Flawed Heroes | Week 1 | Full Service

the Egyptian army was more powerful than they had ever been. They were pharaoh after pharaoh after pharaoh was running what would have been and potentially could have been

a nation that could have taken over the world. They had a massive army, they had tons of resources, they were almost an unstoppable force. But in May, there was this battle called the battle of Pelusium that took place between them

and the Persian army. Now the first time the Egyptians lost was to an army that they never should have lost to because they were way bigger than them. They had a much more advanced army but what the government on the other side they had is they had a general

that was 75 years old. And there's some, know those old dudes, just don't fight fair. This was one of those old dudes that was like, look, we can't fight fair. We've gotta get we gotta poke an eye out. We gotta do whatever it takes because they're bigger than us. They're stronger than us. They'll just wipe us out if we try to fight them like we've always fought battles. And so what this general did is he studied the Egyptian people and the Egyptian culture. And what he realized is that the Egyptians were highly spiritual. They were a highly religious group of people. They believed that almost anything with a heartbeat was somehow connected to a God of some sort.

They borderline

worshiped animals. That's why when you look at all the Egyptian architecture, there's big cats and sphinx involved in all of them. And the Egyptian people are much like my wife where if I let them, she would have a 100 cats in my home, but in the name of Jesus, I will not allow it to happen. Right? Because cats are from the devil.

And so what this general that's right. I know. Some of you, you're welcome. Others, just hang tight. We'll make fun of dogs soon too. So what this Persian general did is he went to battle with the most bizarre tactic ever. What he realizes is that their advantage was going to be to completely confuse

the Egyptian army because he realized that the Egyptians had gotten to a spot that they believed that one of their goddesses, one of the way that she manifested herself was actually in the cat. And so as an Egyptian, true story, if you even injured a cat, it was a crime punishable

by death. And so what this general did that handed the Egyptian army their first defeat, all of this is a true story that you can go and read. What he did is he took his frontline soldiers and he armed them not with swords, not with spears, not with some futuristic AR assault rifle, he armed them with cats.

And he had them run into battle holding cats. There's an artist that did a rendition of what it would have looked like. And this is the picture of the cats running into battle. It's an amazing story. When you look at it, you can kinda zoom in and see this guy right here.

He's holding like a little cat. He's about to lob it as like a cat grenade. And then this guy's got like cat shotgun that he's about to pump and then go shoot the people with it. Like it's just the craziest story in the world, but true story, this is the Egyptian army's first defeat.

Why do I start there? Because this general learned the power

when leveraged that weaknesses can provide. He took a weakness that the Egyptian people had and he leveraged it into an incredible weapon to destroy them with. What we're going to look at today is a story in Judges chapter three of a guy who realizes that maybe the weaknesses that we all have,

maybe they aren't something that we should just hide and try to keep in the darkness and just to pretend like it doesn't exist. Maybe just maybe the weaknesses that we all have, if used correctly, if leveraged for the kingdom of God, those weaknesses

can become the greatest weapon that we have if we will allow God to use them. The big idea that I wanna unpack for the next few moments is friends, in Christ our weakness can become our weapon. This is the challenge though. We live in a culture that says hide your weaknesses. Pretend like they don't exist.

Lead with your strengths and at all costs make sure nobody sees your weaknesses. And maybe, just maybe, the paradox of the kingdom of God is that it's not your strengths that God needs, but it's your weaknesses.

It is the things that people have told you is the reason that you can't be used that are the exact thing that God wants to do and use through you. Let me catch you up if you are not familiar with Judges.

I wanna try to connect the dots from where we left off a couple weeks ago in the book of Genesis in the story of a life of a guy named Joseph and get you to where we are today in Judges chapter three. Mind you, it is hundreds of years of history that plays out over multiple books of the bible. Hopefully, you've been reading your bible in the year with us and you've kind of been seeing the story. But I'll do my best attempt in two minutes or less to connect the dots between Joseph and Judges. Okay? Joseph was the the favorite son of a guy named Jacob. Jacob has 12 sons.

Those 12 sons all end up having large families. Those families make up what are the 12 tribes of Israel. They are now the nation of Israel. They are the people of God, the Israelites. Well, they go through a famine and all 12 families have to go to Egypt to survive because the only food is in Egypt.

But Pharaoh realizes that these people outnumber us. And if they realize it, they could actually just begin to overthrow us. And so Pharaoh makes a business decision to enslave

the Israelites. And the nation of Israel becomes a slave nation for hundreds of years. But eventually God raises up a guy named Moses. And Moses come and he famously leads the nation of Israel out of captivity.

And God tells him to take them from Egypt, to take them to the promised land. There's a place that God created for them that they're supposed to live in, but they were gonna have to follow the voice of God and be obedient. And the nation of Israel is a lot like you and I. They do really good at following God for about ten minutes and then they do their own thing and then they try to follow God again and then they do their own thing. And because of their disobedience,

what should have been a two week journey takes them forty years of wandering the desert. For forty years Moses leads 2,000,000 people in the desert and eventually Moses dies and a man named Joshua comes to lead. And Joshua is the one that takes the nation of Israel across the Jordan River into

Jericho and he takes them into the promised land. It's the famous story where they march around the walls of Jericho and the walls begin to just fall apart and they walk in and they finally arrive

at the promised land. And the nation of Israel makes the gravest mistake that we can make when we think that there's some final destination point, there's some final place that once we get there, then life's gonna be easy. I remember when I thought that getting married was gonna make my life more simple.

I remember when I thought that just having a kid would make our marriage a lot better.

That maybe you think starting a business, that's how you're gonna find financial success and time freedom. And then you start a business and realize that you don't have either. The danger of our humanity is we will convince ourselves that there's some end destination at mind that once we get there, we can stop fighting. The truth is on this side of heaven, friends, it is a perpetual

fight. It is a perpetual state of having to learn to trust God in new ways. The nation of Israel finds themselves in the promised land with a leader in Joshua. And as long as Joshua is alive, they're doing okay.

But the book of Judges starts with Joshua's death and the nation of Israel finds himself for the first time without a leader. For the first time, they don't have a central guy telling them what to do.

But God has told them what to do. He's given them decrees. The book of Deuteronomy tells them exactly how they're supposed to live in the promised land. Exactly what they're supposed to do with all the pagan nations around them, but they choose not to do it. The book of Judges can really be summed up as a nation of Israel choosing to live their own way, to live into their own rebellion

and God giving them over to the consequences of their decisions. And eventually the nation of Israel cries out to God and he's faithful to bring a Redeemer again. If you've never read the book of Judges, I'm telling you it is a dark book.

It's a four hundred period. It's a four hundred year period in the nation of Israel's history without a doubt. It is the darkest period of time for them. If you don't believe the gravity of our humanity when left to our own devices, read the book of Judges. It will prove to you how bad we can get.

The book of Judges is four hundred years of this cycle played out. Where we pick up in Judges chapter three is post the first judge, the first ruler post Joshua, okay? After Joshua, the nation of Israel won't have a leader until a guy named King Saul but it takes four hundred years for him to come.

In the in between, these judges come to rise up and lead the people but they're not what you're thinking. You're thinking like Judge Judy. You're like, alright, I like Judge Judy. I let her lead us like they're not a courtroom judge. These are military leaders. They are people who came from a tribe and took power with authority

and they are now leading the nation of Israel. The first one did a great job and for forty years, the nation of Israel prospered under his leadership. But again, the nation of Israel rebelled and decided to live their own way. That's the context of where we pick up reading today in Judges chapter three verse 12. Here's how the story begins.

It says, once again the Israelites did evil in the Lord's sight. And the Lord gave King Eglon of Moab control over Israel because of their evil. Eglon enlisted the Ammonites, the Amalekites as allies, two groups of people that were enemies of the Israelites.

They were his ally and he went out and defeated Israel and he took possession again of Jericho, the city of Palms. And the Israelites served Eglon of Moab for eighteen years. Jericho was one of the first cities that the nation of Israel takes again. They finally have their land again.

But because of their disobedience, God allows them to be conquered by a king named Eglon. And for eighteen years they are his subject. Subject to a pagan king. And here's how it continues in verse 15. It says, But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help, the Lord again

raised up a rescuer to save them. This is the cycle of humanity that plays out in the book of Judges just in really short periods. Again, the people of God chose to live their own way. But again,

God was faithful to rescue them when they cried out for help. This is the good news of the God that we serve, friends, is it doesn't matter how many times you go back to the thing that you swore you would never go back to. It doesn't matter how many times you do the thing that you promised you would never do again.

The moment you cry out to God, he's faithful to come and save his people. This is the God that we serve. This is the cycle that the nation of Israel gets stuck in, in the book of Judges. But for eighteen years, they have been in slaves to this man named Eglon and he is a barbaric terrible king to the people of Israel.

And this is what's going to set the groundwork for the flawed hero that we're about to be introduced to. It is after the people of God cry out that he's going to do, God's going to do what he always does when we cry out. He's going to bring help and a rescuer. The flawed hero that we see today

is found in the very next verse. His name was Ehud. Everybody say Ehud. Ehud. The goofiest name in the Bible that definitely got made fun of in junior high. But Ehud, he was the son of Garab.

Notice this, he was a left handed man and he came from the tribe of Benjamin. What you have to know is that the Bible doesn't ever just waste a word. The descriptions that are in there are there for a reason. It's why you've gotta read the Bible slowly and to see what God is trying to get you to see.

Because he talks about this guy named Ehud. And besides having the worst name ever, it tells us a couple of descriptors about him. He's left

handed. Now just as a quick show, this is our largest most attended service. How many people in this room are left handed? Raise your left hand up proudly if you are left handed. Come on somebody, look at all the left handers at the 09:00 service. Let's go.

So here's what I found this week. Only about ten percent of our population is left handed. And for those of us who are right handed, you don't realize that we live in a world that's created by and created for right handed people. Do you know that left handed people have to have different scissors than we use? Because they're designed for your right hand.

You know, can openers. Can openers are designed to be used with your right hand.

Coffee cups. Look at the coffee cup you use. The logo is so that a right handed person sips your coffee. You go, man, look at this pretty logo. You know what a left handed person gets? Nothing. They get the blank empty side of the cup. Why? Because we live in a right handed world created by right handed people. Remember the desks in junior high, the little L shape you put your elbow on, it was great as long as you were right handed.

If you want a gun that is customized to being left handed, you want golf clubs that are left handed, They cost you more money. Why? Because you're a weirdo. No, I'm just kidding because you're different. You're the outlier. And here's why this detail matters for EHud. Because when you dive into the original language,

again, the Bible wasn't written in English. When you dive into the original language, what it's actually talking about is that Ehud was a man whose right hand was deformed. It doesn't tell us what, but he had some type of physical ailments where he couldn't use his right hand. So not only was he left handed,

a part of a smaller group of people,

but he had a physical deformity in a culture that believed that if God would curse you, he would curse you in a way that you would be physically disabled. So his entire life he was told, man, that's the guy that God can't use because he's deformed, he has something wrong with him, he has a disability and he's left handed.

And then it goes even further. He comes from the tribe of Benjamin. And I know for us that doesn't really mean much. Benjamin was Jacob's youngest son. The Benjamites were the warriors

of God. They were what the Bible refers to as the tip of the spear. They went first. They were the ones that went on the attack when the nation of Israel went to battle. The tribe of Benjamin translated to English from the original Hebrew, it literally means the people of God's right hand.

You have a bunch of people who pride themselves on we are the right handed people of God. Because from the right hand comes strength, from the right hand comes blessing. And you have a people group who identify as the right hand of God. And then you've got my man, Ehud, who's left handed,

who can't use his right hand and a group of people who pride themselves on being the warriors who use their right hand. The Bible is going to extensive length to paint a picture of a guy that is often overlooked. Because of the way that he was, because of the decisions that he had made, he was overlooked

and thought of as somebody that was less than. It's very similar to how our culture operates today.

What I believe is there's a bunch of people sitting in this room and you believe that because of the divorce that you went through or because of the child that you had outside of wedlock or because of the business that you built and you thought it was gonna be successful and it just completely failed and everybody around you saw the collapse or because of the mistakes that you made or because of the issues that you have that maybe just maybe God can't use you.

What I wanna show you today is a story of a guy who by all accounts on paper should have been discounted and overlooked. Yet when the people needed a rescuer and a redeemer,

God doesn't bring the able-bodied right handed man, he brings the overlooked left hander named Ehud to rescue the people of God. It shows us that if we can learn to lean into it, our weaknesses for the kingdom of God can become a weapon that will absolutely deal a blow to the enemy. Here's how the story continues.

It says that the Israelites sent Ehud to deliver their tribute money to King Eglon of Moab. So Ehud made a double edged dagger that was about a foot long and he strapped it to his right thigh keeping it hidden under his clothing.

He brought the tribute money to Eglon who was, don't get mad at me, just what the bible says, Eglon was very fat.

Okay? Again, side note, how fat do you have to be for the bible to explicitly mention it? You know what I mean? Like you might think you're a big dude, but if the bible's like, yo, make sure you record that. Like, he was fat, fat. Like, that's next level big. Alright? We actually found a picture of King Eglon I wanna show you. This is

that's actually not King Eglon. That's that's Jabba the Hutt. And then that's the king from Game of Thrones, but I know you guys are Christians and you don't know what the Game of Thrones is, so I'll explain it after surface. But King Eglon is a large man.

He's a really large man and Ehud is tasked with being the guy every year that has to take the tribute to King Eglon. The tribute is essentially their annual taxes. And this sermon couldn't be better time because we are in the middle of the worst time of the year. Tax season, right? I'm about to next week have to write a check to the government to pay my taxes. And I don't about you, but it's the most painful check I write all year. I'm like, man, you might as well just burn this. It's going nowhere. It's gonna be completely wasted. The only thing that would make it worse is if the IRS made me actually go to the bank and pull out cash and then put it in a bucket and walk it for three days to the IRS building and slowly, painfully get there and then deliver it to them. This is what the nation of Israel has to do every year. To the pagan king that's oppressing them, that's pillaging them, that's stealing from them, they have to then gather it, carry it to his throne,

show up and say, sir, here is the tax money that we owe you. Think about this for a second. King Eglon can only afford an army to oppress the nation of Israel with their money. They are quite literally funding their oppressor. They are feeding the thing that is actively fighting them.

They are every year going, you know what? I wish this wasn't a part of our story, but it is what it is. These are the decisions that we've made. This is where we are. And unfortunately,

it is what it is. And every year Ehud goes through this process where he gathers the money, he gets the stuff, he makes the journey and he gives the king his money. And I'm sure he's frustrated, I'm sure he's disappointed,

but at year 18, the bible doesn't say why, it doesn't say the process that he goes through, but at year eighteen, something changes for Ehud. And at year eighteen, he says enough is enough.

And he makes a decision that I'm hoping some of you this morning will make as well. He decides that he's sick and tired of being sick and tired. He's done having this be his everyday life. Sometimes

where we start to break the cycles that we get stuck in is it starts with a decision that simply says, I'm done feeding the thing that's fighting me. If you're taking notes, want you to write this down. We need to get to a spot where you and I stop feeding the thing that's fighting us.

Some of us in this room, we have something that we are just continuing to feed and we know we shouldn't, we know it's something that potentially can get out of control, but right now it seems really innocent. It seems like it's not that big of a deal. And so we just keep feeding the scene. We just keep feeding the scene. And what we don't realize is that we are feeding the thing that eventually might actually be the thing that destroys us. Don't I if you guys remember when COVID hit and the phenomenon of Tiger King took over the world. Remember that in the collective IQ of our population dropped by about 20 points after we watched that show?

The thing that stood out to me in that show is remember when they went to all the tiger rescues and they asked the people like, how do we have so many wild tigers living in America? Like how did this even happen?

They said, well, wealthy people go around and they see these baby tigers and like, man, that thing's so cute. Like I want a baby tiger. And so they buy a baby tiger and they bring this little cute cuddly thing into their home and they show their friends. They're like, man, look at this thing, it's awesome and they're feeding it and it's fun and it's great and it's cute and they play with it. But what happens?

You feed that thing day after day, month after month, year after year and eventually the cute little cuddly tiger that once was just a little baby, he wants to eat your face off.

And then eventually they go, oh, we should probably get this thing out of our home. See, I think the danger is that you and I in this room are feeding something that right now maybe it isn't that big of a deal.

But if you keep feeding it, eventually it will grow and eventually it will have the power to destroy you. Somebody in this room today needs to make the decision, you're done. I'm done feeding the thing that's fighting me and instead I'm gonna fight it.

Ehud at year 18, it doesn't say what happens but he goes through a process where he says enough is enough. And it doesn't say exactly what he does but in his garage somehow he gets some janky blacksmith machine and he just starts forging himself a little sword.

And he just starts putting together a little sword, this little 12 inches sword that would have been really easy to miss, really easy to be like, what are you gonna do with that thing? But Ehud forms himself a weapon and he goes, you know what? This year I'm coming home a hero.

All the ladies and be like, yo, that's Ehud. Ehud killed the king. Like I'm about to marry me Ehud. And so he sits in his garage and he's like, I'm making me a sword. And notice what the Bible says about this sword. Again, it's really interesting the details that the Bible puts in and the things that it leaves out.

It says that he fashions himself a double edged sword. Why does this matter to you and I? Because I'm telling you, if you'll see it, it gives us the

keys to breakthrough. It begins to show us what is the weapon that we need to fight to break the cycles in our life? How do we begin to go to war with the things that are fighting us? Well, we have to realize that we have a weapon Christians. We have a double edged sword that we've been given too. Do you know what your double edged sword is?

The Bible says it's the word of God. The thing that you're supposed to fashion, the thing that you're supposed to begin to put together to go to battle with, it is the word of God. It's the thing that we all so easily overlook.

That we've relegated to just a religious box that we check. We forget that sitting with God in the morning and reading our Bible, it's us putting together the weapon that we're gonna go to war with. It's us forging the weapon that we're gonna fight with. Look what Hebrews chapter four says about this Bible.

It says that in Hebrews four, Hebrews four, it says, For the word of God, it's alive and it's powerful. It's sharper than the sharpest two edged sword. It cuts between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.

In the book of Ephesians, it says as we put on the spiritual armor of God, the only offensive weapon that we have is the word of God. Christians, why don't you spend time forming and fashioning the weapon that you have to wage the war out there and to fight the war that's in here?

You know how you begin to get victory over the sin in your life? You spend time with God.

You spend time in the word. You allow God to speak to you and remind you of who you are. And I know it's really easy to dismiss and to go, I just don't have time to do that. But you've got to remember this is us going to battle. This is us forging the weapon that we have to begin to parse our hearts and pull out the parts of us that God wants to get rid of and to expose the things that we've settled into and allow the Christians to become the powerful force for good that we're supposed to be.

But if you allow the enemy to convince you that it's just you checking the box that someday God's gonna get you to heaven and go, okay, spent four thousand days reading your Bible and three thousand days not doing it. Awesome, you get to heaven. If you think that's all it is, you will forever underestimate the power of what you have.

You will walk through life unequipped for the fight. We have to make a decision to start fighting the things that are fighting us, stop feeding them and to begin to go, I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. If you want something to change, you have to make a decision to change it. Ehud goes enough is enough.

I'm fighting this king and he puts together a weapon. He forms the weapon. He shows up to the king and here's how the story continues.

It says in verse 18, after delivering the payment, Ehud started You would think he said started doing push ups or like started his war chant to kill the king, but Ehud doesn't do that. Ehud just starts going home. And he heads home with those who had helped carry the tribute.

But then when Ehud reached the stone idols near Gilgal, he turns back. The reason that I love the story of Ehud is I can relate to a guy that has a moment of great faith. And he's like, yo, I'm gonna press all the ladies. I'm gonna kill the king. I'm gonna make a sword. I'm gonna do this thing. I'm gonna fight. I'm gonna go to battle. And then he gets there. And the moment is there. It's happening. He's alright. This is your time to step in. And he's like, man, what was I thinking?

I'm left handed. That king is really big. There's people all around. Like, no, I'm not doing this. I'm gonna go home. And here's the reality of why so many of us stay stuck in cycles for so many years because the truth is it's just easier to run from your problems than it is to face them.

It's easier to just go home and allow your current reality to just be your forever reality. I'm telling you right now,

God doesn't want you to just accept what you've accepted as the reality of the best for your life. God has a life for you that is beyond your wildest dreams, but sometimes it comes with you having to face the things that you're so scared to face,

with you having to deal with the things that you haven't dealt with for years and years and years. But if you don't make a decision to fight it, nothing's going to change. And Ehud has a moment of great inspiration and he puts the sword together but given his moment, he just goes home And he just turns around and for

seven hours, I looked it up on Google maps today. It was actually this week, it wasn't today. Don't know why I said that. From Jericho to Gilgal is a 20 mile walk. So for 20 miles, this man is walking with his head hung low, convincing himself that everything that had been spoken over him was true.

He was just a left handed guy. He was somebody defined by his past. He was somebody that other people should have overlooked.

That God would use somebody else. And here's my fear of where the church and our culture and our world is today is we have a bunch of people convinced that the fight out there is somebody else's fight and that somebody else will do it. Somebody else will stand up for truth.

Somebody else will do it. Somebody else will have the hard conversations. Somebody else will do it. And I'm telling you, if you don't do it, nobody will.

And if we keep wondering why our culture keeps moving further and further and further away from God, it's because the church has become convinced that it's somebody else's fight, it's yours, it's mine. And you have a weapon, you are not alone.

And if you'll see it today, I'm telling you some of the power of how we do this is in this story because Ehud for seven to eight hours walks convinced that he can't do it, that he can't fight and then he gets to Gilgal. And something happens at Gilgal.

Something happens at this place in this city at this time that gets him to turn around. And he goes from being a coward to remembering who he is and deciding to turn back and go back to the same king that he just ran from. So the question that has to get answered is what happened at Gilgal?

What could possibly take a man that's running from the destiny on his life, running from the calling that's on his life to have a moment where everything changes?

Well, again, if you know the nation of Israel's story, when Joshua was leading the people into the promised land, they stood between the promised land and then was a body of water called the Jordan River. And they knew that it was impossible to get through. And they all stood there and they said, man, God brought us here and now we're just gonna die.

You said this was where we were gonna go but look at this thing that's this obstacle in front of us. And Joshua said, but don't forget who God is. Remember when you were at the Red Sea?

You were at the Red Sea and it was impossible. And what did God do? He parted the water so that we could walk through. And so they praised that God would you do it again? And shockingly God does it again.

And the Jordan River parts and the nation of Israel walks through dry ground. And in Joshua chapter four, we see exactly what he saw, what Ehud saw at Gilgal. Look at this in Joshua chapter four, says here's what happened. In verse 20 it says, it was there at Gilgal

that Joshua piled up the 12 stones taken from the Jordan River. And then Joshua said to the Israelites, in the future, your children will ask, what do these stones mean? And you can tell them this is where the Israelites crossed the Jordan on dry ground. For the Lord your God dried up the river right before your eyes

and he kept it dry until you were all across just as he did at the Red Sea when he dried it up until we had all crossed over. He did this so that the nations of the earth might know that the Lord's hand is powerful so that you might fear the Lord your God forever. What happened at Gilgal?

A pile of rocks happened at Gilgal. A pile of stones that symbolized the faithfulness of God in the past that maybe just maybe would teach and show the people if he did it then maybe he'll do it again today. Friends, what you and I have to do a really good job at is remembering the faithfulness of God in our past

because we are people with really short memories. We all suffer from spiritual amnesia.

And it's really easy today sitting here to go, I just think God is overlooking me. I don't hear his voice. I look at everything, I've been asking God to move, I've been asking him to change my husband or my wife or to bring my kids back to me or to change the business or to get rid of this thing in my life and it just seems like God isn't listening.

And sometimes I'm telling you friends, the faith that we need to fight today's fights and tomorrow's fights, where that faith will be found if you will look for it, it is in the faithfulness of all yesterday's

battles. If you're taking notes, write it down this way. The faith that we need for today, I promise you, it is found in yesterday's faithfulness. If you look back over your life,

if you look hard enough, I know that you can do exactly what I can do. You can trace the hand of God and you can look at exactly what he did in certain moments that got you to where you are. Even if you're in this room and Christian or not, there are a lot of coincidences that have happened in your life to orchestrate a perfect plan to get you to where you are today.

And here's the danger of God's plan and seeing God's plan and trusting him by faith. In the present and in the future it is almost impossible to see. But in the past, if you look for it, I promise you it is so abundantly clear. As I look back over my life and I see exactly what God did.

And I look at the miracles that have happened in my life. If I will build a pillar and build a statue and build a monument to those things and remember, God, if you did it then I'm standing today even though I can't see it. I believe you're gonna do it again.

Maybe, just maybe, we can find the faith to fight today's battles with yesterday's faithfulness.

Because you know what the greatest indicator of future performance is? This is an incredible dating principle for all of you dating some guy that you think has changed. The way that you know and can predict his future performance, look at his past performance. And until there's been a season of faithfulness,

I wouldn't trust the words that things are gonna change in the future. But here's the reason why we can trust God. Because he's the same

yesterday that he is today and that he will be tomorrow. And that his past faithfulness, I'm telling you if you'll see it, it can give you the courage to fight what you're fighting today.

Ehud, seven hours into going, I'm a coward, I can't do this. He remembers, oh wait, this is what God does. God used Moses who was a murderer, who was a coward, who was a stutter who couldn't speak real good. God used him to deliver the nation of Israel. And then after Moses, he used the guy that everybody overlooked, Joshua.

He used Joshua to bring him into the promised land. And I think he has the moment that I'm praying some of you have today. And he goes, maybe just maybe if God made me this way, that God did it on purpose. That maybe just maybe my past is something that God has had me walk through so that it can be leveraged today.

And maybe just maybe my destiny is disguised in my difference. And instead of trying to just fit in and be conformed to what everybody else looks like and what everybody else tells me I need to do, maybe just maybe I can lean into my difference. I can lean into my weakness.

And he has a moment that goes, maybe God built me for this moment. And he gets a little bit of swagger back in his step. And he turns around and he goes back to the king. And look at this where the story gets really good. He says, he came to Eglon and he said, hey, homie. It doesn't say it in the in the bible, but I'm sure it's in there somewhere. He's like, yo, homie, listen. I got a secret message for you. So the king commanded his servants, everybody be quiet.

And he sent them all out of the room. And Ehud walked over to Eglon who was sitting alone in a cool upstairs room. And Ehud said, I've got a message from God for you, sucker. And as king Eglon rose from his seat, I like to read the emphasis into it. But verse 21,

Ehud reached with his left hand. The hand that he'd always been told was the thing that disqualified him is with that hand. He pulled out the dagger strapped to his right thigh and he plunged it into the king's belly. This is where the story gets really good. The dagger went so deep in that the handle disappeared beneath the king's fat.

And then Ehud couldn't pull out the dagger and the king's bowels empty. Translation, he poops his pants. Okay. This is an amazing story in the Bible. And it gets weirder. Verse 23, then Ehud closed and locked the doors of the room and escaped down the toilet.

And I know you're sitting here like, I don't read the bible because the bible is boring. The bible is not boring. You're boring. Okay? Read the bible. This is the craziest story ever. A left handed deformed guy kills a fat king and escapes to the toilet system. And if you read it, the reason that his soldiers wait outside is because they're like, no, this is just what he does. He plays games on his iPhone when he goes to the bathroom. It usually takes about an hour. Like, just give him time, he'll come back. That's why they don't rush in.

And Ehud gets out through the toilet system, brings the rest of the army back, they overthrow the king like such a bizarre story, but it leads the nation of Israel to the longest period of prosperity that they have in the entire book of Judges. Over eighty years of prosperity follow this one moment of faithfulness.

And if you'll see it, I'm telling you there's power in this story. Ehud realized the first time he went to the castle, the first time when he came to bring the tribute, he said, I noticed when they patted me down to check for weapons, all they did is they checked my left thigh.

Why? Because we live in a right handed world created by right handed people. And so they know that everybody would put their weapon on their left thigh so that they could pull it with their right hand. But Ehud goes, maybe God made me left handed because if I put it on my right thigh, the soldiers won't even check it. They won't even look. And so he's able to get into the courtroom with the king with a weapon on his thigh. And he goes, hey, homie, I got a message for you. Pulls it out with his left hand.

The hand that he'd always been told was the reason that God couldn't use him. And it's with that hand that he leans in, kills the king and leads the nation of Israel into the greatest and longest season of prosperity that we see anywhere in the entire book of Judges. Man, it's an incredible story.

Here's the lesson if you'll see it. If you will allow your weakness, the thing that you've always been told is the reason that God can't use you.

If you will allow God to take it and stop hiding it, stop running from it, stop pretending like it wasn't a part of your story and you will begin to leverage it. I'm telling you what God will do is he will take your seemingly weakness

and he will turn it into a weapon that you can use to fight the dark forces of this world.

The power of Christ leveraged in all of us. It is the thing that will turn our weakness into our weapon. But you will have to do the hard work of getting the shame and condemnation and guilt off of you. For a long time, because I was a 20 year old dude that got my 18 year old girlfriend pregnant,

I had pastors tell me that I couldn't be around their kids. I was told by people that we couldn't be around the church because of what we had done. And for a number of years, I let that be my story.

I shied back from stepping into opportunities that I had to share the gospel because I had become the guy that just believed my mistake. That was who I was.

When the truth was is I actually have done a lot worse stuff than that, that they just didn't know about. Know, I'm like, hey, that's only what you know about. I've done lots of worse stuff than that. But that became my identity until I began to realize, oh, God wants to use this.

Maybe just maybe what God does is he takes our moments of weakness, our moments of failure, our moments of disappointment. And through the resurrection power, he begins to restore them into the greatest ministries that we'll ever see. I promise you, if you will let God do it, your moments of failure, your moments of misery

can create the greatest ministries ever if you'll let God do it. You know the guy that wrote the majority of the New Testament?

The guy that wrote the majority of the New Testament was a guy named Paul. Paul has this thing in him that's called a thorn in his flesh, a thorn in his side. And he begs God throughout the New Testament to remove it, to get rid of this thing. And we don't even know what it is. There's theologians that have argued that maybe what it was, was it was his past because he was a murderer. He used to murder Christians.

Maybe it was the past that was so daunting to him that he just couldn't get over it. That was the thing that plagued him. Some people have said that it was a physical deformity.

It was something physically wrong with him. And that's what the thorn in his flesh that he was asking God to remove. I've heard other people say that it was some type of perpetual sin issue that he was dealing with. Some people have gone so far to say, maybe because he wasn't married and he was single that he actually struggled with same sex attraction.

And what he was asking God to do was, God, would you remove this thing from me? I just want it gone. I wanna stand and tell people how awesome I am and have them all be impressed with how strong I am. And God, all you want me to do is share my weaknesses? No. I want my strengths to be what I lead with.

I wanna be independent, yet we serve a God that what he needs from us most is utter dependence and reliance on him. And Paul eventually towards the end of his life, he begins to realize, every time I ask God to remove this, this is what he tells me. In second Corinthians chapter 12,

Paul says that every time I ask God to remove it, all he says to me is my grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness. So now I am glad to boast all about my weakness, my left handedness, my weirdness so that the power of Christ can work through me.

This is the tension of why I can't just tie a pretty little bow on this thing and give you three steps into how to do this. Because the tension that we're caught in on this side of heaven is waging war with the sins in our life.

To fighting the things that we're dealing with. We can't just settle and be like, okay, this is my story and I'm just gonna lean into it. But while you're there,

while you're fighting, while you're restoring your marriage and calling for your wayward children to come home, while you're in process, do not rob God and do not rob yourself of the blessing that your weakness can be to other people.

You could be the reason that people begin to experience freedom and breakthrough because somebody else has gone through this. Somebody else has made a mistake and they see, I don't have faith for today, but maybe I can borrow yours. Maybe if he did it for you, then he can do it for me.

And this is the paradox of the kingdom of God. Is God says what I need from you is weakness, transparency, vulnerability, authenticity. But we as the church, it's the last thing that we wanna do. It's just not our default as humans. Yet friends, my conclusion,

my final piece of evidence that I would submit to you proving my case is just look at the cross. To the world, the cross was the symbol of utter humiliation,

of defeat. It was the ultimate moment of weakness and frailty and humanity. And everything Jesus claimed, everything that he said was proven to be false because he hung on a cross and he died like every other human. And they said, if you think you can do this, call down legions of angels.

And though he could, Jesus did not count righteousness and equality with God as something to be longed for. But he instead submitted himself and he died a brutal death and he hung on a cross and the world saw weakness. But the weak moment is not the end of the story. That is not the end of your Road.

If you woke up today and you have breath in your lungs, God is not done with you.

Greatest weapon to fight the enemy. By conquering death and living again, Jesus offered all of humanity a way back to God. And he took what was supposed to be the greatest symbol of weakness and he turned it into the greatest weapon we have. Why are you so afraid of yours?

Why do you feel like you have to hide your weaknesses so greatly? God knows them. The truth is most of the people close to you know them too. But what can begin to change, what can begin to make an impact is if you just acknowledge them and begin to lean into them and allow God to turn that weakness into a powerful,

powerful weapon for the kingdom of God. So father, ask right now

with every person here, God, I know that there's all types of things that we struggle with. There's things that have happened to us. There's things that we have just picked up over the years of walking through this life and having stuff take place and baggage that we've carried and things that we've been dealing with.

And God, it's so easy to just hide them and pretend like they're not there. And Lord in doing that, we rob you of the opportunity of using it as a tool for the kingdom of God. And so Lord right now, I pray that there would be people in this room right now that feel like I'm speaking specifically to them.

And as the bible says, when there's nobody else to go, that Lord, would you send me. God, I give you all that I am. I give you my broken places. I give you the areas that I wanna hide. And I say, Lord, you can have it all. I give you every part of who I am.

And I ask for you to use it to build your kingdom here on earth. All of this is passing away. But there will be a day where we stand face to face with you. And God, our only goal, our only hope is for you to look at us and say, well done, my good and faithful

servant. God, would you give us the courage to live that way today?

It is in the mighty name of Jesus that all God's people said. Amen and amen. Thanks for joining us online this weekend. Let us know if we can help you in any way. Make sure to follow us on social media and connect with us on the We Are Rock Point app for prayer and everything happening here at Rock Point.