Summer Heat
Havasu Christian Church
July 6, 2025
Gideon: “Fire at every turn.”
INTRO: Today we look at some of the life of Gideon. He’s a flawed man like all of us, but he DID do what God instructed Him to do, the way God told him to do it.
We see fire all through his story.
- Fire from the rock. (a fire of proof to Gideon, that he is dealing with God.)
Judges 6:11–24 Then the angel of the LORD came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites.
12 The angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, “The LORD is with you, O valiant warrior.”
13 Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
14 The LORD looked at him and said, “Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?”
15 He said to Him, “O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”
16 But the LORD said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man.”
17 So Gideon said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who speak with me.
18 “Please do not depart from here, until I come back to You, and bring out my offering and lay it before You.” And He said, “I will remain until you return.”
19 Then Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour; he put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, and brought them out to him under the oak and presented them.
20 The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so.
21 Then the angel of the LORD put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight.
22 When Gideon saw that he was the angel of the LORD, he said, “Alas, O Lord GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face.”
23 The LORD said to him, “Peace to you, do not fear; you shall not die.”
24 Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD and named it The LORD is Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
WOW! So much to see here!
- Gideon is being brave… sort of.
- When the Angel of the Lord appears, Gideon is hiding in a hole, trying to thresh a small bit of wheat.
- He isn’t the picture of bravery, but he’s apparently doing more than anyone else is to feed his family.
- Gideon argues with The Angel of the Lord.
- Obviously, he doesn’t know Who he’s talking to.
- “Where’s God when you need Him?”
- “Congratulations! The job is yours!”
14 The LORD looked at him and said, “Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?”
- I, The LORD, will be with you!
- I’m a nobody…
- “Show me a sign!”
- Maybe Gideon realized he was way out of line!
- After all, “If this is REALLY the LORD talking… I’d better do something to show respect.”
- Gideon prepares food.
- “What do you give?
- “If it isn’t God, I can eat it!”
- Fire comes up from the rock and consumes the meat, the bread and the broth.
- Gideon freaks out!
- “I’ve seen the Angel of the Lord! I’m gonna DIE!”
- No, you won’t….
- Gideon builds an altar to God!
- This fire was PROOF to Gideon that he was talking with God!
- Fire from the altar. (a fire of proof to the people.)
Judges 6:25-31 Now on the same night the LORD said to him, “Take your father’s bull and a second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it;
26 and build an altar to the LORD your God on the top of this stronghold in an orderly manner, and take a second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.”
27 Then Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the LORD had spoken to him; and because he was too afraid of his father’s household and the men of the city to do it by day, he did it by night.
28 When the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was torn down, and the Asherah which was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar which had been built.
29 They said to one another, “Who did this thing?” And when they searched about and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash did this thing.”
30 Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has torn down the altar of Baal, and indeed, he has cut down the Asherah which was beside it.”
31 But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal, or will you deliver him? Whoever will plead for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because someone has torn down his altar.”
- God gives Gideon his first orders.
- Tear down the altar of Baal.
- Cut down the Ashera pole.
- Build an altar to God.
- Sacrifice a bull as a burnt offering to God.
- Use the wood from the Ashera pole as fuel for the fire!
- Gideon does all this, but he does it at night.
- He’s afraid of his father’s household.
- It’s his fathers altar.
- He was right to be afraid.
- The men of the city want to kill Gideon.
- Joash stands up for his son. “Will you contend for Baal, or will you deliver him? Whoever will plead for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because someone has torn down his altar.”
- Shouldn’t Baal be able to take care of his own problems? If he’s a god, why does he need your help?
- If you keep fussing about this, you are going to die!
- This fire was to show people Who the REAL God was! The fire showed the people that Baal had no real power.
- Fire from the pitchers.
We have to skip over a lot for time’s sake. Here’s the quick rundown:
Gideon calls the people together to fight. 32,000 show up.
Wet fleece, dry ground.. Dry fleece, wet ground.
God says “There’s too many!
If I allow an army this big, you’ll think you did it on your own.
Send home the cowards... 2,2000 go home.
10,000 is still too many. Keep the weirdos.
Keep the “water lappers!”
300 left… just the right amount!!!
Gideon is still afraid.. God gives him a boost.
Judges 7:13–14 When Gideon came, behold, a man was relating a dream to his friend. And he said, “Behold, I had a dream; a loaf of barley bread was tumbling into the camp of Midian, and it came to the tent and struck it so that it fell, and turned it upside down so that the tent lay flat.”
14 His friend replied, “This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given Midian and all the camp into his hand.”
With this encouragement, Gidion is finally ready to go.
Judges 7:19–22 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and smashed the pitchers that were in their hands.
20 When the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing, and cried, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!”
21 Each stood in his place around the camp; and all the army ran, crying out as they fled.
22 When they blew 300 trumpets, the LORD set the sword of one against another even throughout the whole army; and the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the edge of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.
- Gideon needs a lot of coaxing, but God works with him anyway.
- Gideon takes his “Commando unit” out, armed with torches, pitchers and trumpets.
- They take up their positions on 3 sides of the Midianite camp.
- They break the pitchers.
- Their torches flair.
- They blow their trumpets.
- The enemy is terrified!
- They fight each other in an effort to get away from the Israelite “army.”
- The enemy is soundly defeated… by torches and trumpets!
Conclusion: What can we learn from Gideon and his fires?
- God can take a pagan, turn him around, and use him in a powerful way!
- Gideon knows about God, but he comes from a family who have built their own altar to Baal!
- Who knows what Gideon has done before God gets a hold of him?
- God uses people who are fortunate enough not to have wallowed in sin.
- He also cleans up and uses those who have done plenty of wallowing in sin.
- God sees what we can be, not just how we presently are. “Mighty man of valor?” Eventually! God knew what he was capable of doing.
- If we trust God, He’ll get us where He wants us to be.
- Abraham
- Moses
- Peter
- Paul
- You and me
- God is big enough to deal with our doubts.
- Boy did Gideon have a bunch!
- God was patient…
- Gideon did well in the end.
- God can use a little to accomplish a lot!
- The odds are stacked against Gideon and his commandos.
Judges 7:12 Now the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the sons of the east were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as numerous as the sand on the seashore.
- 300 weirdo’s playing trumpets, who probably were not trumpet players, carrying torches and breaking pitchers!
- With this, a huge army is defeated!
- God can use “our little” to accomplish whatever He desires.
- What He wants done is up to Him, not to me or you!
We just need to be willing to be used!
