It’s too easy.
Read Time: 7 mins
“The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many warriors with you. If I let all of you fight the Midianites, the Israelites will boast to me that they saved themselves by their own strength. Therefore, tell the people, ‘Whoever is timid or afraid may leave this mountain and go home.’” So 22,000 of them went home, leaving only 10,000 who were willing to fight.”
Judges 7:2-3 NLT
I want to remind you that God doesn’t call you to ministry solely so you can point others to Him. God calls you to ministry as a way of keeping you focused on Him. God's primary goal of using you to witness to others isn't just so that others can experience Him. The Bible says that the heavens declare the glory of God. God could use donkeys to preach His gospel. God could snap His fingers and appear to everyone on earth. God could reveal Himself to everyone Himself but He decides to use you because He has determined that using you is the best way to save you. He knows you intimately. He knows your personality and experiences. And He has weighed out every possible option and determined that the best chance He has at getting you to trust Him is by allowing you a consistent front row seat to what He is doing.
I think this realization that everything we are called to is an intentionally weighed out aspect of the plan to save us, changes how we view the hardships and challenges that come with ministry. Now I want to be clear. You may not be called to be a pastor or a ministry leader but you are called to ministry. You are called to let your light shine and follow the call of God in whatever field or lane God places you in. You are called to be used by God in whatever context you find yourself in and that call to be used isn't just for the people around you, it's for you.
That call to marriage isn't just so the families around you can see what true love looks like. That call to marriage isn't just so you can partner with your spouse to stop generational cycles. That call to marriage isn't just so you can minster to your spouse and help them accept God for themselves. God is calling you to marriage because He knows you need that specific type of training field to personally trust Him more. God knows that you can’t be patient without Him. God knows you can't love like Him without Him. If God calls you to marriage, it's because God is saying marriage will force you to need Him. But maybe you aren't called to marriage. Whatever you are called to is intentionally designed for your good. Everything God asks you to do is intentionally developed to give you a better chance to know Him for yourself. It's all a call to further trust and believe in Him. The call to singleness or celibacy isn't just a pious way of expressing honor to God. If God calls you to singleness, He is calling you to something that will force you to depend on Him. He weighed out your life and determined that this call would be the best way for Him to reveal Himself to you. Yes it's hard, it's supposed to be. God has weighed out every calling and determined just how much won’t kill you but will force you to seek Him for help.
Whatever God calls you to isn't just because He needs you. He could accomplish whatever Himself. His call for you to partner with Him is to remind you that you need Him. It’s to remind you that you can do nothing if you are not connected to the vine. God calls you to things as a way of proving to you how big, trustworthy and powerful He actually is. God calls you to ministry to save you!
In this story Gideon is called to fight for the glory of God and save a people that have been oppressed. But as we learn Gideon’s background and personality, we realize that he is dealing with fear and lack of belief too. God finds him as he is literally hiding in a hole. God sends an angel to appear to Gideon and calls him a mighty hero and reminds him that God is with him and Gideon protests against the idea. God says Gideon has more than enough strength and will be sent to save his people and Gideon again pushes back. Gideon has the audacity to essentially say that God isn't strong enough to make up for his weaknesses. God keeps telling Gideon that He will be with him and that Gideon will have success despite his shortcomings because God is strong enough to fight for him. But Gideon is having a hard time believing. Gideon sees literal miracles that day. And they’re being performed by a literal angel but Gideon still doesn’t believe it. Gideon asks for 3 signs that the Lord is with him and gets more than 4. The focus of this story isn't just the general population of the Israelites. The focus of this story is God trying to prove to Gideon that He is big enough to outweigh Gideon’s fragility. God is trying to convince Gideon that his weakness won’t outweigh God’s strength. God gives Gideon a front row seat to the miraculous because Gideon needs to see it up close and personal for Him to believe.
And God is calling you to partner with Him in ministry so that He can prove to you how big He actually is. I have story upon story of God calling me to things that don't make sense, just to prove that He is bigger than what I had experienced before. I remember God giving us the idea to do a worship event called ROAR senior year at Oakwood University. We had no money or expertise. We were just kids following God with our yes, but God arranged over $5,000, a great venue and a stellar team in less than a month. That was my first year leading praise and worship and administering an event like that but God used me to plan sets and run practices. God helped us organize teams covering the band, lighting, sound, venue, vocalists, food, merch, hospitality, PR and even post production. After maxed out credit cards and last minute hurdles, over 300 people had a life altering experience with God that they still talk about. God moved and showed that He was bigger than my individual abilities. But that's not it. God still wanted to prove to me and others that He was bigger than our weakness, fear and lack. It wasn't about how strong we were, it was about Him showing us how strong He was.
Fast forward a year, I’m pastoring full time in Cincinnati. Remember, I took 5 years to graduate Oakwood instead of 4, so I’m now two years removed from the class I knew best at Oakwood. Most of my team from the year prior has graduated and left. And with a month until the date, God tells us to come back and do ROAR again. This time, I'm planning and holding meetings virtually with a new team. God tells me who to ask to help and each team comes together to practice and plan in Huntsville while I'm working in Cincinnati. God is really going out His way to remind me that this isn't about me or my abilities. It’s about Him. Fast forward to a week before the event and our venue falls through. No money, no venue, and I'm not even in the same time zone as where the event will be held. But God doesn’t need much from you, only a yes. Days before the event after thousands have been spent, God gets us a new space. I drive down to Huntsville the Sunday morning of the event because I preached in Cincinnati that Sabbath. Any logical person would say this was a crazy plan to be rocking with. But God showed up and over 1100 people were impacted through the event. People asked for baptism and Bible study because of these events. People have started ministries because of these events. People have hit me up about how they were contemplating suicide and things said in this event gave them hope. People world wide, yes, not nation wide but word wide, have been impacted. People have even asked if we can come to their city or country to lead worship and preach the Gospel. And I'm still just as weak, small, ignorant and broke as I was when this started. But God doesn’t need me in ministry because I'm something special. He uses me so that He can remind me of who He is. He uses me so that I have a front row seat to His greatness. I never have an excuse not to trust Him for the impossible. And that's why God wants to use you.
God calls us to big things to remind us that He is a big God. I don't believe God kept making Gideon’s situation look more unlikely and impossible just for the Israelites. He did this to show unbelieving Gideon how strong He was and the Israelites got to see it too.
God will never call you to something that everyone else believes in. God will never call you to something that you think you have all the money for. God will never call you to something that makes too much sense. Because the main purpose isn't you being used, it's you being saved. God is giving your opportunities to exercise this muscle of faith and see Him in a new light. God is giving you opportunities to trust Him for yourself and not just tell others to. When things are too easy, it's not always God. Every open door isn't God. Typically, the harder your calling the more you can trust that it is God calling you to it. The more unrealistic and unattainable the goal, the more God is trying to reveal Himself. God ends up saying that Gideon needs to let go of some of the members of his army because when they win with a large number, they’ll think they did it instead of believing it was fully God. That’s why God allows things to be hard so that we are forced to admit victory was beyond us. Gideon went from 30,000 soldiers to 300 so that he and the people would know it wasn't them but God.
So guess what. God has called me and you to a lot more and I could spend hours talking about it but I have one thing I want you to pray and help with. God has called us to do ROAR in Cincinnati. I could probably get away with $8,000 but honestly I’d need upwards of $10,000 or $11,000 to do everything I envision. I see this being a region wide event. I want youth and young adults from the colleges around me like University of Cincinnati and Xavier to pack it out. I want people from Dayton and Kettering to partner with us. I want people from Columbus and Cleveland to drive down. So Ephesus, Hilltop, Central, and Grace Community, I need you. I even want Andrews University students to make it a trip. Oakwood, I know y’all gonna drive up too. So I need prayer. I need support. I need publicity. Because I'm expecting something great. In the book of Acts, the size of the impact kept growing past what they expected and that's what I expect now. So I’m asking that you partner with me in faith. This is the direction I believe we’re going and even if it looks different than what we expect, like the three Hebrew boys, I still believe God will work things out far past what we imagine could be for our good.
If you want to partner, I’m asking that you donate through CashApp to $ShilohSDA513 and say it's for ROAR. You can also give through Adventist Giving or by check to 3660 Washington Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45229. I want to start with getting finances in order and then I will be ready to connect with other churches and entities to make this explode. God will move. And I'm glad we all get to be a part of what He can do with people like us who are the weakest in their clan with only 300 soldiers.
Together we can watch God move in unrealistic ways and grow our understanding of Him. Together we can allow the world around us to experience the Jesus who changed our lives. Together we can witness a movement that changes our world. I’m ready for ROAR.
