Today's Coach is Mike MacIntosh. Today's Athlete is Gideon. Judges 6
Gideon was a Reluctant Leader. The Coach (God) calls for him to get in the game and he finds ways to delay because he is afraid of the Enemy and Peer Pressure.
Before we get to Mike's Message on Gideon let's look at Quarterback Peter who has a similar story.
Quarterback Peter did not want to get in the Game when the Roman Soldiers took Jesus away to be Crucified.
Peter was also called to be a Leader but he was Sacked Three times by Life.
Coach Jesus told Peter "you will deny me three times." Peter said, "no way I will always be in the game with you Lord Coach."
When the Pressure came Peter denied he knew the Coach.
Both of these Great Leaders Had a difficult time getting in the game.
In both situations the Team was without Leadership. The players were Scattered.
God chose Gideon and Peter to Lead their Teams.
God wants to put you in the game. He may throw you into a Leadership role before you know it.
Sometimes the Opportunity just presents itself. God has a way of Turning Problems into Opportunities.
What is Leadership?
Leadership isn't always telling people what to do.(That is one reason why we are so reluctant).
Leadership is Leading by Example, Serving and Delegating Responsibility.
"Few things help an individual more than to place Responsibility upon him and to let him Know that you Trust him."
Booker Washington  
God gave Gideon, Peter and you Responsibility and Trust.
Bart Star Quarterback for the Packers under Vince Lombardi said:
T.E.A.M.
T Together
E Everyone
A Achieves
M More
Look at Coach Mike's commentary on Gideon and see how Gideon gradually overcomes his fear to Lead.
Now there are Gideon Bibles in every room in 80 Percent of all the Major Hotels around the World.
By the Way, Peter came back from his Defeat and became one of the Greatest Leader's of all time. John 21:17
Coach Jesus Recruited you to Lead!
Why? To Make BIG Plays!
Don't wait for life to lead you. You Lead Life! The Clock is Running with no Timeouts left. Just Do It Today.
There is no Tomorrow!
Now - Just Go - Win the Day and LEAD!
Rick
Phil 4:13
http://huddle360.blogspot.com
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Now it came to pass the same night that the Lord said to him,
"Take your father's young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the wooden image that is beside it; and build an altar to the Lord your God on top of this rock in the proper arrangement, and take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image which you shall cut down."
So Gideon took ten men from among his servants and did what the Lord had said to him.
But because he feared his father's household and the men of the city too much to do it by Day, he did it by Night.
Judges 6:25-27
God called Gideon a mighty man of valor (Judges 6:12), but all we know is that he's a farmer.
There's not a verse anywhere in the Bible that tells us he's a warrior. This man has never held a sword in his hand, he's never been to battle, and he knows no strategies of warfare.
From our vantage point, Gideon is no man of valor. He has even shown with his own lips that he's somewhat of a coward, and he's hesitant to believe that anything good would happen because of so many years of oppression.
So why does God call him a man of valor?
Because God sees who Gideon is when he's empowered by His Spirit.
Now Baal was one bad thing to worship.
The people who worshiped Baal believed that if they sacrificed and built altars to him, the weather would be favorable and their crops would be spared of disease or disaster.
Plain and simple, this was devil worship, and that's why God wanted all those people wiped out.
So God's first assignment to Gideon was to tear down Baal's altar and the wooden image, and to build a brand new altar that was for the Lord.
Insecure and hesitant as he was, he obeyed!
Sometimes we hide behind our frailties and insecurities, our setbacks and our sin, and we basically give up on doing anything great for the Lord.
Look at Gideon's life here as a great example of a simple man used by God to do supernatural things. This could only be done by the power of the Holy Spirit (Judges 7:34).
That's why an ordinary farmer could be called a mighty man of valor by God.
And with the Lord on your side, you too are a mighty man or woman of valor. If you have Jesus Christ dwelling in your heart, you have Value and you have Worth because you're His kid and you're filled with the Holy Spirit.
Read Through the Bible in 1 Year
Today:
Exodus 25:1-26:37
Matthew 24:1-28
Psalm 19:7-14
Proverbs 6:32-35
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