapter seven and look in verse two chapter seven verse two this is what he says and the Lord said to Gideon the people who are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into your hands least Israel claimed the glory for itself against me claiming my own hands have saved me he says get in I deserve the glory and even though you're outnumbered four to one I'm afraid you might think that you won the battle because there have been times there have been battles where an outnumbered force ends up winning ends up surviving when in the battle God says I don't want there to be any doubt in this case that it was God and not you and so we need to whittle out some of those folks and so he says I want you to tell everyone in your army your 32,000 troops if anyone is scared they need to go home and so 22,000 go home we went from 32,000 four to one ratio now to 10,000 13 to one ratio not good if I were Gideon I would start to worry about God's military strategy and then God says you know what Gideon still too many even even 13 to one ratio I think we need to do it with a little bit less and so I want you to take all your troops down to the river those who drank up the water like a dog with their head down to the water I want you to send them home those who scoop up the water with their hand and drink like this I want you to take those into battle now there's been a long debate about whether or not that's you know people who are more alert drinking versus those who are kind of oblivious to their surroundings drinking I get it it could be that he's you know just looking for those elite soldiers who are very vigilant in looking around maybe but I have my doubts and here's the reason why simply this God doesn't want Gideon to have a bunch of well-trained soldiers he doesn't want him to have a big military horde of people he doesn't want them to worry about swords and and spears or anything like that he doesn't want to worry about any of that it needs to be the glory goes to God and so I don't think this is about whose paying attention to what's going on around them I think this is simply God shrinking his forces now it's down to 300 men 450 to one now those are the odds and God says now we're good let's go into battle and so here's the plan Gideon I don't want you to go in there with a big military plan of of how to you know route the enemy and all this I don't want you to go with swords and chariots and all this sort of stuff here's what I want you to do I want you to go get some trumpets I want you to go get some candles I want you to go get some pots and I want you to go into battle now if you were going into battle with pots candles and trumpets how would you feel about that out numbered 450 to one doesn't sound very promising right but God says I'm about to do something great and when the rest of the world hears about this they'll know that the God of Israel is the one true living God and so at midnight when the guard is beginning to change Gideon gets his group around he says okay guys I want y'all to look at me I want you to focus on me and whatever I do I want you to do we're going to get around this army and even though there's 135,000 of them when I say go I want you to break the shards of pots I want you to light your candles and I want you to shout a sword for the Lord and a sword for Gideon and we're going to see what God does they do it and the whole army of many nights in Amalekites begin to panic and in the darkness they begin to kill one another and the entire army is destroyed and those that survive Gideon and his 300 men begin chasing them out to the outskirts of Israel and God gets the glory what I want you to understand is that sometimes God's interruptions are not about you at all sometimes God's interruptions are about him getting the glory because life is not about your comfort while sometimes his interruptions yes are about us learning lessons and sometimes his interruptions are yes about him inviting us into this work that he has to do every time those interruptions are about him receiving all the glory because that's what our whole life is all about that's what all creation is about is about God getting all the glory and so when those little bumps in the road come in your life and those little distractions those little things that get you off course are frustrated you come realize nothing in this life happens by accident God is sovereign over to all and those things that don't line up with your plan it's okay don't get frustrated don't begin grumbling realize God is doing something different and yes it doesn't measure up to it doesn't match what you had planned for that day it doesn't match what you had planned for that relationship it doesn't match what you had planned for the rest of your life and retirement and all that sort of stuff that's okay because that one thing that I have found and I'm continually being reminded of is God's plan is always better than our plan the story I told you earlier when we began about the the group the relief that disaster relief group that went to the Philippine islands planning to build some water filtration kits to help the people but the the tankers sunk with all the kits in there and they were left wondering okay what do we do we we thought we were coming here to minister in this way and now we don't know what we're going to do they ended up praying about it and they were able to partner with some construction crews there they were rebuilding infrastructure and because of that they were able to interact with the people on a much more consistent and relational type of way as they were working with the the homeowners and with the the the businesses and because of that they were able to share their testimony in their faith more regularly than if they were out by the wells and doing the water filtration and because of that hundreds began to accept Christ on on their their excursion there uh to the Philippine islands it wasn't what they planned because it was so much better than what they planned and I don't know what God has brought into your life and it may not feel great right now and you may not see what God is going to do and what God is going to accomplish but just trust in him his presence is with you and don't mistake his invitations for interruptions all right let's close in a time of prayer as we go into our time of invitation heavenly Father Lord you are so good and Lord I ask that you would just forgive us where we have fallen short Lord there are times where my schedule doesn't match up with your plan and Father I pray that you would forgive me forgive us where we grumble and we get frustrated and we lash out because there are these bumps in the road these these detours that we didn't anticipate Father I pray that we would remember Gideon he didn't have a lot to offer but Lord you were with him and that made all the difference in the world and Father I thank you that because of Christ and because of the Holy Spirit you've placed in our life Lord that you are always with us and so Father I pray that during this time of invitation Lord that you would use it for your glory and Lord I pray that as we leave here and we go into the world around us Lord that we would go in your strength in your power and in your presence and we ask all this in Christ's wonderful name amen.