A NEW TESTAMENT STRATEGY FOR IGNITING A CHURCH PLANTING MOVEMENT: Part 2: John Wesley's Version

In my last post, A New Testament Strategy For Igniting A Church Planting Move, I shared 3 invitations that Jesus and His disciples offered to people that continually moved them into an ever increasing deeper commitment to Christ and the missional movement that He was establishing.  While these three invitations may not be able to explain in totality the strategy that Jesus used to ignite a movement I do believe they offer three important components to it and if we are going to experience church a planting movement in North America we will need to find a way to adapt them into our context.  Those three invitations were: COME AND SEE; COME AND FOLLOW; and COME AND BE WITH ME.  The Come And See was an invitation to experience the power, presence and message of Christ personally (many times in a large group setting but not always); the Come And Follow was a commitment to learn to of Christ, His way of life and His world view (this often happened in smaller groups. If they had not earlier and the come and see event they would come to personal faith in Christ.  These were called his disciples); and finally the The Come And Be With Me was an invitation to a very few of those disciples whom Christ would train to do what He did and thereby multiply the movement (this was a very small band 12 leaders in training whom he called Apostles as opposed to just disciples).

But was this missional movement (Church Planting Movement) reproducible?  Could it be transferred from culture to culture and from one point in history to a different time in history? Were these principles  (3 invitations) at play in different movements of God in history?  Now please understand it is not my intent to do an exhaustive historical or cultural research to answer these questions! This will only be a very general and surface observation to see if there are indications that this strategy has been at work in different movement of God.  I will leave the more exhaustive research of this subject to those who are both more qualified and enjoy that kind of intellectual rigor.  So in this post we are going to look at the missional movement of the Methodist and see if these 3 INVITATIONS were at play with what God did through John Wesley.


When I look at the early Methodist's and the strategy that John Wesley implemented three important activities stand out that enabled a strong ministry to be turned it into a powerful movement that swept England and America.  These three activities were:

• OPEN AIR PREACHING:  At first John Wesley didn't like the idea open air preaching where one shared the gospel outside of a church building where ordinary people gathered.  But it was his friend George Whitfield that helped him not only overcome this conception but also help see the value in it so that he could wholeheartedly embrace it.  It is said that John had rode over 250,000 miles on horseback to preach at these open air meetings, preached over 40,000 sermons and it is estimated that tens of thousands of people would show up to a single meeting.  His primary style of preaching at these open air meetings was evangelistic where he would introduce the ordinary person to the power and presence of Christ that could save their soul.  But these, many times,  large evangelistic meetings was only the starting point of his strategy.  Wesley felt that leaving a newly converted person to their own devices without training them in righteous living was an ungodly thing to do.  This conviction was what led him to the second activity that characterized his strategy.
• CLASS MEETINGS:  When people made a decision at the open air preaching he would then quickly gather them into small groups called CLASS MEETINGS.  These groups were to help people grow in their spiritual faith through discipleship and accountability.  They met at least weekly; started the meeting with singing and praying; a time of confession of sin to one another would follow; then they would examine each other through probing questions of their spiritual condition.  They would also, as part of their regular meetins, review study material that John Wesley had written to help them grow in their knowledge and understanding of God, scripture and spiritual growth.  As vital and important that these first two activities were it wasn't until Wesley initiated the third activity that his powerful ministry became an explosive movement of God that would spread through England and North America.
• ITINERANT HORSEBACK PREACHERS:  Because of the vastness of the needed work yet to be done and because of the reluctance of the theologically trained pastors and preachers John began to develop and train scores of lay preachers to go preach the gospel to those who would never enter a church building.  They would follow his example of preaching at open air meetings and riding on horseback.  John Wesley became the standard and model for all of the new open air preachers to follow.   Most of the men selected to be the  preachers were ordinary men with no special theological training, much like the description of the Apostle Peter and John when standing before the Jewish Rulers in the book of Acts.  The selection of the preachers was based more on grace than education.  Grace being that they had a powerful story (testimony) to share with the crowd of people who would gather.  These itinerant preachers were sent all over England and especially into the expanding westward America.  Like Wesley these lay preachers would form the new converts into CLASS MEETINGS that would allow for their spiritual formation to develop.  They would continue the practice passing out religious material that was produced by the Wesley's to help them grow during the weeks that the circuit rider was in other area's.  And it was out of these Class Meetings that new potential lay pastors/circuit riders were identified, trained and mentored by a more experienced circuit rider and eventually unleashed to go into his own new and expanding territory.  And thus the movement continued to expand and explode.  

These 3 activities that John Wesley created were his version of the New Testament Strategy For Igniting a Church Planting Movement.  The Open Air Preaching was his adaptation of a 

COME AND SEE EVENT; the Class Meetings was his style of the 

COME AND FOLLOW GROUPS; and his Circuit Riders were his version of 

COME AND BE WITH ME LEADERSHIP.  

Just like Jesus in his New Testament Strategy John Wesley used the same approached of sifting through the masses of people and inviting them into a deeper commitment to Christ and spiritual growth culminating with the raising up, training up and unleashing of new apostolic itinerant preachers who would take the message and the strategy to new area's that still needed to be reached or revived and thus exploding it into a movement

So again I ask: What would a 21st Century North American Adaptation of the New Testament strategy for igniting a church planting movement look like?  What would the Come And See Events look like where the gospel can be presented to a group (large or small) to interested seekers?  What would a Come and Follow Group look like where accountability and spiritual disciplines are being instilled in the lives of the new believers?  And what would the training of new apostolic leadership of ordinary Christians that form the Come and Be With Me look like in a North American context?

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN BEING PART OF GOD'S ACTIVITY IN BRING A CHURCH PLANTING MOVEMENT TO NORTH AMERICA?  Then I invite to join in with the discussion and preparation by become a fan of the Facebook Page A North American Church Planting Movement Initiative.  We need to pray, seek God's wisdom and experiment.  Join the fun.

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A NEW TESTAMENT STRATEGY FOR IGNITING A CHURCH PLANTING MOVEMENT

I have been kicking around this idea about a strategy for igniting a Church Planting Movements/Disciple Making Movements. It's not new to me and others have discussed it in terms of how Christ made disciples. I'm just applying it to CPM's/DMM's. I would love to hear your thoughts on it.

In the 4 Gospels we see three different invitations that Christ and his disciples extended to people depending upon their level of commitment.

The First Invitation: COME & SEE: This was an invitation for people to come see and experience the power, presence and message of Christ. Sometime these turned out to be a large gathering of people but only lasted a day or two. As ordinary people came they got to meet Jesus, hear his teaching on the Kingdom of God, experience his power when he performed miracles and healings and they would receive an invitation to join him in a deeper committed which was the second Invitation.  The goal of this event was to discover the Person of Peace who would open their home that would form the beach head for the new movement and to find those who were prepared to follow Jesus and become His disciples.

The Second Invitation: COME & FOLLOW: These were people who were willing to leave everything to come and follow Christ. They considered the cost of discipleship and made a decision to be Christ's disciples. As they did Jesus taught them how to become spiritually mature through laying a strong foundation of himself/Christ and his teaching, about living in the Spirit, how to relate to one another, spiritual warfare and pursuing His mission. As he watched and prayed he then would extend a third invitation to some of those the Father identified.  The goal of this following was to establish his follower to be strong in their faith and to identify those who would form the apostolic leadership from which the movement would gain momentum.  

The Third Invitation: COME & BE WITH ME. The few that Jesus identified through prayer He made them to be His apostles. He would teach them to do what he did and implement the same pattern (come and see, come and follow and come and be with me). They would watch Jesus do it, they would practice it under His supervision and he would them unleash them to go do it themselves in teams. As they did the work they then would gather those who were identified from the Come and Be With Me to be the second generation of apostolic leadership and then repeat the process. This time not with just twelve but with seventy-two.  It is here with this third group THE COME & BE WITH ME that we see the rapidly reproduction begin to happen. They were the apostolic leadership that would leave to go to other unreached groups to share the gospel. 

As the process was repeated over and over again more disciples increased and more apostolic leadership were developed thereby increasing the momentum of the movement. It is important to note that this strategy was used to raise up, train up and unleash ordinary christians, people, to create this church planting movement.  The church planting was done by ordinary christians who had no special training.  These regular guys were used by God to do some pretty extraordinary and amazing things. These ordinary christians or regular guys were the one's that God used to be His missionaries!

So here are some question for us to consider:

• What if we were to follow the same pattern? 
• What would it look like in N. America? 
• What would COME & SEE EVENT look like? 
• What would a COME & FOLLOW GROUP look like? And what would a COME & BE WITH ME TRAINING look like? 

Share your thoughts in the comments space Let's brainstorm and begin to experiment and see what God does.

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I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH FISH: A Principle On Missional Living

As you read this post title you may think that you know what this blog is about!  You may but then again you may not.  As I have shared this title with other Christians their first conclusion is that it is a blog about needing to reach more people for Jesus. They feel the fish represents the souls of men and the lack of fish indicates the urgency to reach them for Jesus.  While that would be a wonderful blog to write about and while that particular need is real and should be addressed those who feel that way would be off track and miss the purpose for this blog.  So with that in mind I want to encourage you not to turn off this blog just because you feel you know what the content is all about. Read this blog and learn an amazing and vitally important principle for living an effective mission life.  I am convinced if you do you will be encouraged and empowered to live an even more dedicated and powerful life for the mission of our Lord.

So what do I mean by the title? What missional living principle can we learn from the statement, "I Don't Have Enough Fish."?  To understand this we need to look at John 6:1-13:

"Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Festival was near.  When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, 'Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?' He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.  Philip answered him, 'It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!'  Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 'Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?'  Jesus said, 'Have the people sit down.' There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks,and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, 'Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.' So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten."

So now I think you are beginning to understand what I mean by the title.  Here Jesus assigned a task for his disciples to go find or buy food for the crowd of over 5,000 people so they could eat.  The Bible said that Jesus assigned that task because he already knew what he was going to do and so he could test them to reveal the state of their faith.  Phillip looked at the practicality and impossibility of fulfilling that request. Not even half a years wage would be enough to feed that many people.  Andrew began looking for a solution and found a boy with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes but then he quickly realized that the need was far greater than the resources that were available.  The interesting thing is that both of these men were correct!  There wasn't enough money and there wasn't enough food!  From a practical standpoint Jesus' request was impossible.  Andrews statement says a lot about the faith that all of the disciples had at that point in their life.  When he said, "... but how far will they go among so many?"  All they could see was the size of the of the task and how limiting the resources were.  What they didn't see was how powerful the one who request the work to be done!  They're faith had not grown to the place where they could say with full confidence that God can do anything, through anybody, including them and their small resources.

How many times have we found ourselves to be just like the disciples in this story? We are faced with a task given to us by our Lord and as we look around to see what we have and as we look inside to see what we have to offer we quickly realize that we are sadly and greatly inadequate in the needed provisions to accomplish the task.  We look and all we see is our sad and puny self and we give up, never attempting what Christ is commanding, because our faith hasn't grown to the place where we can sincerely say that our God is able to do anything, through anybody, including me.

I just love the way Jesus handled the situation.  He didn't rebuke them or scold them. He just told them to have the crowd sit down.  It's almost as if he was saying, "Ok, get everyone comfortable because I'm about to show you, my disciples, something that will absolutely blow your minds!  And blow their minds it did!

Then as the people were sitting down on the grass and getting comfortable Jesus took the bread and fish and blessed it.  He asked our Heavenly Father to use what was provided to meet the need that was apparent.  After praying over it he had the disciples begin to distribute the food as far as it would go. In this Jesus was showing how sincere and powerful faith is demonstrated. Jesus took what they had available, prayed for God's blessing and then started meeting the need with what they had.  It was as simple as that.

The disciples began to meet the need with what was available and were not going to stop until one of two things happened. They would stop if the resources ran out or they would stop when the need was met. Either way, whatever came first, they would stop then and only then.  To much of their surprise and amazement it wasn't the resources that ran out first - it was the need that was met that came first.  Can you imagine with me how the disciples must have been when Jesus gave them the fish and bread and said after his prayer, "OK guys you're on. Go distribute the food!" I don't if they were laughing under their breath while doing what he said or if they were thinking that what Jesus was asking was a total waste of time. The Bible doesn't say what they were thinking but I know what I would be thinking and I can assure you it wouldn't sound like much faith.  But they were faithful in doing what Jesus asked and as a result they were able to experience God's power.

When they finished distributing the food everyone had eaten. When they had finished collecting up the remains there were 12 basket full of food. One basked collected by each  of the twelve disciples.  Now that' what I call amazing.  You see when we give God all that we have for him to use to meet the needs that he has revealed we discover that God's blessing are overflowing to his faithful servants.  And what an important lesson was learned about the missional lifestyle that Christ commands us to live.  What exactly is that principle?  It's this:

It's Not The Size Of What You Have To Offer God That Makes The Difference

It's The Power Of God That Bless' It That Will Multiply It"

To often I hear Christians saying that they can't be used by God to accomplish anything of tremendous success or importance but they don't have anything to offer God that is big enough for such a result!  If we learn anything from this story it is that it's not the size of your gift you offer to God that matters!  God can take whatever you have and use it to accomplish whatever he chooses with it. Your gift has no determination on God can or cannot do with it.  Can can do anything, through anybody using whatever they give him to use.  Do you believe that?  Do you believe that can and will take whatever you have to accomplish great things?  If so that's wonderful!  But if not this is the area your faith needs to grow to!

So here's a simple process to assist you as you step out in faith and offer to God whatever you have, great or small to be used by him to shine the light of Christ back in this spiritually dark world:

1. Recognize the need that Christ is revealing to you.  
2. Access what resources you have to meet that need.
3. Offer those resources to God for his blessing.
4. Start meeting that need until one of two things happen - either the need is completely met and no longer a need or when you're resources run out.  It's a good bet that the need will be met before the resources run out. 
5. When the need is met collect what remains of the resources and stand amazed on the increase of God's blessings.

In conclusion: Don't worry about how many fish you have! It matters not! Concentrate on how big your faith is and believe that God truly can do anything, through anybody, including you and whatever you have to offer him.  But remember faith without deeds is dead! In order to prove your faith once you've asked for God's blessing you have to step out on faith and start distributing the bread.

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THE ORDINARY CHRISTIANS GUIDE TO CHURCH PLANTING: Step 1 Rethink Your Concept Of Church

As we begin this journey of church planting together I can already hear the first excuses that many of you are throwing out on why you could never be a church planter.  The excuse goes something like this:

"I could never be a church planter because I have no training, ability or idea on how to

 lead or administrate such a complex organization like a church!"

If that is your reason for not starting a church chances are you probably were raised in a church where there was a budget, committees, business meetings, deacon and/or elder meetings, programs up the , wazoo staff to manage, buildings to build or maintain and lots of conflict management to deal with within the membership.  And if that is your idea of church you are probably right that you are not qualified to start that kind of church. 

But listen to me carefully, I tell you the truth and I have some really GOOD NEWS to give you!  THE CHURCH OF THE NEW TESTAMENT DIDN'T LOOK OR SOUND ANYTHING LIKE THAT!  The structure of the New Testament church was so simple that any Follower of Christ could start a new church body.  While there are some character issues that must be taken into consideration when selecting a person to be an Elder of the church the only leadership/management qualification is found in 1 Timothy 3:4,5:

"He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, 

how will he take care of the church of God?"

When it comes to LEADERSHIP ABILITY in evaluating whether a person can start a new church the only question needed to be asked is:

 "How well do they lead their family?"

If a person can lead their family well then they have the leadership skills necessary to start a lead a church according to the Bible.  

However, if that is going to be practical in the 21st Century of North America we are going to have to change our image of what a church is to look like.  We will need to change your conception of church from being some major corporation that requires a CEO to run it, to a image of the church being more closely akin to a family unit that have spiritual parents guiding others to maturity.  We are going to need to move from a 21 Century image of the church to more of a 1st Century image of church.  

In other words we are going to need to develop a more Biblical image 

of what the church is to look like.   

That's right I did say, "A More Biblical Image".  The church image that characterizes the North American landscape resembles very little to what the New Testament church looked like and in many instances acted like.  For starters the church for the first 300 years of its existence never owned any property and never had any building used exclusively for religious services.  The Apostle Paul in Acts 20:20 reminds the church in Ephesus that he did not shrink from declaring to them anything but taught them publicly and from house to house.  In the New Testament there was public teaching which usually happened in an outdoor public location or in a building that the apostle was able to congregate people together but its main use was other than for religious.  But the main teaching and instruction took place in homes that met throughout the week in different locations.  An interesting note to consider is that once the church started experiencing persecution public teaching became less freqeuant and house church became more common.  So let me share with you what the best Biblical image of the church looks like from my point of view:

The New Testament Church was a group of 15 to 30  Christ Followers meeting in a home at least weekly but very possibly more often and then occasionally when it was safe and as the need 

arose gather in some public area with other house churches for a 

larger expression of their faith.

So now let me ask you!  Don't you think, as a Fully Devoted Follower of Christ, that you can gather 15 to maybe 30 other people in a home to help them grow in their faith, meet each others needs, pray for God's to provide His  power, presence and provision, and worship God? Don't you think that you can love and help spiritually mature 15 to 30 people?  No budgets, no committees, no staff, no salaries.  Just you and possibly another leader with 15 to 30 people living out your faith together as the Family of God.  Can't you see yourself doing that?  I CAN AND I PRAY YOU WILL ALSO!

In the blogs that follow we will be discussing exactly how to gather those 15 to 30 people and what you actually do when the church meets in your home.  But for now just start rethinking what the church looks like.  

HERE'S YOUR HOMEWORK:   Read through the entire Book of Acts two to three times.  As you read take mental notes each time that the church is meeting in a house or how people along with their entire household comes to faith in a home.  READ IT VIEWING THE CHURCH AS A HOUSE CHURCH!

FAITH! WHAT EXACTLY IS IT? Part 2

"By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith."  Hebrews 11:7 (NIV)

Here in the New International Version it uses the phrase, "holy fear" but in the New American Standard Version it uses the word, "reverence".  Here we see Noah receiving a warning from God that he was going to destroy the world by a flood but will save Noah and his family if he builds an ark.  So what does Noah do?  Motivated by Holy Fear or Reverence for God Noah builds the ark!  So from this we learn that:

Faith Is Being Obedient To God Out Of Holy Reverential Fear!

Noah's motivation for building this ark was not because he wanted to do something that no one else had done!  It was not because he wanted to show God that he was worthy of being saved!  It was not because he had been sitting around and had nothing better to do!  No!  Noah built that ark because he knew that God was Holy and Righteous, that God was tired of this sinful world and that God would do exactly what he said he would do and that God wasn't playing around.  And that understanding brought

Holy Fear Into Noah's Life That Caused Him To Obey!

You see faith is believing that God will do exactly what he said he would do.  Do we really believe that Christ is coming back one day to judge the living and the dead?  Do we really believe that Christ when he returns will destroy the world by fire? Do we really believe that those who don't repent from their sinful life and turn to Christ as Lord and master will spend an eternity in hell?  If we truly do believe those things doesn't that belief cause you to take pause and fell you with a Holy Reverence for God?  

And if we truly do believe those things shouldn't that Holy Fear cause us to act in obedience to fulfill the mission that Christ has given us of making disciples of all peoples.  I mean if we truly believe that Christ is going to do these things and in the mean time has given us this important task to accomplish should we have the same kind of faith that Noah had that fills us with Holy Fear and grips us with Reverence?  I think it should!

In Galatians 6:9 it says,

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." (NIV)

So out of Holy Fear let's not grow tired, 

let's not grow weary, let's not give up!

In Holy Fear let's press on with the mission of making 

disciples for Christ of all people.

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NEVER SETTLE FOR JUST GOOD OR BETTER BUT PRESS ON TO BEING THE BEST

"Good, Better, Best

Never let it rest, 

until your good is better 

and your better is best"

This was a poem that my high school football coach had us recite everyday at practice.  For two straight seasons, everyday during practice I recited those words.  They sunk deep into the fabric of my soul and help shaped the person that I am today.  It is a poem about not compromising, not being content and not settle for anything less than the best.  Maybe this was one of the reason that every year our football was a contender for the championship and where we actually did win the championship for two straight years!  The culture of our team was that we would never settle for just being good or for just getting better.  It was our aim and goal to be the best.  And we knew that being the best, or at least the best we could be, would not come easy but would require discipline, sacrifice and lots of hard work.  To be honest with you there were days during our practice I didn't feel I would make it through.  My coach stretched us farther than I ever thought possible.  He got doing things that seemed impossible.  But for Coach Bill Marsh the impossible was what he expected and required.  The land of impossibility was where Coach Marsh lived and thrived. When other coaches said it couldn't be done Coach Marsh not only did it but did with excellence.

Today I follow a new coach!  But like Coach Marsh this new coach also lives in the land of impossibilities and everyday he takes the lives that others have thrown away deeming as worthless and transforms them into great men and women of God.  And he is challenging, no he is demanding,  his team to not settle for anything less than the best and to move forward to victory.  My new coach is named Jesus Christ and he has us involved in a new game, it's the game of eternal life.  He demands of us our very best and total surrender.  And I can hear my new coach reminding me of what my earthly coach taught me:

Good, Better, Best

Never let it rest,

Until your good is better,

And your better is best.

Let us not grow weary in the game of eternal life! Let us not comprise or give up! Let's fight the good fight and let us finish the race and let us never settle for just good or better but let us press on to the goal of the BEST!

FAITH! WHAT IS IT EXACTLY? Part 1

So what exactly is faith?  I mean we have all heard the Biblical definition of faith from Hebrews 11:1,

"Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance 

about what we do not see."  

And I would agree that this is by far the most meaningful and beneficial definition that any person can hold to.  But in order to help us begin to view Biblical faith in God differently but in total agreement with what Hebrews says I would like to offer the following:

Faith Is Following God's Instructions Even 

When It Doesn't Make Sense!

"By faith, Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going."  Hebrews 11:8

Can you imagine that conversation between Abraham and God?  Think about it for a second and imagine with me if you would how that conversation went:

God, 'Abraham.' Abraham, 'Yes God I'm listening.'   God, 'Abraham I want to pack up your bags and get ready to move.'  Abraham, 'O.k. God, sure. When will I be leaving?'  God, 'I'll tell when it's time to leave but for now just make sure that you, your family and all your servants are packed and ready to go when I tell you.' Abraham, 'Sure God if you say so. That's no problem.  So where exactly are we going?'  God, 'That's not for you to know right now but once I tell you to leave I will also tell you what direction to go and when you get there.'  Abraham, 'Well I guess that's alright.  How long will it take for us to get there?'  God, 'Not for you to know.  You just keep on going until I tell you to stop.'  Abraham, 'Well if you say so I guess I can do that but let me make sure I understand you clearly. You want me, my family and all of my servants to pack up and get ready to relocate to a place that's an unknown destination, I'm not sure when we will be leaving exactly and I don't know how long it will take to get there.  Is that correct God?'  God, "Yes that's exactly correct. Do you have a problem with that?'  Abraham, 'No, not at all. I was just checking."

So let me ask you from our human perspective does it make a bit of sense to pack for a journey that you are going to take at some unknown point in your life, to go on that journey without any idea how long it will take to get there and without any map or instructions on how to get there?

NO!  IT MAKES NO BIT OF SENSE!

But that's faith in God.  He tells us to do something but it doesn't make a bit of sense to us but we do it anyhow!  Why? Because we trust God and we trust that he can do anything even if it doesn't make sense to us.

I don't think that it made a bit of sense to Gideon to engage in a battle with his enemy numbering 10,000 soldiers when his army army had been downsized by God to only 300 men.

"So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.” Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink. The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home.” So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites home but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others.Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley. During that night the Lord said to Gideon, “Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands.If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp.” So he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp. 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 on the seashore. Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. “I had a dream,” he was 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 can 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.” When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down and worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, “Get up! The Lord has given the Midianite camp into your hands.” Dividing the three hundred men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside. “Watch me,” he told them. “Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do. When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’ Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands. The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled. When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the Lord caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords. The army fled to Beth Shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath. Israelites from Naphtali, Asher and all Manasseh were called out, and they pursued the Midianites. Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against the Midianites and seize the waters of the Jordan ahead of them as far as Beth Barah.”  Judges 7:5-24 (NIV)

Really does that make any human sense?  Does it make sense to downsize your army to 300 men and tell them to shout, blow horns and reveal some light from lamps that each man was holding and then as a result then enemy would run around and kill themselves.  Not unless it's God who is doing it.

You see Gideon had faith in God just like Abraham to believe that God would do exactly what he said he would do even when what he said doesn't make a bit of sense from our earthly experience.

So how well are you following God's instructions?  Do you ever get a word from the Lord and then try to redefine it because what you understood from God doesn't make sense?  Why do you think that God gives us instruction that don't make sense and shouldn't work at all?  Why?

Because God is doing something that will prove that he really does exist and can do anything!  That's why!

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