@carlfbeech #courageousmen Bristol – What’s your Gilgal?

Don’t be passive and nice – be dangerous because that’s why you were made.
Michelangelo said through sculpture he could worship – by turning marble into David he was mimicking God.

We should be a subversive liberation force for God! A resistance movement in occupied territory. How?

Judges 3:12f

Ehud – the left handed assassin.
What a lovely story!
The kids will love it at Bedtime.

Who was Ehud?
Just an ordinary guy- expendable.
Because it’s not always obvious who the heroes are.
Big change happens when little people step up and do something.

We get to be revolutionaries. Because we have the power to change the atmosphere or the situation

David was the least obvious hero, the unexpected one,

William Carey changed India. He was a cobbler who said. ‘Attempt great things for God, expect great things for God.’

Nothing happens if you never have a go.

We have to get passionate enough, angry enough, to push through the sticking point that always comes. The wall.

Some of us have a job to do – get on with it. Put your head above the parapet – and yes you’ll have people take potshots. Man up! Take it on the chin. Don’t let fears hold you back.

Vs 18f
Why did Ehud turn back at Gilgal?

Answer is in Josh 4:21-24

It’s the memorial place, where the nation was delivered. When Ehud saw that his eyes were open to the reality of God AND the idols there were all around. He saw red! ‘Enough is enough!’

We’ve embraced an extra-biblical theology of niceness

Jesus and God don’t always come across as nice
Ask Ananias and Sapphira

God isn’t Willie Wonka.

The reality we are living in?
A mile from here there are slaves being trafficked.
There’s porn at eyeline to our kids in the shops.
Kids are being told you are sex fodder and men are being told ‘we know what drives you, it’s lust.’

Evil persists when good men do nothing.

You can do something!

What’s your Gilgal?

Get imaginative about taking action for doing good and preventing evil from winning. Changing culture. People will complain.
They will try to squash the vision before it’s even started.

Because we are in a fight
It’s not lost
We have a battle
Don’t focus on what doesn’t matter
Get doing something! Pull together! Focus on the real deal. The opportunities not the problems. God has entrusted us men to be a force for change!