Problems Associated With Revival — Keith Malcomson

I want you to turn with me again to Judges chapter 8 this morning. Judges chapter 8, we're continuing, maybe concluding this morning. Because if I don't conclude, I'll do one more message. But I hope if God enables me, if I was more gifted, I'd be able to do all that I desire to do, but I'm not, so sometimes I try, I attempt, but I do know what God wants to say to us here this morning.

The Dangers Associated With Revival

Part 4 of our series, A Vessel of Revival. And part 4, this is what I called it, Problems Associated with Revivals. Reading from Judges chapter 8, and I only want to read a few verses, but we're going to deal with this entire chapter.

It's a hard chapter, a complicated chapter, an unusual chapter, so give me some grace, okay? But I'm going to show you something very vital from this. If you want a salvation message, come Wednesday night, I'm going to preach on the blood, on forgiveness, on redemption, on how you have your life changed.

But please bear with me, I'm dealing with a vessel that God is preparing, He has chosen, He is going to use in revival. But here this morning, I want to deal with problems associated with revivals. You may think, surely there can't be any problems in a mighty nation changing, our city nation changing, outpouring.

Surely there's no problems, it's all good. I want to tell you there's real problems in the midst of a real revival. Judges chapter 8, verse 1,. And the men of Ephraim said unto him, that is Gideon, why hast thou served us thus, that thou callest us not, when thou wentest to fight with the Midianites?

And they did chide him sharply. And he said unto them, what have I done now in comparison of you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Ebeazer? God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeab.

And what was I able to do in comparison of you? Then their anger was abated towards him when he said that. And Gideon came to Jordan and passed over he and 300 men that were with him, faint, yet pursuing them.

Let's pray together. Father, we, Lord God, we're not playing games with your word or idolizing revival or playing games with it. We are aware that we are in a unique prophetic hour in this generation that is unparalleled.

As we study the Bible, we see that everything is changing politically and socially, that it's changing morally and militarily, that it's changing medically. And Lord God, we believe that there is unbelievable spiritual powers being released on our world.

And Lord God, we know that the church is the apple of your eye. She is the bride of Christ. She is the redeemed one that you shed your precious blood for. And Lord God, we know that right in the midst of these massive world changes that we are watching, even as we see Russia and Turkey and Iran meeting together, as we see the Western powers uniting and arming, we are very aware that you have a plan, Lord God, to revive your church and to reach one last harvest of souls.

You're a merciful God and a gracious God. You're a sovereign God. You're a mighty God. And Lord God, though it seems, oh God, there is a dearth and a famine and an apostasy in the church. We are asking for a genuine heaven sent revival.

We're praying for an earthquake, Lord God, of a revival. We're asking for the former and the latter reign in the last month, as you prophesied. We're asking, oh God, for floods on the dry ground. Lord God, we're asking for the word of the Lord.

We're asking, oh God, that one last time that you'd enable your body, oh God, you'd empower us, oh God, that we might glorify your name, not touching the glory, oh God. Lord God, that you'd use and choose the despised, oh God, the base things of this world to confound that which is.

And we love you. We exalt you. We magnify you in this dark hour. In Jesus' mighty name, amen. Amen. My message, we've dealt with three messages already in this. And I wanna come to this now. Having dealt with Gideon, how God prepared Gideon.

And we looked at Gideon as a type of a church or a vessel or a people that are being prepared for revival. Then we looked at how God chose out 300 soldiers to be a part of that vessel. And believe me, I want God to choose.

We don't want volunteers. There are many volunteers, but God chooses a people out of that. But here this morning, I wanna deal with problems associated with revival. Most preachers and teachers deal with revival.

Most Christians think about revival. We are glad if we can have a revival. We don't wanna know about the problems or the issues or the crises of revival. When we are just trying to get one family member saved, we are glad at the thought, send revival.

I'm not even gonna think about the problems. But here this morning, I don't wanna just deal with preparing for revival. I wanna deal with the problems that come when revival comes. In this generation, we have almost 8 billion people in our world.

Never has the world's population been so large. Never in one generation has there been so many potentially gonna go to hell in a short time or be saved and go to heaven in a short time. Never in any other generation in world history is the consequence of a genuine revival so great or the absence of spiritual revival so great.

There's an old preacher, an unusual man called Richard Owen Roberts who studied and wrote a lot on revival. And this is a chapter in his book called Revival. This is what he wrote as one of the chapters.

What are the dangers of revival? And in that one chapter, I'm not gonna cover them. In that one chapter, he listed 16 dangers. There's a man who understood revival, 16 dangers of revival. He mentioned some things like the danger of giving glory to the human instrument instead of God or trying to reproduce another or second or further revival by human strength or focusing on the unusual manifestations of revival or neglecting solid preaching and teaching in the midst of revival or neglecting prayer because in revival, there is so much busy activity or exultant novices who are new Christians in the ministry when they shouldn't be there or criticism, pride, jealousy, a lack of discernment.

And so he goes through these 16 dangers that are there present in revival. Well, I'm not gonna deal with them. You can look that up for yourself, but I've got five things here in Judges chapter eight.

Remember chapter six and chapter seven, we have dealt with this preparation, choosing for revival, then the actual revival. But in Judges chapter eight, we have something very strange. It's still Gideon.

We're not looking at Gideon as a man or just as history. We're looking at Gideon as a type of a vessel or a preacher or a church or a movement that's gonna see revival in the earth again. And I believe I've got five points here.

I'm not sure if I'll manage 0 .5, but I'll certainly give you four of them if I can. And for each one of them, I've got a T to help you remember it. I believe we've got five T's in Judges chapter eight.

And they are warnings of dangers of a vessel that's being used to change a nation, being used remarkably, a small vessel that was prepared and chosen, and yet five dangers in the midst of revival. You may say, Brother Keith, why?

Why when we're not seeing revival in Limerick, are you talking about the dangers that come in the midst of revival? I just wanna see it happen. I don't wanna think about the dangers. You know what? If you don't learn the dangers now, it's too late when revival comes.

Do you hear me? Do you realize most of what I preach to you, I learned at 17 or at 21 years old, and I'm just a little bit older than that now. But I wanna tell you all the truths that are vital, that are in my life, ready for what God's gonna do in this hour.

It was years of God spoken to me. When I was a boy at 13, a preacher faithfully preached and spoke truths that have molded and impacted my life. So there's an important, don't think what I'm gonna preach this morning could save a revival in the future from disaster because someone is sitting here or someone will watch on that camera on YouTube later, and that person may be in some other country.

It's gonna be a vessel of revival, and they've got to hear what I'm gonna say now, or it's gonna be disaster in the future. And so I've got five points here. Number one, and this is in revival, the problems that you get.

Troublesome Friends Who Seek Recognition

Number one, troublesome friends. Look at verse one with me in this chapter. And the men of Ephraim said unto him, why hast thou served us thus, that thou callest us not? When thou wentest to fight with the Midianites, and they did chide with him sharply.

Now I want you to see that Gideon called on four of the tribes, but he didn't call the Ephraimites. He called four of the tribes to go out to fight against the Midianites. He called them together. It was only after the victory, after he smote the Midianites, after he scattered the enemy, after many had been already killed, that he then called upon Ephraim to stop them escaping and called them to come and help them.

In fact, it was just in the previous chapter in chapter seven, verse 24, and Gideon sent messengers throughout all Mount Ephraim saying, come down against the Midianites and take before them the waters unto Bethara and Jordan.

And so he called them down and he said, guys, the enemy is escaping. The princes are escaping. Go down to Jordan and you block the escape routes and you stop them there. He called upon the Ephraimites after the major battle and the Ephraimites went to Jordan and captured two of the princes of the entire Midianites.

It was a remarkable work. He called upon them when the enemy would have escaped and theirs was the task of mopping up after the initial warfare or fight. Now who are Ephraim? Ephraim amongst the 12 tribes were like elder, mature brothers with a history.

They were one of the largest tribes and most important. In fact, within their region, their ground, their land, their inheritance, they had the tabernacle at Shiloh and again at Bethel. They had a remarkable history of being very prominent in Israel.

And here God uses Gideon and a band of 300 and the Midianites, one of the greatest, largest tribes, they start saying, why didn't you involve us? Why didn't, I'm talking about right in the midst of revival.

Why didn't you let us be a part of this at the beginning? So in the midst of revival, right in the midst of revival, after a great victory and many souls are impacted, the Midianites actually begin to rise up and go, hold on a second.

So we came and helped you now, but you know what? Why did you not call us at the beginning? Now these Ephraimites did have a problem. Back in the book of Joshua in chapter 17, they came to Joshua who was a part of their tribe.

He was one of the Ephraimites. And do you know what they said? They said, the ground that you've given us isn't enough. We need more ground. Now Joshua was one of them. He knew how to speak to them. He says, brilliant, you need more land.

You want me to give you a bigger inheritance. You want to enlarge your border, brilliant. Well, look down into that valley. It's filled with enemies, Philistines, iron chariots. Go beat them and you can have more land.

There's no problem. That's how you have to deal with troublesome friends. You need an awful lot of wisdom to know how to deal with the Ephraimites. The Ephraimites represent people, churches, movements who won't be God's vessel to bring revival, but they're going to be caught up in the revival.

Do you realize when the next revival comes, it won't be the denominations that bring it, but they'll come marching saying, we'll help, we'll preach, we'll evangelize. And there can be a lot of problems in that hour when they despise the 300 and Gideon and who God has prepared.

We actually read in Psalm 78 reference Ephraim being armed and carrying bows. They turned back in the day of battle. Ephraim may be bigger. They may have a history. They've got a reputation. They've got more land, but I assure you it doesn't mean they can fight the enemy in the midst of revival in the way that God wants.

God wants a Gideon's army, not just numbers. When we come to the book of Judges, we see with Ephraim in Judges 3, they helped Ehud to deliver the nation. When you come to Judges 5, they helped Barak. And then in chapter 12, we see them dealing with Jethu as well.

And so we have Ephraim represent a part of the body of Christ, a part of God's people, but they are not the vessel that was prepared or chosen to bring this. They're actually the late comers, genuine believers, real men and women of God.

But there is a problem here. Look at their attitude. They said, Gideon, why did you not call us? And I'm sure you don't know any Christians and I've never met any Christians like this. You see, Ephraim felt snubbed.

They felt bypassed. This is like those Christians who think they're important, they're mature, they have experience. They are the ones with the word of God. They should be chosen to preach. There was a preacher and evangelist came in and sat here for three months and he got so angry.

I left to go on holiday for two weeks and I left a Christian three years saved to preach in the pulpit. That 30 year old, that 30 year in ministry evangelist got so angry, he could have tore the church apart.

You expect me to listen to, it was actually brother Soph, this young Christian only saved three years and you think I'm gonna sit here and listen? That was the height of offense for that man. He wasn't here when I got back, I can tell you, but he certainly wrote an awful lot of emails to me.

You see, he was bypassed. He was not acknowledged. I'm talking about Ephraim here. They missed out on the initial glory and praise and also getting all the rewards of battle. There's an issue of pride here and maybe jealousy here and certainly touchiness.

Gideon, I mean, you're talking about one of the biggest tribes. You're talking about masses of men and here's Gideon and 300 who won one of the greatest victories in history. They've just defeated the enemy.

Now they're saying, will you help us? Will you come and defeat the enemies? Will you be there at the Jordan River? And they're very touchy. You've gotta be very careful at that point, what you do, because these are brothers.

But do you know what the problem is? It's a sanctification issue. I don't doubt their salvation. I don't doubt their sincerity. I don't doubt the gospel they preach. But do you know what? It's an issue of their heart.

Notice that they don't talk, they don't give any thanks for what Gideon has done. They don't praise him or acknowledge that God delivered the enemy into his hands. They don't do that. You know what they're saying?

What about me? What about me? You know, if you ever meet a Christian in the church, then they're going, what about me? You didn't mention my name and you didn't shake my hand this morning and you're not acknowledging me.

You know what? You have a sanctification issue. You may be born again and love Jesus with your heart, but do you know that attitude of heart, God has to deal with it. But do you know what? If we know you're washed in the blood, we give you a lot of grace and time for God to work on you with that.

It says here at the end of verse one that Ephraim chided with Gideon sharply. The word chide means to grapple, to wrangle, to debate, to strive, to start a controversy, to begin to accuse in a legal manner.

In other words, you're bringing charges. You did not do this. Now, when you're dealing with a big tribe and they begin to accuse you, you're going to have to walk very delicately. How was Gideon going to respond?

I'm talking about a vessel used in revival. This is the first problem of revival that we see in Judges chapter eight. It's not all just souls being saved. As soon as revival comes, there's going to be people arise up in mass in the church who are going to begin to enter into a controversy.

They didn't win the victory. They weren't chosen of God. They weren't prepared for this, but they are masses of them. And if you're not careful, you're going to start a controversy that's going to distract you from revival.

Do you hear me? You see, I'm dealing with this because I believe revival's coming. I believe a massive revival is coming. You know, all week long, I watched every single day in the news. There's Russia and Turkey and Iran, every single night.

And you know what means different things to different people? To me, do you know what it means? Praise God, revival is coming because everyone who preaches on Ezekiel's war, I can take you to Ezekiel chapter 38, and it speaks 1 ,600 years ago that there's going to be an invasion by Russia, by Turkey and Iran joining together with other nations and they're going to invade Israel.

We are getting very close to that time. It is about to happen. You're watching it every night on the news. You know, those three countries never come into unity in all of world history until four years ago or five years ago.

That began to warn me, something's coming. Do you know what those talk and preach and teach about Ezekiel's war? Do you know what they never talk about? Never. Is that right at the end of Ezekiel's war, when Russia falls on the mountains of Israel, God's going to pour out His Holy Spirit in Jerusalem again.

A revival is coming. No one ever teaches on this. They're not dealing with it. But I want to tell you, I'm dealing with the problems that you're going to have in revival because I know it's coming. You know, Gideon says, I know God's going to deliver the enemy into my hands.

I know some things are, what, you and your 300? And you think you're going to do it? Yes. Yes, I absolutely do. And so you have Ephraim in the midst of revival. They're beginning to grapple and get into doctrinal controversy and personal issues.

Gideon, you've got to be very careful. You need the wisdom of God to get this revival through here. Notice what Gideon does and how he responds. Gideon acknowledges God's victory through them. Do you know, he actually gives a parable here.

Look at verse two. And he said unto them, what have I done now in comparison to you? He compared himself to Ephraim. Most of us, we compare with other churches and preachers and Christians to show that we're better.

I hold the truth. I am holy. I do this. We have order in our church. We're not compromised. Gideon didn't do that. He is comparing and said, what am I to you, Ephraimites? What are you kidding? Listen to what he says here.

What have I done in comparison? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezar? Do you know what he's saying? He says that little bit that you Ephraimites have done in capturing the two princes and mopping up that little bit is far greater than what Gideon and his 300 men have done.

And he says, this was the Lord. The Lord used you, Ephraim. The Lord delivered the princes into your hands. God is with you. You've done something far greater than what we could have done. Do you see the wisdom of this man who's being accused?

He's riding revival. What are you going to get caught up in fights with people who weren't prepared for revival, but they love the Lord Jesus? Or are you going to use wisdom? Notice as well, he placed importance upon their deeds and what they accomplished.

He compares himself not to exalt himself, but to exalt them. He actually lessens himself and minimizes his accomplishments. This was the wisdom of God to say, we need to work together. Why do you think he didn't rebuke them?

Well, look what they've already done. When he called them to go down to the Jordan River to stop the enemy, they didn't get in a debate then. They actually went with their army and defeated the Ephraimites.

So what he knows is they're fighting the same battle against the same enemies. They're on the same side. It's only after the battle, the Ephraimites go, hold on a second. And you know what? Gideon here isn't willing to get into these disputes.

This is the first danger of revival. Troublesome friends. You better know who your friends are. It's okay to say they're not sanctified. There's a pride issue, there's jealousy, but you know what? You need all the wisdom of God to steer through this.

You know why? We're out for souls. We're out to see the church impacted. We're out to see the glory of Jesus Christ in this hour. That's what we want. I believe this first point is embodied in Proverbs chapter 15, verse one.

Listen carefully. A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger. Do you realize Gideon was a man who could control his tongue? He could have said, God used me. God prepared me. I'm God's vessel.

Look what I've done. I'll fight you. He didn't do that. A soft answer turneth away wrath. Do you know how when he gives this answer to them, you know how the Ephraimites actually respond? It says, and their anger was abated towards him when he said that.

Do you know a bit later, they get angry and threatened. This same tribe threatened to burn down the house of a man that was raised up to fight and to lead. You need to be careful what you do in this hour.

Unity is more important than personal pride. And you know, I believe in separation for compromise from apostasy, from false teachers. I will separate from that, but not from real genuine believers of other churches.

I'm not getting into the squabbles over water baptism, the baptism in the Holy Ghost, over how you order your church. I'm not going there. I believe strongly what I believe, and I preach it without apology, but I'm not disputing with you.

I'm after revival, a heaven sent revival. You know, when revival comes, you argue about all the little issues. I just want to see heaven come down. I want to see souls saved on mass. I want to see the church in holiness again.

Tiresome Pursuit and the Need for Rest

The second thing here. So first of all, troublesome friends. Second of all, tiresome pursuit. A tiresome pursuit. Look at verse four. And Gideon came to Jordan and passed over. He and 300 men that were with him, faint yet pursuing.

Do you know, it shows here the 300, God's vessel were pursuing the enemy. This is the second great danger of revival. Tiresome pursuit when you're doing the will of God. When you're serving God, when you want to destroy the enemies of God, when you want to see God bless, you can get very, very tired in that.

There's a real danger when you get tired. You know, when I get tired, I can get touchy. Candice points it out to me. I go, I'm so sorry. Please forgive me. She says, it's okay, I understand that. You know, when you get tired and weary and drawn, I'm not sleeping at nights most of the time.

Through the trials we're going through, I can become touchy, irritable. It's non-excusable, but it's human, it's natural. When you get tired, don't poke someone when they haven't slept all night. You hear me?

You don't want to do that. So there's a danger in revival. When God really moves, when a great victory comes, when you're fighting the enemy, when you're pursuing the will of God, when you desire to serve God with all of your heart, you can get very, very tired.

The word faint here, it says they were faint yet pursuing. Some people, when they get tired, they stop pursuing. Well, I've done my bit, let others do. Don't do that. That's the danger of revival. Well, I'm very tired, so I'm not going to the prayer meeting.

I'm very tired, so I'm not going to evangelize. You know, once I was on a plane coming into Heathrow, and I was so tired. There was a lady beside me from America. I hadn't spoken to her once about the Lord, and she's a female.

We had two seats together. I didn't know her. I didn't like to engage. I was always very careful in what I'd done. But as we began to prepare to come into the airport, I felt so convicted. I sat with this lady this whole journey, never once talked to her about the Lord.

So I said, Lord, help me. And I turned her, we're belted in, and I said, do you know the Lord Jesus? I started to evangelize her. Her whole heart opened up and said, I never heard this before. Tell me more.

And in a period of 10 minutes, I evangelized her. You need to be careful when you're tired. Once when I arrived into Swansea and was late and picked up by this Muslim, I was so tired I could hardly lift my head.

I just wanted to get to where I was going. That Muslim began to evangelize me with his gospel. You see, when you're tired, there's many, many dangers. The word faint here means to be exhausted, physically tired, in need of food.

You know that they had traveled a distance of 40 miles. They had attacked the enemy at night. They had fought all through to the next day. They had now traveled a distance of 40 miles. And when I looked this up, you probably at a decent march can cover 40 miles in about 10 hours, depending on your health, depending on what you're having to do.

So they have come all this distance. They weren't prepared for a long fight, but they're pursuing the enemy. They're in the will of God. And do you know what happens at that point? They're faint, but they're pursuing the enemy.

The word pursue here means to chase after, be on the heels of, to be against the enemy. And remember, why did Gideon pursue so hard? I mean, he's tired, he's exhausted. They haven't ate since before the battle.

They feel like they're gonna faint. Why not leave it to someone else? They're only 300. They have done much damage to the enemy. Why not just stop now? Well, the enemy isn't destroyed. They wanna pursue the enemy.

Do you remember what God had said to Gideon in chapter seven, verse nine? I have delivered the Midianites into your hand. So here they are. They cross the River Jordan. They are exhausted and about to collapse.

They are weak from all the fighting, but they're pursuing the enemy's sin. We don't want the enemy to get away. You know why? If that enemy gets away, it's gonna come back again. I believe in the church, we haven't destroyed enemies in the way we should.

We just touch on it and then leave it alone. We need to destroy enemies in the church. We shouldn't tolerate sin in the church. We ought to be on the case of it, but that doesn't happen in our day. And then those enemies come back and destroy the church.

You have a little victory, then you lose the fight. This is one of the great dangers in revival. You get tired, you get faint, you get exhausted. Remember the 1904 revival. Evan Roberts, a young man in his 20s, I sent you the video to watch.

In a meeting of 17 young people, revival comes, and the next six months, 100 ,000 people in Wales are born again. In that first year, 10 of the entire nation profess salvation through Jesus Christ. In one year, an entire nation.

Do you know Evan Roberts, for the next year and a half, he was traveling, ministering, preaching, exhorting, in prayer meetings early in the morning, late at night. He hardly had a decent night's sleep.

He didn't eat properly, didn't rest properly. He didn't take any breaks. One and a half years into the Welsh revival, he went to meetings in the north of Wales, and he would walk in. You see, he's tired, he's exhausted.

He hasn't obeyed God's word. You know, you could say, but I'm in a revival. I'm filled with the Spirit. I'm doing God's work. You better take a break. If you don't come aside to rest, you will come apart at the seams.

You need to take a break. You need to, you say, my work's too important. My family's too important. Everything I'm doing's too important. No, it's not. You're gonna get yourself in real trouble. You know what Evan Roberts started doing?

He went to those meetings in the north of Wales. After a year and a half, hundreds of thousands getting impacted. And he walks into the meeting. He is tired. And he walks in and says, I don't feel the Spirit here.

And he walks out again. He walks into another meeting and he stands up and he said, there's someone grieving the Holy Spirit here. Those that write about the Welsh revival believe he was so tired, he began to think he was being led of the Spirit when he wasn't.

He's tired, he's exhausted. It's at a time where he should have shut down and got rest. Do you know what happened? He'd come into association with a lady called Jessie Penn Lewis, who said, come stay at my house.

She was a mature teacher of the Word of God about death to self. As he stayed at her home, he was frazzled. His nerves were on edge. He couldn't bear to see family. In fact, didn't for decades until his dad's funeral.

You're talking about a vessel that got worn out in the midst of revival. You need to be very careful. You better go to your bed at night when revival comes. Oh, we don't go to bed at night in revival.

You better not break God's natural laws. Evan Roberts ended up at Jessie Penn Lewis and she convinced him that demons had invaded the Welsh revival. And she wrote a joint book with him called War on the Saints.

It's a very good book, I like it, but there's a lot of dangers with it. She started to teach the demonization of Christians, real born again believers, and said demons were all through the Welsh revival.

And she began to plant her thoughts in Evan Roberts' mind. You know what, he was a vessel that had got very, very tired. Stephen Jeffries, the great healing evangelist who got saved in the Welsh revival.

He served God for 20 years, seeing blind eyes open instantly. He preached the wrath of God, hardly mentioned healing. And in the meetings, people would grip the back of the seats and tremble under the fear of God.

They said he was like an Old Testament prophet. And yet miracles would happen all over the meetings. For 20 years, everywhere he preached, hundreds of souls were getting saved. Mighty miracles happen.

There was an Anglican minister in England who was in the line and there's a little girl, I've got his record of this. And he looked, he was a stranger to these strange things. And this little girl, she had no eyes in the sockets.

And she's there and he's looking at her with his collar on and saying, I wonder why she's going to the meeting. I wonder why she's going for prayer. And when he got in the meeting, he was called up to sit on the pulpit with the other preachers.

They saw him with his collar, said, come sit up here. And he was sitting there when that little girl got prayed for. And he said, I didn't close my eyes. And he said, two brand new eyes come into those eye sockets.

He couldn't believe it, he didn't believe that. He had never seen anyone healed. And yet he testified to the reality of that. For 20 years, Stephen Jeffries labored, preached, ministered in this fashion.

Then suddenly in 1935, at the age of 59, he was totally and completely set aside for the next eight years until he died. His body was crippled up with arthritis. He couldn't move, his weight dropped down.

He couldn't go and preach again. Do you know what? For 20 years, he never took breaks. He was a very disorganized man. He kept double booking himself. He never took breaks. He served, poured himself out completely.

You can't keep doing that. Saints, I'm talking about, you'll say, why are you laboring this? Because I know revival is coming. I know a move of God is coming. And we've got to be absolutely ready for it.

And so we see this tiresome pursuit of Gideon and his 300 men. They are pursuing the enemy. Verse 10, when they come to the valley where there's 15 ,000 men left, remember they're tired. Do you know what happened on the way?

They stopped with other Israeli tribes that feed us. And they said, no, I'll come to that in a second. That's my third point. He said, no. Can you imagine asking brothers and sisters in Christ, we've just seen revival.

We've just seen victories. Will you help us? Will you feed our soldiers? We're going into the second phases. We're about to, in 20 miles time, we're gonna face another 15 ,000 of the Midianites. Would you give us a meal?

He wasn't asking for money. Wasn't asking them to go into the fight. Wasn't asking to stay in their homes. Just give us a meal. My 300 soldiers, two times he asked. You know what they said? No, absolutely not.

He says, I'll remember you. And then he pursued. They're tired, they're hungry, they're exhausted, they're fainting, but they're pursuing the enemy. There's some people in the church go to the opposite extreme and say, you should never be tired.

You shouldn't labor until the point you're tired and exhausted. It means you're not in the spirit. Actually, that's wrong as well. That's the opposite extreme. I can prove to you biblically that that is false because concerning the church at Ephesus in Revelation chapter two, Christ commends the church because you have labored and not grown weary.

Do you know the word labored there means to labor to the point of exhaustion. Some people in the church say, you should never serve God until you're tired. Rubbish. I can give you lots of scriptures where Christ commends and God commends.

Well done, you've labored until you could hardly stand. So let's get a balance. You need to be very wise. But at the same time, just because you're hungry and brothers are betraying you and it's not all going your, well, I'm not, I'm just gonna throw my toys out of my pram.