The Baker and The Battle Cry

Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our Tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com.

Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com.

Good morning. So great to see all of you. Happy Father's Day to all

the fathers in the room. Great. Thank you guys so much for being here. We got a great Sunday. Didn't Lissy do amazing last week?

Yeah. Yeah. Her driver's license says Melissa. You may know her as Lissa, but some of us call her Lissy. And so is there anything she can't do?

Yes. No.

I can't cook. I can't cook.

No. You can cook. You can cook. I love your cooking. You can't change a skill saw blade No.

Without my help. But even then give her five minutes, and she would still figure that out as well. So I'm so glad to be back with you this morning, and we are we have been in a series of conversations that we are calling work smarter and not harder. And so in the same way that Lissa continued that with her flavor on things, we're going to continue this series. And this week, we're going to talk about the difference between our occupation and our ministry.

So that's to just kind of telegraph where we're going today. We're going to talk about the difference between our occupation and our ministry. But before we do that, let's just have a quick review. If you haven't been here in a couple of weeks or if today is your first Sunday with us, we have been using first Kings chapter five verse six as our springboard. First Kings chapter five verse six.

And the narrator is speaking in, no. Excuse me. It's king Solomon. It's in reference to king Solomon, and he says this, as you know, there is no one among us who can cut timber like the Sidonians and if you are going to have a reputation of being a lumberjack you better be strong, you better have a flannel, and your tools for cutting wood better be sharp. No lumberjack ever earned a reputation for being a lumberjack without an axe, a saw, and having those tools being really sharp.

And in the same way that the Sidonians had sharp tools we also must keep our tools sharp. We're gonna be like the Sidonians. We gotta have sharp tools. Oh my goodness. I did this just came to me.

Has anybody ever looked up what Gideon's name means? So we've been in Judges chapter six, and we're gonna go back to Judges chapter six, but, we talk about this a lot. You can you can go on your own bible treasure hunt, and one of the apps that we love to use here is called Blue Letter Bible, and you can look up Old Testament verses, and it'll tell you what it means in the Hebrew. And if you are in the New Testament, what original language was that written down in? Greek.

So you can look up the meaning of Greek words. And Gideon's name has has a very interesting tie into first Kings chapter five verse six. Not gonna baby bird you. You just look it up for yourself.

Yes.

Close. Close. You're actually very close. You're actually very close. Wood chopper.

So, if you're new to tribe, one of the other unique distinctives is that we blurt out things. It's a it's a conversation. I mean, look at look at the venue that we're in. It is conducive to us having a conversation. So today, if you have questions, comments, or a connection jumps into your mind, all you have to do is raise your hand.

Greta has the mic in the room. She will get the mic to you so that the rest of us can hear your contribution, and then we all get to learn, and we all get to grow together. And if your contribution is weird, that's okay. I'll just steer us right back on track. Well, we we may every now and then we trade a little paint with the guardrails, but that's okay.

We never launch off a cliff. My job is to help keep us doctrinally safe and to keep the train moving down the tracks to mix my metaphors. So we have been talking about the difference between a sharp tool and a dull tool, and it's not just been about being a lumberjack. But what we've said are this, our tools are the gifts and talents that God gives us to help us accomplish our unique calling. Our tools in the same way that the Sidonians had a reputation for being lumberjack.

You can't be a lumberjack without the right tools. Our tools are the gifts and talents god used god gives us to accomplish our unique calling and we've said this, our tools can be dull or they can be sharp. A dull tool is a gift or a talent used in the flesh, and a sharp tool is a gift or a talent used in the spirit. And to recall what Lissa talked about last week, she was talking about Philip, and the angel said, hey. I want you to head on the head out on the road, what, towards Gaza?

What if Philip was like, I know. Okay. Okay. I got it. I got it.

I I can I I think I know where you're going? You want me to go be a missionary to the people living on the East Coast, on the coast of what is still to this day Gaza. Okay. God, I got it from here. And he's trotting along and he's trotting along, and here comes this this carriage with the Ethiopian eunuch, and he's like, cut.

Get out of my way. I gotta get to Gaza. Dull tool. But his tool was sharp, and it was his simple one step at a time obedience that god was like, oh, I can use that. So as we've been talking, having this series of conversations, what I have found tends to get people kind of muddy the waters is when you use gifts and talents.

What's your ministry? What's your calling? Well, how do I reconcile that with my job? And what do I do with my life? And all of these things, they kind of get jumbled together, and they end up getting used interchangeably in such a way that I would suggest to you that each of those words becomes diluted.

And so what we've been doing for the last couple of weeks is we've taken some time to clear away the clutter. We'll take one word at a time. We set it on the table. We spin it around. We look at it.

We handle examine it, we take it apart, we put it back together and what we are going to do within the next week or two is take all of these words, these aspects of personhood, and how it relates to our relationship with the lord, and we're going to what I'm looking forward to the most is putting all of these pieces on the table after we define them and examine them and see how they interact with each other. And so what we've covered so far is things like our identity. Our identity answers the question who am I? We've talked about our calling. Our calling answers the question what was I born to do?

Then recently, we talked about a talent. A talent is something that I can do, but a gift is something that God can do through me. Are you with me so far? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And then last week, Lissa talked about how one small step of obedience unlocks God's big purpose. Yeah. She's my Lissa. So in a moment, not just yet, but in a moment, we're gonna jump back into the story of Gideon.

And as I was preparing for our conversation this week, there are a number of places in the story of Gideon that we're gonna go to today. So in a moment, I'll have Trinity put it up in just a moment. But you'll see that we're going to read from a lot of different places in the story of Judges. Here's the approach that I want you to have on your mind. At Christmas time when everybody is finally out of school, what is mom's favorite thing to do when she gets a break from having to do all the cooking and the hosting and all the things?

She pulls out her card table, and what does she do with it? Oh, well, yes. Okay. She wraps presents. Yes.

She's wrapping presents. She pulls out her card table, sets it up, and then what goes on the card table? Puzzle. Christmas puzzle. Christmas.

And food and and wrapping presents. Okay. Alright. This is what Lizzie Yeah. Lizzie.

Oh. Yeah. See? Okay. Father's Day's message is you're doing it wrong.

Be better. Happy Father's Day. So so whenever you start a new puzzle, whenever it is, wherever it goes, Whenever you start a a new puzzle, you take the puzzle piece, you you take the puzzle, open up the box, dump out all of the pieces of the puzzle on whatever surface you're gonna assemble the puzzle on, and then what do you do? You gotta flip them all over. And then and then what do you do?

What's the next step? Alright. Yeah. Start working on the frame, the corners, and then some people organize by color. Okay.

Alright. Alright. So in a similar way, today, here's what we're going to do. We're going to dump out a box of puzzle pieces of various scriptures. And at first, it's going to look like, ah, these are all just a bunch of random verses.

Where do they go? But then together, we're going to assemble a puzzle for where we're going and what I hope to accomplish today. So are you with me? Are you ready to dump the pieces out? Okay, Trinity.

Help us out. Here's where we're going. It's not that bad. It's all in judges for one. So let's do this because we love to do this.

We love to take time to read. And so if you want to read some of these, you just, you know, kinda skip ahead a bit, brother, and and find one of these to read. And we'll start here at Judges six eleven through 12. I sometimes, whenever we get into reading god's word, I will preload you on what I would like you to be looking for. For example, as you as we read this passage, what is Matthew's Achilles heel in this?

You know? So I'll preload you. Here's what as you read, here's what I want you to be looking for. Today, all we're doing for right now is just flipping over the puzzle pieces and and reading them, and then we're gonna come back and assemble. Okay.

So who has it's just two verses. Easy buy in. Aaron's got it. Judges six eleven through 12, that's where we're starting first.

Now the angel of the lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abizarite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the lord appeared to him and said to him, the lord is with you, oh mighty man of valor.

Okay. One piece. Flip. Seven twelve through 14. Who got that?

12 through 14. The Midianites, the Amalekites, and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand upon the seashore. Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. I had a dream.

Sounds familiar. He were saying? A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed. His friend responded.

This could be nothing other than the sword of Gideon, son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands.

Okay. Are you have are you having a moment? We did just read that. A loaf of barley bread. And and it's this is a great puzzle piece.

We're gonna see how it fits. Bethany, that's the exact reaction I'm looking for. Alright. Now sorry. I'm not in, yeah.

I'm not in numerical order. So you gotta go backwards to chapter six verse 27 through 32.

Gideon took 10 of his servants so Gideon took 10 of his servants and did as the lord had commanded, but he did it at night because he was afraid of the other members of his father household and the people in the town. He knew what would happen if they found out what he'd done.

Through 32, please. You're doing so good.

Early the next morning, as the people of the town began to stir, someone discovered that the altar of Baal had been knocked down and that the Asherah pole beside it was gone. In their place, a new altar had been built, and it had the remains of a sacrifice on it. The people said to each other, who did this? And after asking around and making a careful search, they learned that it was Gideon, the son of Joash. Bring out your son, they shouted to Joash.

Quick pause. Quick pause. Bring out your son, the men of the town demanded of Joash. Anybody have a hyperlink that goes off in their brain when you read that? What does it make you think of?

Sodom and Gomorrah, bringing out your son or or another time in judges, there's, there is an intentional connection that we are invited to make between whenever the mob or the crowd demands something. How about how about when Pontius Pilate is standing there and he says, who would you like me to release? And the mob demands for the release of Barabbas and the crucifixion of Jesus. Very rarely, just a little tip here, is the mob right when they start demanding something? That was a little tip.

Okay. Let's let's keep reading. Look for these hyperlinks.

But Joash shouted to the mob, why are you defending bail? Will you argue his case? Whoever pleads his case will be put to death by morning. If Baal truly is a god, let him defend himself and destroy the one who knocked down the altar. From then on, Gideon was called Jerubbabel, which means let Baal defend himself because he knocked down Baal's altar.

Okay. Alright. We're doing good with the pieces. We're nope. We just read that one.

Right? Alright. Six thirty three through 35. These are a lot of puzzle pieces to lay out. We're gonna connect them.

Verse 33. Now all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East came together, and they crossed the Jordan and encamped in the Valley Of Jezreel. But the spirit of the lord, capital s, clothed Gideon, and he sounded the trumpet. And the Abbezzarites were called out to follow him. And 35, and he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and they too were called out to follow him.

And he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Neftali, and they went up to meet them.

Great. Great. We're in the homestretch. We've almost flipped over all the pieces today.

Next one? Yes. Seven two. 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. Jesus. They're being honest, leaving only 10,000 who were willing to fight. Keep going.

But the Lord told Gideon, there are still too many. Bring them down to the spring, and I will test them to determine who will go with you and who will not. When Gideon took his warriors down to the water, the lord told him, divide the men into two groups. In one group, put all those who cup water in their hands and lap it up with their tongues like dogs. And in the other group, put all those who kneel down and drink with their mouths in the stream.

Only 300 of the men drank from their hands. All the others got down on their knees and drank with their mouths in the stream. The lord told Gideon, with these 300 men, I will rescue you and give you victory over the Midianites. Send all the others home. So Gideon collected the provisions and the ram's horns ram's horns, that's hard to say, of the other warriors and sent them home, but he kept the 300 men with him.

Eight. I was I was reading along. 22. So our last passage, eight twenty two through 23.

Okey dokey. Oh, that's nine. I'm coming. Okay. 22.

The Israelites said to Gideon, rule over us, you, your son, and your grandson, because you have saved us from the hand of the Midian. But Gideon told them, I will not rule over you nor will my son rule over you. The lord will rule over you. There

you go. So we could have we could have uncovered each of these pieces, flip them over one at a time, and put them into place. But this morning, what I wanted to do was flip all of the pieces over all at once, and now we're gonna begin to sort them and arrange them. So how does this relate to all of the verses that we read? How does this relate to what we're gonna talk about today?

At the top of your notes, if you're taking notes this morning, you can write the title of the conversation we're going to have. This is work smarter, not harder. Week six, the baker and the battle cry. The baker and the battle cry. That's where we're going today.

Work smarter not harder. Week six, the baker and the battle cry. Today, as I mentioned a moment ago, we are going to talk about our occupation and our ministry. How those two are different, how they are similar, where they overlap, where they don't and so let's just define some terms right off the bat. Occupation.

What is our occupation? Our occupation is how I make a living. Are you an architect? Are you a teacher? Are you a rancher?

Are you a baker? Are you a lawyer? Are you an astronaut, that's your occupation. Your occupation is how you make a living. Your ministry is how you make a difference.

Your occupation is how you make a living. Your ministry is how you make a difference. So let's look at some of those puzzle pieces that we flipped over and see if we can discover Gideon's occupation. We've touched on it in weeks past. What do you think Gideon's occupation was?

Granted it is inferred from the text but we're not I believe that we're not stretching the text beyond the bounds of what it can sustain. What would you say is Gideon's occupation? How he makes a living? Wheat fresher. A baker.

Yes. So Gideon in all likelihood could have been a baker and Brian where are you where are you getting this from? Well if you just look in Judges chapter six eleven through 12 we see him threshing wheat in a winepress and then Judges chapter seven verse twelve and fourteen that we've already read that but it's probably worth looking at again. Chapter seven verse 12, so Gideon took Purah and went down to the edge of the enemy camp. Verse 12, the armies of Midian, Amalek, and the people of the East had settled in the valley like a swarm of locusts.

Their camels were like grains of sand on the seashore. Two minute account, great Gideon crept up just as a man was telling his companion about her dream. The man said I had this dream and in my dream a huge dragon swept down out of the sky breathing fire and consumed up, wasn't a dragon, In this dream I saw a giant 15 feet tall and he had a sword as thick as a man's leg and he hacked and he cleaved through the rank. No. No.

Wasn't that. What was it Bethany? A big old piece of bread. Carbs. I saw a barley loaf roll down, topple over the tent and roll through the camp.

So from that if you were put yourself in Gideon's shoes for just a moment. If you were a little old baker and that was like your occupation, how many people confuse their identity with their occupation? Well I can't do anything cool, I'm just a baker. God's like, we're gonna sort that out but I got you. Sneaks into the enemy camp and it wasn't a dragon, it wasn't you know Sasquatch on rampage or anything like that, It was a barley loaf.

Can you imagine if Gideon was a baker as his occupation? Can you imagine how encouraged Gideon would have been in hearing that dream? I could make a barley loaf and he's probably thinking now okay that's gonna be a really big barley loaf but if I may maybe just may have very dense. So when we look at these two passages what can we reasonably assume Gideon's occupation was? Baker.

Okay. Now let's look for Gideon's ministry. Not his calling because you may what you may suggest could be more in line and appropriate to fit under his calling but what was his ministry? And I'll give you a couple away if you go to hold on if you go to the next slide does it give the answer down here? Okay alright yeah put the next there we go alright it'll give you a hint so we've already flipped over these puzzle pieces so let's go back and look at them again.

I invite you to put your nose into your own Bible and see if an occupation is how we make a living and a ministry is how we make a difference. As you look at these several passages what could be Gideon's ministry? Judges six twenty seven thirty two. Okay. As an occupation.

Who said this is good this is good if a baker is a person's occupation no offense to any bakers in the room. I'm gonna put a pin in that because what you said is actually very profound point that I'm getting to in a little bit. So hold on to it. Hold on to it. What was Gideon's ministry?

As you look at these verses, is there any common theme or maybe it could be a phrase that's repeated or it could be a word. Mighty man of valor, warrior, his ministry. If your occupation is how you make a if your occupation is how you make a living your ministry is how you make a difference, taking down evil. He was a leader okay so so taking down evil I would say that could be more of a calling what did you say? He was a leader all right survey says?

He was a leader to take down the enemy.

How about this? Gideon's ministry was making men into leaders. Well, how do we get that, Brian? Let's read these. We've already flipped these puzzle pieces.

Let's now touch them again, spin them around, see how they fit. Judges six twenty seven through 32, if you remember that. So Gideon took 10 of his servants and did as the Lord commanded. Alright. So we see Gideon as one man at first, next time we see him he takes 10 men.

Now he's got 10 men. Now Judges six thirty three, soon afterwards armies of Midian, Amalek, and the people of the East formed an alliance against Israel and crossed the Jordan camping in the Valley Of Jezreel. Then the spirit of the Lord took possession of Gideon. He blew a ram's horn as a call to arms and who came out? The men of Abiezer.

So we've gone from Gideon himself to now Gideon's leading 10 men, and now all the men of what? Abezer are coming out. Then continue to look, Judges seven two through eight two through eight so all of these armies are coming out. Gideon rallies people and he says, 22, so he had do that math 22 plus 10,000 men. So all the men from Ibiza to 32,000 men yeah.

Math people. It's tricky. What if Gideon's occupation was that of a baker? If we were to be realistic, how inspiring is that?

Perhaps

not. He was no salt bae. But his ministry could this not be his ministry making men into leaders? God deals with Gideon first by speaking words of identity, mighty hero, mighty man of valor. His identity, his calling is to defeat the nations of Israel coming against him.

It's a great calling. In his occupation is just that of a baker. Can you not see the brilliance and the beauty and the creativity of the Lord in the story of Gideon. Can you not see yourself slip into the role of Gideon? If he could do that with Gideon, a baker, what could he do with me?

Maybe you think that your occupation currently in this moment is not that glamorous. Many people confuse their occupation with their ministry. Or they feel as though their occupation is in some way hindering, preventing, blocking their ministry. Look at the story of Gideon. And now here's something amazing.

He goes from 10 men to let's go back to thirty six thirty three we're flipping back and forth. Soon afterwards arm and his hand and the spirit of the Lord blew a ram sworn a call to arms and the men of the clan of Abiezer came to him. Question, have we seen these men mentioned previously? Look in your text. This is really cool.

Have we seen the men of Ibiza mentioned previously and if so in what way? How do they emerge on the scene? Kate in what way? How? In verse 24 Amanda I'm gonna give you the mic.

It

says then Gideon built an altar in verse 24 of chapter six and there and the Lord called it the Lord is peace to this day it stands in Ophrah which belongs to the Abizarites.

Abizarites. Okay. So how about the part where they wake up the next morning they see that the altar of Baal has been knocked down, that Asherah pole has been hacked into pieces used for firewood for the sacrifice unto Yahweh, who gets mad? The townspeople. Townspeople.

It's it's in here. Guys come on. Don't make me masticate this for you. Chew it up and baby bird it into you. You got this.

I'm looking. Okay. They wanna

know who did it.

Brian, would you say because you he does his ministry at night, it says, because he's afraid of his family in chapter six verse 27. Yes. What would you say to that? Like, is it okay to do ministry afraid? Should we be hiding under the cover of night if we're being obedient?

What what are your thoughts on that?

We're gonna see Gideon's journey. So he begins trembling and we see fear maybe self doubt follow him along the way but does not hinder him from being obedient to the Lord. If you feel like you have heard the Lord invite you to something but you have fear about it you are in good company just like Gideon. Phil, Phil I'm counting on you Phil.

No No pressure. So I'm I'm seeing that it's actually Gideon's family that is Abuserites.

Yes.

And how he's afraid of his family initially, of what they might think of him if he were to obey the Lord and crush the Asherables and the Baals. But then like it's Joash, Abuserite, his father, who like comes to his defense and is like he was a catalyst or at least the Lord was the catalyst through him to rally his family, the Abuserites, to come to action. Because like back in verse what, 11, it says Joash is in Abysser. Right? His father.

So Yes. That's his his like his clan.

Yes. So the very people that rallied to him just in a few verses prior were ready to kill him. That's God's super on Gideon's natural. The very people that were at first going to turn against him and kill him now are rallying to him. And I wrote this down in my notes.

Some your ministry sometimes comes from that what will try to kill you. It's not up here on the screen, but I'll say it one more time. Sometimes your ministry comes out of that which has tried to kill you. And then when you look at, chapter seven verse 24 we've gone from Gideon himself to 10 men to all the Bezerites in chapter seven verse 24. Now it's all of the clan the tribe of Ephraim.

And I would suggest to you that Gideon's ministry was like a battle cry to rally men of Israel as leaders. Let's stop for just a moment. We'll take a pause and if you have questions, comments, or connections that you're making, I'd love to hear from you related to what we've been talking about this difference between occupation and ministry. What's going through your mind? I'd love to hear from you.

What are you thinking?

Sorry, this is actually still with what Amanda said. I was actually just still thinking about that. I also feel like there's a certain level of wisdom and prudence to the way that he chose to follow the Lord. You think about if you were called to preach the gospel in a place where it's illegal, probably not your best bet to go out in the sunshine and be like, hello everybody, do you know about Jesus? And in the same way of, I think about during the Holocaust, people protecting Jews.

It's not like you're saying, oh, we're protecting Jews. We are like, right? Like, there's a certain level of, like, I think, prudence and wisdom too of, following the Lord. Like, yes, like, there could be some fear, but there could also be some, like, wisdom in that as well.

Great. Some things are a problem to solve. Some things are attention to manage. Right? Joshua says as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.

That's a problem to solve. This is how we live. We will be faithful unto Yahweh. Other things are attention to manage. I'm gonna cut down the Ashura poles, let's do it at night.

Let's have a little bit of wisdom because he knew how the townspeople would react and they reacted exactly like he thought. Yes.

I have to take Bethany's notes because I have my notebook. What you just said, sometimes your ministry will come from what tried to kill you. I think we listened to you said that and then go and moved on kinda too fast because we all have a beautiful testimony but I I just really painted the words of a testimony differently in my head. And we usually have what went wrong in our lives just be like, oh, the lord was just protecting me and leave it at that but not really go back and dissect the things of our youth, the things that's happened to us and I think just one as encouragement, one for me. So, I want to do that.

But we all should do that today and really be like, what is my testimony? What did I miss by just letting it be other the umbrella of God protecting me and then just moving on.

Yeah. That's good. That's great. Joy, over here. Okay.

I need you to untangle a couple of things for me. Our calling is our unique life assignment entrusted to us by God. Our ministry is how we make a difference. And what is a call to ministry is that different than ministry

Okay.

Or a calling.

Great. Let's so when we look at Gideon, we're thousands of years removed. We're we're we're reading about this story third hand. This is this is not let's talk about Brian Auer, but perhaps we can use me. I think you know me better than you know Gideon, and you can see my life.

My life perhaps some aspects are easier to examine than Gideon's. So let's use old PB as an example between his occupation, his calling, in his ministry how those things interact. So I'm glad that you asked that. So how do I want to approach this in the least tangly way possible? Calling, I have a calling on my life to lead love and shepherd people.

A calling on my life that is independent from my ministry and my occupation. However in this particular persons how it works out there's some overlap. My I have a ministry to people of this valley. I have a couple of different ministries but I have a ministry to the people of this valley that would be completely independent of my occupation. I could be let go from tribe tomorrow and I would be very heartbroken but I would continue to lead love and shepherd people if I were pounding nails as a carpenter or going back bumping chairs at a ski resort or or cutting grass, whatever other jobs I've ever had, that won't change the calling on my life to lead love and shepherd people.

I have a ministry to young adults and I also have that has emerged within the last couple of years a very interesting ministry that I never ever would have thought that I would ever be qualified for in the same way that a baker was called to develop a fearful baker was called invited to have a ministry to raise men into leaders. I have this weird ministry to active duty and retired people in the military. Who would have thought? I've never been in the military. Let me show you a picture.

These are some hard dudes. Oh Corey stand up cover the camera put your hand there. These are some hard dudes they're active duty military despite the jacket and the cowboy hat and in the midst of these hard dudes there's little old me. Go ahead. Next picture.

There's little old me. Oh sorry keep it covered. Alright. Will you put your hand back up there? Oh perfect thank you.

Yeah there's little old me in the little yellow jacket and so these guys have it's a ministry and we can go back to whatever the previous slide was. So no I think that's enough. Would you go back one more? Yeah let's just go there. Okay Thank Thank you, Corey.

So I have a ministry to this particular group of men and even even last week while Lissa was preaching I was doing a first aid research class and there was a retired one of these military guys that just like and ended up hanging out with me all weekend long. I didn't know what he was until later. He didn't know what I did until later, but I'm like, oh you're one of and he's like, oh, ah, and it is a ministry that God has just put before me. The lee I am the least qualified to speak into the lives of these men. I feel kind of like Gideon in a similar way that God invited Gideon to into this ministry of developing men into leaders.

Gideon was fearful as he was hiding in the winepress. He was fearful about the calling that God put on him. He put out the he put out the he went at night to listen to the tents. He put out the fleece. Lord I don't know if this is really you.

I've got a lot of fear. I'm gonna put out a fleece and in the morning would you make the fleece wet and the ground dry? God's like, I got you. And then he sees it the bible says that he pours a whole a whole fills a whole bowl with water of the fleece that was saturated and then he's like, Lord I still have a little bit of fear left. I'm just not sure.

Confident in myself, confident in my ability to hear you. Lord, would you do one more thing? This time, would the fleece be dry and the ground wet? God's like, okay. I got you.

All throughout his ministry, If you think that you are disqualified from what you feel like could be your ministry because of some character deficit or some, trepidation that you have, some deficit that you possess, some mistake that you've made in the past like oh that's just that that that disqualifies me. We were to be honest you are saying that you know better than the Lord and is that true? Do you know better than the Lord? No of course not. With all your little brokenness, with all of your insecurities, with all of those things that that are on your list I need to like hit this mark this mark this mark this mark then I can be used by God.

You are putting yourself in a superior position to the Lord.

I was just gonna say something that you had said a few weeks ago and kinda tying in with what Lanisha was saying was paying attention to who the Lord continues to bring in your path and and then recognizing, okay, this is becoming a pattern in my life. Like, maybe I should listen to this, like, what the Lord is is trying to do in my life. Because you could've just you could've thrown that away and thought, oh, yeah. Like, I just like military and navy stuff, so maybe I'm looking for it. But the Lord was literally just bringing this really unique cross section of people into your life.

And, you know, maybe for some of us, it's, you know, a a unique people group that we have a unique calling to speak into. You know, maybe it's widows. Maybe it's, you know, young men who have had broken relationships with their father. Maybe it's, you know, people with of great, great, great wealth and influence that somehow keep coming into your path. And we may all think that we don't have anything to offer, but every single person in this room that has the Holy Spirit living inside them has something that a lost person needs, and the Lord just gives us favor with a certain kind of person.

And the first step is recognize that pattern.

Yeah. Moms, have a ministry to your children. Fathers, you have a ministry to your children. Bethany in the back and then I'm gonna share one last thing as we land the plane.

I have

a question. From what you're saying, it sounds like in this like definition of ministry, it's always like a ministry like towards a certain group, is that kind of how you're defining ministry of like it's always like a ministry like kind of like bringing the Lord to a particular group or do you understand my question?

The common denominator will always be people. It will always be people. If you are like, I really just have a heart to for like wild horses in Southern Wyoming. Great. That's great.

That's great. That can be a passion of yours. That that you know they you know like food is scarce and they need to be fed. That's great. That's a humanitarian thing.

That's great. That's part of your instinct to see creation restored and part of you being a good steward of planet Earth. Now a ministry could be if you are working with people that are helping to manage, you know, maybe it's fish and game, maybe it's wildlife people. It's always related to people. It does not have to be a specific group.

Although, as you continue and you may have different seasons, may have different ministries, moms, dads, different seasons have different ministry assignments. But you will find a common denominator after a while that you could then put them into a group. And you can ask the Lord, Lord, I feel like this person's coming, this person's been brought, this prayer Lord, is there, like, is there what's the common denominator here? You probably are in ministry unaware right now. What if you were to do it instead of unintentionally?

What if you were to just step into your ministry intentionally so that the next time one of those little noonies comes across your radar, you're like, oh, you're one of mine.

Our one of our favorite authors, Dave Pawson, our sweet little British buddy, we put have some of his books. I love what he said regarding putting ministry over occupation or or putting it into it. He said, when you're a believer, there is no such thing as a secular job. Because he said, you're walking in light all the time and people are drawn to you regardless of where on the planet you are, what you're doing. So in that regard, I would very much agree that our ministry, which is what's making a difference, can be used 20 fourseven.

Whether we're walking in our calling, whether we're being obedient, whatever our occupation is, we can walk in that ministry that the Lord has invited us to. Yes. And it changes season to season. Like

This is where this is where using me as an example, the I skew the bell curve because because there's a lot of overlap between my calling and my ministry and my occupation. But, hopefully, for those of you who know me, I will try to teach you something, whether it's about the Lord or about something else if you're just in my orbit, it can only be me. I said there was one last thing. Let me just say it really quick. I may have it refined by next week because we're gonna start to look at the interplay and intersection of all of these things next week.

I think we'll land the plane next week. But for right now, in my notes, I just called it a secret weapon. God equipped Gideon with a secret weapon that was unrelated to his occupation, but helped him be effective in his ministry. And if we had more time, could go back and and really look. But a hint is in Judges six thirty four.

Then the spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon with power, and he blew a ram's horn as a call to arms. And the men of the clan of Abiezer came to him. Eight different times in just two chapters, we see a ram's horn being mentioned, And it was one of the pieces that of the puzzle that we flipped over earlier as we were reading. Remember when Gideon when the Lord said to Gideon, have these men, like like, go on back home, and if they bend down to drink water right out of the creek, send them on home. But what was one of the he collected two things from those men that he sent home.

One of them was provisions. The other one was what? All of the ram's horns. So as you are walking in your ministry, you'll find that God will give you a secret weapon to help amplify your effectiveness in ministry. For Gideon, it was a ram's horn.

For me, these dudes I work with, it just happens to be skiing. But when I work with these guys, it's not my identity. It's related to my calling, but I'm not called to them. I'm called to y'all. I have a secret weapon of skiing and moving through the mountains, but that's certainly not my identity nor is it my occupation.

And just because it's not my occupation doesn't mean that I can't have a do you know what I'm saying? This is what we're gonna unpack more next week. Let's invite the person of the Holy Spirit to just take what we've talked about this morning and have him put his own emphasis on what he would like to whisper to your heart this morning. So Lord, you've heard all that we've talked about. You know all of the rabbit trails that our heart and our minds have been on this morning.

Holy Spirit, would you weave together your purpose and plan for what you wanna accomplish in our heart this morning, in these moments that we are still before you? Holy Spirit, we invite you to speak to us about our occupation, about our ministry. If there's been any area of our life where we have been, we have rejected our ministry because we've confused it with our occupation. Or we if we have objected to our ministry thinking that our occupation gets in the way. Speak to us, Holy Spirit.

Just before I invite Amanda up to share with us one last way that we worship the Lord here at Tribe, would that be alright if I prayed over you something really specific? Just receive it for whoever needs Lord Jesus, I pray that your holy spirit would whisper to our hearts about the strategic, your strategic placement of our lives right now in our occupation. That you would open our eyes to the ministry that you have in front of us in the midst of our occupation. That we would no longer say, well, I'm just doing this job. I wish I could be doing my ministry.

But that you would that each person would see how you have beautifully orchestrated their life and their job that is somehow connected and related to the ministry that you're inviting them into. And Lord, I ask that as they go back into their occupation this week, somehow, someway, when they rub up against their ministry, you would just go tap them on the shoulder and say this is your ministry. It's right in the midst of your occupation and they would lean into it. And they would see how they are making, actively making a difference in people's lives. Thank you, Jesus.

Amanda, will you come share next things?

Well, Brian was praying that I just thought about how uniquely God places us in places. Like, if I know where a lot of you work, but, like, you work there. I don't work there. You know, like, you're placed in a place to reach those people. Like what Nancy's saying, does it have to be a specific group or can it be you know, like, let's say you're a astrophysicist.

I'm not reaching astrophysicists or mechanical engineers. I'm thinking about where Christian just started his internship. You know, God places us in places with our natural gifts and talents to reach those people in that world for different seasons. So that can be your ministry, the place and the people that you work with specifically. Right, Shay?

Her boss is here.

She brought

names too. She said, I'm right. Rachel.

Well, as we land the plane here today, we always bring our tithe and our offering when we come together as a tribe family. Whether tribe is your local church or you go somewhere else and give there, that's great. We just we do it every time we get together because it is a reminder, one, that the earth is God's and the fullness thereof, like scripture says. Everything is his anyway. The very breath in our lungs, the ability we had to walk up the stairs, everything is a gift from him.

And so in service and in love, just back to him, we bring our tithe and our offering just to say, Lord, thank you. Thank you for who you are. Let him talk to you about how much you need to give or should give because that's between you and him. It's a heart thing, not a how many zeros thing. Also, when well, let let's say ways to give.

Trinity will put it up here but you can always give from our website. There's a physical drop box for cash or check right here by the door and then downstairs right outside. But then as you can see, you just text like you're texting a new friend, (833) 369-7847. Type the word give the dollar sign and then the amount. Let's pray together and I have just a couple announcements and we'll get out of here.

Heavenly father, you are so worthy of our praise. Thank you for the hundreds and hundreds of ways that we can worship you. It's just not enough. We could just, we're gonna do it for eternity, but Lord, we just love you so much. Thank you that we worshiped you today with song, with singing, with heart surrender, with scripture searching, with conversation, and we're worshiping you one more time before we leave and go about our day by bringing our tithe and above and beyond that our offering to you to just say thank you for who you are.

And then thank you that it just it does the local practical work of the ministry. There's so many things that just take money, and that's what the church has the privilege of doing is being your hands and feet. And the whole point is bringing people to you, drawing people closer to you. So thank you for the work of the ministry from that way. We just thank you so much for every person here.

Thank you for calibrating our hearts towards you. We love you. In Jesus name, amen. If you were a thank you. If you were able to come last Monday, you got to experience revival at the rodeo, but it is something that our friend Natalie had a dream about that here in Jackson Hole, we would be able to just worship freely.

And can we just say, like, in our heart, like, how amazing is it that we just live in a country for now that we can just worship freely, raise our hands, sing to the lord, and some I mean, people might complain or whatever, but we're not gonna get arrested yet. So praise the lord that we can do it, but the whole point is evangelism. So we want you to come. We want you to come, but we also want to bring you to bring a friend who maybe doesn't know the Lord. Coming to the rodeo and hanging out is a much lower hanging fruit than come to my living room where you're on the team if you sit too close.

Can be a first step, but it's called revival at the rodeo. We're just doing it for five consecutive Monday nights at the Jackson Hole Rodeo, 07:00. We did it last week, so we'll do it again tomorrow four more times.

So come to that. Over a 100 people last week.

There's over a 100 people. Brad Yates delivered the message. It was wonderful.

It was great. Every one of those brings a friend? Yeah. That too, honey. First,

we added 10,000 soldiers. Wow. We're just really math mathy here today. Check the fridge on your way out and then the last thing is this and then Brian, I'll have you come pray. This is our little connect card.

You see it so it's familiar maybe to you but it really is like a treasure chest. If there's something one, if you wanna be and put on our list of what's going on, we'll email you from time to time. But the back, if you have something that you want prayer for, please don't hesitate to ever write it. The tribe staff every Monday reads these and takes and we spend time praying over them and just joining our faith with yours for anything big or small. These are a big deal.

But we can also pray live. If you need prayer after service, come see me or Cory. We're on the prayer team today. Oh. And we'd love to pray for you.

Brian, you come pray

us out. Okay. We were gonna show you a funny video about how churches go all out for Mother's Day and then always forget about Father's Day because we woke up this morning, like, it's Father's Day.

We're alright. Stand up. Let me pray for you.

You mighty men of valor.

To all the bakers in the room. Lord Jesus, thank you so much for today. Thank you for one more day here in Jackson Hole. Lord, thank you for the occupations that we currently have. Help us bring into focus the ministry that you're inviting us into that flows from our sense of calling connected to our deep sense of identity.

Help us to keep our tools sharp so that we can live our lives to make your name famous. I command a blessing over each and every person here today. Give us a great week. Jesus, we love you. We pray these things in Jesus' name, the strong son of God.

And everybody said Amen. Amen. I love you so much. Have a great week. And remember, you got this.