Turlock | Pastor Tommy McKiernan | 08-09-2026 | One Thing I Know

New Life’s fiftieth year sets a good and serious question in front of the church. The faithfulness of one generation was never meant to become only the history of the next. God’s past kindness is meant to lead those who come after to know the Lord, trust him, and follow him for themselves.

Judges 2 gives the sobering backdrop. Another generation grew up that did not know the Lord or what he had done for Israel. That generation had inherited the land, the story, and the blessing, but not personal trust in the God who gave it all. By Judges 6, that drift had become fear, hiding, and survival.

The Midianites were not simply taking territory. The Midianites waited for the harvest, swept through the land, carried off grain and livestock, and left Israel with barely enough to survive. Seven years of that kind of loss reshaped hope into fear. Little by little, fear began to shape how Israel saw life, circumstances, and even God.

God meets Gideon in that place. Gideon is threshing wheat in a winepress, hiding from Midian, when the angel of the Lord calls him a mighty warrior. Gideon does not sound confident. Gideon gives voice to the questions of a weary man trying to reconcile God’s faithfulness with painful circumstances. God does not rebuke the questions. God answers with a call and a promise: “I will be with you.”

Gideon’s strength was never meant to come from some hidden courage inside himself. God does not correct Gideon’s weakness or tell him to dig deeper. God anchors Gideon’s confidence in his presence. God gives enough for the next step, not always the whole explanation.

God also forms Gideon before changing the circumstances. The Midianites are still in the valley, but God first tells Gideon to tear down his father’s altar to Baal. The altar reveals the deeper problem. Israel’s visible enemy is Midian, but the quieter enemy is misplaced worship. What had once been unthinkable had become ordinary.

The altar warns that hearts do not drift all at once. Control, certainty, success, comfort, approval, productivity, money, work, relationships, and even a phone can quietly become places where the heart looks for peace, security, identity, and hope. God calls Gideon back to wholehearted worship before sending him into battle.

God then reduces Gideon’s army to 300 so that victory cannot be credited to strategy, strength, or numbers. God is teaching Gideon where confidence was always meant to rest. Gideon bows in worship before the battle is won because his circumstances have not yet changed, but his heart has. The same promise carries every next step: “I will be with you.”

---

Key Takeaways

• 1. Inherited blessing is not living faith The generation after Joshua had the land, the stories, and the benefits of God’s work, but the text says they did not know the Lord. A church can celebrate real history and still face the question of whether that history has become personal trust. Faithfulness from the past becomes dangerous when it is admired but not actually walked in. [04:02]
• 2. God meets people in winepresses Gideon is not found standing tall on a battlefield, but hiding in a winepress trying to keep a little wheat from being stolen. God’s call does not begin with Gideon feeling ready, brave, or impressive. The name “mighty warrior” rests on the Lord’s presence, not Gideon’s self-confidence. [08:10]
• 3. Idols grow through quiet drift The altar to Baal had become ordinary because compromise had settled in over time. An idol does not have to look dramatic to become dangerous. Anything asked to carry the weight of peace, security, identity, or hope has started taking a place that belongs to God. [20:13]
• 4. God forms before he changes Gideon wanted Midian removed, but God first dealt with the altar. Circumstances are often the visible problem, while the heart is the deeper place where God begins. A transformed heart changes how a person walks through difficulty, even before the difficulty itself disappears. [25:02]
• 5. Presence anchors the next step God does not give Gideon the whole map at once. God gives reassurance, patience, and enough light for the next act of obedience. Trust loosens the grip on control and asks a better question: what faithful step is being given right now? [35:17]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [01:33] - Celebrating Fifty Years of Faithfulness
• [03:03] - A Generation That Did Not Know
• [05:07] - Israel Hiding Under Midian’s Oppression
• [08:10] - God Meets Gideon in the Winepress
• [11:14] - Go in the Strength You Have
• [14:08] - Trusting God Without Full Clarity
• [18:30] - God Forms the Heart First
• [19:18] - Tearing Down the Altar to Baal
• [21:39] - Modern Idols of Control and Certainty
• [26:28] - God Gives Enough for the Next Step
• [29:36] - Too Many Men for the Battle
• [31:04] - Power Made Perfect in Weakness
• [33:17] - Worship Before the Victory
• [36:32] - Surrendering What Has Taken God’s Place

Bible Reading

Judges 6:11-16
“Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.’ And Gideon said to him, ‘Please, sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, “Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?” But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.’ And the Lord turned to him and said, ‘Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?’ And he said to him, ‘Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.’” [08:10]

Judges 2:10
“And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.” [04:02]

Judges 6:25-26
“That night the Lord said to him, ‘Take your father’s bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.’” [19:18]

Judges 7:2
“The Lord said to Gideon, ‘The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, “My own hand has saved me.”’” [29:36]

2 Corinthians 12:9
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” [31:04]

Observation questions

1. In Judges 2:10, what two things did the next generation not know, even though they had inherited the land and its blessings? [04:02]
2. In Judges 6:11-16, what details show Gideon’s fear, and what details show God’s approach toward him in that moment? [08:50]
3. Before God sent Gideon into battle, what specific action did God command him to take in Judges 6:25-26, and what does that reveal about what was happening in Israel? [20:13]
4. In Judges 7:2, why did God reduce Gideon’s army instead of strengthening it with more numbers? [29:36]

Interpretation questions

1. Judges 2:10 says a generation arose that did not know the Lord. How can people inherit the story, blessings, and language of faith without coming to real trust in God for themselves? [04:35]
2. Gideon asks, “If the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us?” What does that question reveal about the struggle of trying to connect God’s faithfulness with painful circumstances? [09:33]
3. God answered Gideon’s weakness with the promise, “I will be with you.” What does that suggest about where true confidence is meant to come from? [13:18]
4. God dealt with Baal’s altar before dealing with Midian. Why might God choose to address misplaced worship before changing outward circumstances? [25:02]

Application questions

1. It is possible to admire a history of faith without walking in living faith personally. In what areas has faith felt more inherited than personal lately, and what would it look like to trust God more directly there? [02:21]
2. Gideon met God in a winepress, not in a place of visible strength. Where does life currently feel like a winepress for you—fear, exhaustion, uncertainty, discouragement—and what would it mean to believe that God meets people there? [08:10]
3. Hearts often drift through small compromises over time. What is one place your heart tends to turn for peace, security, identity, or comfort besides God? [21:39]
4. Some good things can quietly become ultimate things—control, certainty, success, productivity, money, relationships, or even a phone. Which of these is most likely to take God’s place in your heart, and how do you usually notice it happening? [36:32]
5. God often forms the heart before changing the situation. Is there a difficult circumstance where you have mostly been asking for relief, while God may be inviting deeper trust, surrender, or obedience first? [18:38]
6. God often gives enough light for the next step, not the whole map. What is one next faithful step in front of you right now that you may already know, even if many other questions remain unanswered? [35:17]
7. Gideon worshiped before the battle was won. What would worship, trust, or surrender look like in your life before the outcome changes? [33:17]