Wednesday, January 9, 2008

"What more shall I say?  For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets" (Hebrews 11:32).

IDEA: God sometimes turns enemies into friends.

PURPOSE: To help listeners see that God works both through our backgrounds and in spite of our backgrounds to mold us for his service.

Have you ever wondered why some people who were regarded as enemies can later be considered as friends?

Leo Durocher was the manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers.  I hated everything he did or stood for until he became the manager of the New York Giants.  When you’re 12 years old, you can’t understand how someone you regarded as an enemy could overnight be accepted as a friend.  It’s also true politically.  We see that in the life of a judge named Jephthah.

I. Jephthah grew up in a difficult environment and left to be a leader of a band of bandits.  Judges 11:3

He went to Tob.  Where is Tob?  It’s about 50 miles east of the Jordan River, a long way from where he grew up.

How long do you think he was out in Tob?  He must have been there at least 15 or 16 years.  He had married and had a teenage daughter.

How do you think the people back home kept track of him?

II. Why did the citizens of Gilead cultivate this man who had been an enemy and to try to make him a friend?

The leaders of Gilead had to travel 50 miles to find Jephthah, Judges 11:4-7.

How do you think Jephthah felt when they approached him?  He asked, “Why do you come to me now that you are in distress?” (Judges 11:7).  

Why were they willing to accept him and his abilities as their leader even though they had previously despised him (Judges 11:8)?

CONCLUSION: The skills that we develop before we become Christians can be skills that God uses for his cause after we become Christians.