Holly Furtick preaches from the Gideon story (Judges 6:11–14), arguing that God calls people according to their potential rather than their past or current circumstances. Using Gideon — threshing wheat in a winepress and doubting God’s presence — she emphasizes that God sees who we can become (not who we are now). She relates this to her own experience planting a church at age 25 with her husband Stephen, and applies the message to listeners unsure or insecure about being called or capable.
Chapters
When it comes time to put your faith into action, we have to remember who is really on our side. That's what I want to talk about today. So let's get down. Verse 11. Then the angel of the Lord came and sat beneath the great tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash of the clan of Ebiezer. Gideon, son of Joash, was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, mighty hero, the Lord is with you. First thing that you must remember is that when God calls you, he calls according to your potential. Now, I don't know much about wheat. I like to eat it or wine presses. But I'm pretty sure that you're not supposed to thresh wheat in a winepress. Gideon was hiding from the enemy. And he was just trying to get enough food, enough wheat to feed his family. He was just trying to get by one more day, just an ordinary day for him in hiding. And an angel comes to him. And some translations say that the angel calls him mighty warrior. There's nothing mighty or warrior about Gideon in this moment. He's hiding, he's starving. Aren't you grateful that God calls us according to the potential he sees in us? Not our past decisions, not our present circumstances? Don't you wish you could actually see yourself the way God sees you? When I think back to starting this church, I remember Stephen and I dreaming and planting, planting, dreaming and planning about one day planting a church. And we would say things like, you know, one day when we're older, maybe when we're 40, maybe when we're wiser, when people would actually want to follow us. But very clearly, God just spoke to us. And He. It was just. We just knew it was time for us to start this church. We were 25 years old. Let me put that into perspective for some of you. We'd only been out of the college dorm room for three years. We were not pastors. We were not church planning experts. We were children. God doesn't see you as unemployed. He sees you as a provider. God doesn't see you as a stressed out mom. He sees you as a nurturer. He doesn't see you as insecure. He sees you as confident in your own personality, in your own skin. You might be hiding, but that's not who you really are. And God is not looking for perfection. Because if he was, he wouldn't have picked us. He wouldn't have picked me, and he wouldn't have picked you. He's looking for potential. He is perfectly okay with the space between who you are right now in this moment and who you're going to become. Because he sees the fighter in you deep inside. He sees a person who will fight for progress. He sees a person who will fight for their family. He sees a person who will fight to keep their integrity and their honesty, even when it gets hard in their job. A person who will fight to do the right thing, even when it feels like everyone else is doing the wrong thing. That's who you are. The thing is, in Gideon's current state, he's so bitter about his situation, I don't even think he heard the mighty warrior part. Look at what the angel says. This is verse 13, sir. Gideon replied, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn't they say, the Lord brought us up out of Egypt, but now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian? Gideon got caught up on the Lord is with you part. He's like, what kind of promised land is this? That's what he wants to know. Isn't the Bible amazing? Because don't tell me that you've never spoken to God like that. Don't tell me you've never prayed. Where are you and why is this happening to me? Have you ever thought? Have you ever prayed? Have you ever thought everyone else is getting a breakthrough but me and my family? Can I be honest with you? I have prayed some prayers to God that I really hope he wasn't listening. I said things like, seriously, God, you're gonna bless them? God, where are you? Have you been? This was supposed to be my dream job. This was supposed to be ministry. And it feels like everything's falling apart. God, where are you? This is not how I thought it would go. And you say you're with me, but I can't feel it right now. And God is so good because he's like that parent that completely ignores his kid's tantrum and he just moves right on with his instruction. What he says to Gideon, the Lord turned to him and said, go in the strength that you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you? God says to Gideon, let's go. Get up. I'm gonna use you. Yes, you. Put it in the chat. Yes, you, but I'm not good enough. Yes, you, but I'm not old enough. Yes, you, but I'm too old. Not too. Yes, you I'M not strong enough. Yes, you, you. Wherever you're watching from, God wants to use.
