1. Gideon The Judges of Israel Othneil Ehud Shamgar Deborah Tola Jair
Jephthah
Ibzan
Elon
Abdon
Samson

2. Gideon was just a normal Israelite.
The Midianites were stealing their crops and causing trouble for the Israelites.

3. Gideon was out threshing wheat one day and an angel
of the Lord appeared to him! The angel told Gideon he
was to save his people from the Midianites.
Judges 6:12
When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon,
he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”

4. Judges 6:15
"But Lord," Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family."
The angel told Gideon that God would be with him and proved this to Gideon through signs.

5. Gideon gathered lots of strong men for his army!
It came time to fight the Midianites, so Gideon had to get his army together.
Gideon gathered lots of strong men for his army!

6. Judges 7:2-3
2 The LORD said to Gideon, "You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her, 3 announce now to the people, 'Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.' " So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.

7. Because God wanted the people to know It was GOD who helped them,
Why didn’t God want Gideon to have such a big army?
How many were afraid and ran away?
How many were left in the army now?
Because God wanted the people to know
It was GOD who helped them,
not their own strength
22,000
10,000

8. Judges 7:4
 4 But the LORD said to Gideon, "There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. If I say, 'This one shall go with you,' he shall go; but if I say, 'This one shall not go with you,' he shall not go."

9. Judges 7:5-6
 5 So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the LORD told him, "Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel down to drink." 6 Three hundred men lapped with their hands to their mouths. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.

10. 300 How many are left now? Does that sound like a good size for an
army to fight against the Midianites?
Why?
300

11. Judges 7:8b-9
Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley. 9 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.

12. Judges 7:17-18
17 "Watch me," he told them. "Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do. 18 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.'

13. Judges 7:19-21
19 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. 20 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!" 21 While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled.

14. After they defeated the Midianites the Israelites wanted Gideon to be their KING! But Gideon told them they already had a KING…GOD!
GOD IS YOUR KING!
Judges 8:22-23 
22 The Israelites said to Gideon, "Rule over us—you, your son and your grandson—because you have saved us out of the hand of Midian."  23 But Gideon told them, "I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The LORD will rule over you."

15. PEACE for 40 Years Judges 8:28
28 Thus Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. During Gideon's lifetime, the land enjoyed peace forty years.
PEACE
for
40 Years