God’s vision for his church is to be a people those far from him can stream to so that they can know him.

And his church has built ministries and programs in the name of God so that we can feel good about doing something on behalf of God. What do we call doing something in God’s name…when it isn’t really in God’s name?

Taking his name in vein.

Gideon was to tear down the idols of Baal and Asherah. These were the gods of provision and life. Israel thought their provision and life came from wooden gods. All the while, Yahweh wanted to give them true Life and Provision if they would just worship him alone.

Man, they are so crazy aren’t they?!

Or maybe not so crazy. We don’t have wooden idols, but we worship provision and life. We worship idols because they give us what we want, when we want it. And yet, this is fools’ gold. Even if we get what we want, when we want it, what idols give to us leave us wanting. We pursue, obtain and acquire, but we’re left wanting more.

We pursue the latest ministry fad.
We acquire more buildings and land.
We obtain more people.

What we want, when we want it.

If we do this all in our own power because we’re chasing after life and provision of ministry and not the Life and Provision God gives, we’re chasing after the air.

Gideon took a baby step of obedience to lead himself, his family and his people away from idols towards the vision God had for them. We see 3 things from this baby step of obedience…

God will give you the step you can take.

Gideon was not ready to take on a massive army with 300 men. So God did not give him that assignment…yet. Instead, God told him to take a baby step of obedience towards the ultimate vision. Tear down the altars of Baal and Asherah. Gideon immediately complied, but verse 27 still tells us Gideon “did it at night because he was afraid of the other members of his father’s household and the people of the town.”

Gideon obeyed what God said, but we still are told about this asterisk about his obedience. More than knocking down Gideon, this tells us God gives us the baby step we can take. God is challenging Gideon to grow past his current capabilities. But he’s not challenging him so much Gideon will give up.

Writing these are my “nighttime” assignment. I’m tired of no one paying attention. God knows this. So at this time, I’m writing these with no extra “fanfare.” No marketing. No pushing to social. No looking at statistics. This “nighttime” step is the step that I can take.

If God comes to you and gives you a nighttime assignment, take the next step. God has the whole picture in mind. He will lead you towards the vision he has for you…even if it is a step in the night.

God will lead you to tear down the idol so that you and others will worship him.

Gideon, his family and the town were trapped in idol worship. This idol worship trapped them in oppression and fear. They knew they were tapped, but the idol had such a tight grip they could not break free.

God needed one person to step up and break the people free of their idol worship. Tag…Gideon’s it! God needs people to tear down the sacred cows of his people. Churches will worship programs and ministries that were once effective to give Life. He wants to give Life into the church again. Our idols will oppress us when we worship the ministry, not the Provider of ministry.

Again, this does not have to be an “all guns blazing” sort of thing. In fact, it is best not to tear down idols John Wayne style. What is the next baby step you can take to tear down the idol of your church? Who can you bring along (Gideon had 10 others…maybe you have 2, 10 or 50) to begin chopping at the idol of your church? Maybe the first chopping you need to do is through prayer.

God will lead you to use the death of your idol to become the fuel for worshipping him.

God told Gideon to use the wood of the idols as the fuel for the fire for his sacrifice.

Haven’t you ever experience the same thing? God shows up in a worship service. He deals with your idol. You repent. And the sweet savor worship on the other side of repentance is fueled by God burning up the idol.

God doesn’t want to just destroy your idol. He wants to replace your idol with himself. We go to our idols because we think they provide life inside our soul. However, God alone provides Life inside our soul. He wants to burn up our idol on the altar of repentance so that our fire for him to come into our soul is even stronger.

God wants your church to tear down the idols so that people can worship him. When his people worship him, others are drawn to it. God will use people Hearing & Following him in baby steps of obedience to destroy idols and draw his people to the worship of him alone. He wants you to be this type of person.

What is the next step of obedience he is moving you towards so that he can use you to draw his people back to himself?