Lacey Campus: March 29

Heat. Heat. N.

Heat.

Hey, heat. Hey, heat.

Heat.

Heat. Heat.

Long before I ever cry,

you answer me

where the thunder hides.

I can't outun

this heart I'm tethered to

with every step

I collide with you.

Like a tide wave,

crushing over me,

rushing in to meet me here. Your love is

fierce like a hurricane

that I can't escape

tearing through the atmosphere.

Your love is fierce.

You cannot fail.

The only thing I found

is through it all. You never let me

down.

Don't hold back. Relentless in pursuit.

At every turn, I come face to face with

you.

Like a tide wave,

crashing over me,

rushing in to meet me here. Your love is

fierce like a hurricane.

that I can't escape.

Tearing through the atmosphere.

Your love is fierce.

You chase me down.

You seek me out.

How could I be lost when you've called

me found?

>> You chase me down,

>> seek me out.

>> How could I be lost when you call me

found?

You chase me down.

You see me out.

>> How could I be lost when you called me

found?

Like a tide of wave

crashing over me

rushing in me here. Your love is fierce

like a hurricane

that I can't escape

tearing through the atmosphere.

Your love is fears.

Your love is fear.

His love is fear.

Heat. Heat.

Everyone needs compassion,

a love that's never failing.

Let mercy

fall on me.

Everyone needs forgiveness.

The kindness of a savior.

The hope of nations.

Savior. He can move the mountains.

My God is mighty to save. He is mighty

to save.

forever.

Author of salvation.

He rose and conquered the grave. Jesus

conquered the grave.

So take me as you find me. All my fears

and failures.

Fill my life again.

I give my life to follow

everything I believe in.

How I surrender.

Savior. He can rule the mountains.

My God is mighty to save. He is mighty

to save

forever.

Offer of salvation.

For you rose and conquered the grave.

Jesus conquered the grave.

Shine the light and let the whole world

see.

King for the glory of the risen king.

Jesus shine a light and let the whole

world see.

We're singing for the glory of the risen

king.

Savior. He can move the mountains.

My God is mighty to save. He is mighty

to save

forever.

Author of salvation.

He rose and conquered the grave. Jesus

conquered the grave.

Savior.

He can move on.

My God is mighty to save.

He is mighty a savior

forever.

Author of salvation.

He rose and conquered the grave. Jesus

conquered the grave. He rose and

conquered the grave. Jesus conquered the

grave.

He is jealous for me.

Loves like a hurricane. I am a tree

bending beneath the weight of his wind

and mercy.

And all of a sudden

I am unaware of these afflictions

by glory

and I realize just how beautiful you

are. How great your affection are for

me.

How he loves us so

how he loves us.

>> How he loves us so

He is jealous for me

like a hurricane. I am a tree bending

the weight of his wind and mercy.

I am unaware of thesections

by glory.

And I realize just how beautiful you are

and how great your affection are for me.

Oh,

how he loves us so.

>> Oh, how he loves us.

>> How he loves us so

Yeah, he loves us. Oh, how he loves us.

Oh, how he loves us. Oh, how he loves

So we are his portion and he is our

prize. Drawn to redemption by the grace

in his eyes. His grace is an ocean we're

all singing.

Oh, hell needs look like nothing to see.

Kiss in my heart just finding the inside

of my chest. I don't have time to

maintain these regrets when I think

about

the way

he loves us. Oh, how he loves us. Oh,

how he loves us. Oh, how he loves.

Yeah, he loves us. Oh, how he loves us.

Oh, how he loves us. Oh, how he loves

He loves us. Oh, how he loves us. Oh,

how he loves us. Oh, how he loves

relax.

Close.

Good morning.

Hello.

have an Easter egg dash. But what

happens before Easter?

Good Friday. Yeah, we are having a Good

Friday service here on Friday 6:30. It

is combined with our DuPont campus. It

is expected to be about an hour long. We

are not doing child care because we want

families to come and worship together

for Good Friday. So, it's going to be

about an hour long. Again, no child

care. When you come, if you are a

regular, if you would please park out

into the grassy part of the parking lot

that is um uh has a gravel bed so you

don't have to worry about getting stuck

out there. But we would love to leave

the front uh parking spots and the

pavement in the back for guests because

we're expecting we end up getting a lot

of neighborhood guests on on um Good

Friday and it's the first time it

happened. It kind of was surprising to

me, but it's not surprising at all.

People who live in the area say, "Hey,

I've been looking at your church and

I've really thought about coming to

church." So, it's really encouraging for

us to have people from the neighborhood

come to church. And we'd love for them

to have seats. So, move up to the front

in and let's leave some of the middle

rows um available for guests. Uh let's

see. The next thing we're going to talk

about, we talked about that egg dash.

So, if you have a kiddo, uh small people

up to fifth grade, they're welcome to

the egg dash. It's going to be after

each of the services. So after the nine,

after the 11 out in the front um towards

the street area, so bring a basket. Uh

we have lots of goodies in the eggs,

thousands of eggs, and it's a dash, not

a hunt. So your little guys can do it.

And the next thing we're going to talk

about is well, we already did that, so

we're gonna Palm Sunday. Okay, today the

kids are doing a great fun craft.

actually many crafts in kids church this

morning because it is a fifth Sunday. Uh

Wes was trying to figure out if I could

figure out the craft, but it might have

something to do with a tomb and a donut.

So, uh if you Yeah, tombs and donuts. If

you didn't get a kid or a donut, kids,

you'll get a donut. All right, we're

going to release kids to kids church. Uh

1st through 5th, go over underneath the

exit sign over there in this building.

small ones go back into the kids wing.

If you

Hey.

Nah. Nah.

Well, good morning again from all of us

to you.

What a blessing uh to serve alongside so

many of you guys last week at Service

Sunday. I was pretty amazed by and

impressed by uh a couple young families

who were serving with their little

tinies. One strapped to mama's belly and

the other one playing in the dirt and

and uh just so thankful for families

that uh serve together and grab the

vision of the church and go out there.

So uh really thankful. Uh this morning

is kind of fun because I'm going to be

actually preaching at all three of our

services. So, I'll go from here and race

up to Dupont for their 10:00 a.m. and

preach and then race back just in time

to preach for our 11:00 a.m. here. Uh

because this morning I was I was I found

out just this morning I was doing this

because Pastor Mark wasn't able to make

it. Um but if you're a friend of Pastor

Mark's, don't worry, it's not anything

tragic. It's actually something quite

celebratory. And I'll just leave it at

that.

Mystery mystery.

So, we're in a series uh in the book of

Judges. We'll be hitting chapters four

and five today. Pretty exciting. Uh and

uh we have titled the series the

consequences of conformity. And we

definitely have the tendency as human

beings to just become tribal to kind of

become like those who we are with. uh

what whatever the culture looks like,

whatever our friend group looks like,

whatever our schools look like or our

workplaces, we tend to just kind of

blend in when in fact God's word tells

us that we're to be salt and light to be

very different than the culture around

us. Today, we're going to talk about a

little something called FOMO. How many

of you guys know what FOMO is? What is

it?

The fear of missing out. Oh my goodness.

Kevin Pittz has FOMO. I'll just be

honest with you. I have FOMO. If I find

out that there are people having fun

somewhere and I'm not there, I'm like,

why am I not there having the fun? I'm

missing out on the fun. I need the fun.

Where what's happening? Yeah, this is a

very real thing. It's it's uh we a lot

of us experience it in different kind of

ways. What I'm going to present to you

this morning is that I believe that God

wants us to have FOMO

for being a part of his plan.

He wants us to have FOMO for being a

part of his plan. In fact, when we don't

obey him, when we don't join him in what

he's doing, when we lack faith and

courage and kind of hold back and and

watch to see if anybody else is going to

do it, often times that's when we really

miss out. We miss out on the blessings.

We miss out on the victory. And we will

miss out on some rewards even in

eternity. So this morning, I'm going to

challenge you or hopefully God's word is

don't wuss out

so you don't miss out.

Don't wuss out when God tells you

exactly, clearly, plainly, simply what

you're to do, what he's going to do.

Don't wuss out because you don't want to

miss out. You don't want to miss out on

the good things that God can and will do

through you. So, let's jump into Judges

Judges 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4. Hope some of you brought your

physical Bibles with you as well. I

always like to have the words up on the

screen though in case you didn't. And we

always have a table in the back with the

sign that says grab a Bible. Those are

free for the taking if you want to keep

one or you can borrow it for the day.

But let's look at chapter 4 verse 1. I

guess with that I don't need my old man

glasses. Here we go. And the people of

Israel again did what was evil in the

sight of the Lord after Ehood died. And

the Lord sold them into the hand of

Jabin, king of Canaan, who reigned in

Hazor.

The commander of his army was Cicora,

who lived in Heresth, Haguim. Then the

people of Israel cried out to the Lord

for help, for he had 900 chariots of

iron, and he oppressed the people of

Israel. cruy for 20 years.

Verse one is our broken record, my

friends. We've talked about the fact

that there is a cycle in Judges that

seems to happen. The cycle begins with

the Israelites rebelling against God.

And again, they do what was evil in the

sight of the Lord. We had this this

great uh example of a judge. His name

was Ehood. He did some amazing things

for God. He obeyed God and he took out

this wicked, wicked king that was

oppressing Israel. And so we had some

years of peace. The land had rest. It

was such a good thing. But instead of

during the good seasons of life, us

drawing closer to God and thanking him

for the peace that we're experiencing

and the joy and the celebrations,

we tend to get really independent during

those times because we don't necessarily

need God, do we? Well, we don't think

everything's going well. I had a great

week. We're having a good year. Marriage

is good right now. And so, we stop

praying. We stop worshiping. We stop

doing the things that we know God's

called us to do. And Israel becomes a

conformist to to the whole world around

them. What we find out throughout Judges

is what they tend to do when when this

evil is done is they go after the gods

of the people of that land. And the gods

of the people of that land were awful.

They're false gods obviously, but

there's demonic presences that drive

these things. And so the worship that

takes place is things like ritual

prostitution and child sacrifice. The uh

rape, I mean, it was awful. I mean, it's

ugly. It was totally ugly. What an

Israelite who's supposed to be God's

child began to do. There's even a valley

in Israel to this day that you can visit

called the Valley of the Children

because that's the valley where so many

children were sacrificed to false gods

that it became known as that place

because there's so many bones and and

relics of that. It's just awful. And we

think, what in the world is going on?

The people of God are supposed to be

different. So the Lord says, I'm going

to sell you into the hand of this guy

named Jabin.

Now, selling them into the hand, I think

the Lord doing so is really important

for us to notice for two reasons. First

of all, God is sovereign and in control.

Even when, again, as an Israelite, you

might think, "Holy cow, we've we've been

enslaved by the Canaanites. This is

awful. And it's a a cruel 20-year

enslaver enslavement.

Is God even in control?" Well, yes, he

is. In fact, he disciplines those he

loves. And so he sovereignly allowed

this to happen, enabled it to happen.

But secondly, this concept of selling, I

like that because what what they had

done is they had begun to serve other

gods. And so they became enslaved to

those gods. He says, you want to act

like a slave, I'll sell you like slaves

is kind of what God says in his

discipline. And you want to be a slave

to an idol, how about I'll make you a

slave to the idoltors. We'll see how

that goes.

And again, his discipline is always for

restoration. So he's hoping at some

point during this discipline process

that they will cry out to him and they

finally do. They finally cry out to the

Lord. They repent and say, "Lord, help

us because we are under such such

oppression."

So the tool of this of this discipline

is a king named Jabin.

And uh Jabin also has this uh it's in

the it's in the north area by the way of

those of the maps. I didn't bring the

map up again, but if you remember it's

kind of northern Jerusalem.

And Jabin reigned in Hazor um and had

this commander of his army. He was

ruthless and he was good. His name is

Cicora.

And Cisora's advantage, what he's known

for is his 900 chariots of iron, which

were dominant,

especially any time that the battlefield

was the big plains that are just kind of

north central in Israel. And we should

remember that our author told us about

these chariots of iron way back in

chapter one.

It says this, "And the Lord was with

Judah." I mean, took possession of the

hill country. Well, that you can't take

a chariot up there. But he could not

drive out the inhabitants of the plain

because they had chariots of iron.

So, a couple centuries earlier when

Israel had been given the promised land

by God, told to drive out the

inhabitants, completely drive them out

so that you won't be tempted to serve

their god. so you won't be tempted to

marry their their uh their descendants.

We we don't want that. This is to be

your land. They couldn't do it.

Fear won out over faith because of these

900 chariots that to them that was an

insurmountable obstacle. Like how do we

take on chariots made of iron?

Lesson for us

because again this is centuries that

have taken place. lesson for us. The

consequences of our sin often last a

long time.

The consequences of my rebellion, of my

failure to completely obey. Because

remember, partial obedience is

disobedience. Yeah.

The consequences can last a long, long

time. And so, I don't want to put God to

the test. Do you? No. But again, finally

after 20 years, the people cry out for

the Lord for help. So, Israel's in the

cycle, and we're going to get to the

place where now the Lord delivers them.

And the way he does this is by raising

up a deliverer that are called the

judges. So, who's going to be our

deliverer? Enter a young woman or old

woman, I don't really know, named

Deborah. Now Deborah a prophetesses the

wife of Lapedoth was judging Israel at

that time. She used to sit under the

palm of Deborah between Rama and Bethl

in the hill country of Ephraim. And the

people of Israel came up to her for

judgment. She sent and summoned Barack

the son of Abanoam from Cadesh Naphali

and said to him, "Has not the Lord the

God of Israel commanded you? Go gather

your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000

from the people of Nahali and the people

of Zebulun, and I will draw out Cicora,

the general of Jabin's army, to meet you

by the river Kashon with his chariots

and his troops, and I will give him into

your hand." All right, Deborah, she's a

good guy in our story. She is identified

as a prophetess. Uh now most prophets in

the Old Testament are men, but there are

definitely some that are women. She's

not just, you know, the wife of Mr.

Prophet. She's actually the prophet.

She's the prophetess, which means that

she would get direct revelation from God

and then communicate it to God's people.

That's what a prophet did.

Interestingly, her actions are called uh

she it says that she was judging Israel

at this time and that the Israel came up

to her for judgment. So, it's entirely

possible that Deborah was both a

prophetist and a judge. Now, there's a

couple different kind of judges in the

Old Testament. Uh the kind that we see

in the book of Judges is, as I said

before, it's a deliverer type. So, it's

not necessarily that they're trying to

figure out um are the Canaanites and and

this king and and Cicer are they are

they uh guilty or innocent, but God has

cast the verdict already guilty.

And so, they're more like the ones that

meet out the judgment. They're more like

the the executioner, not the judge and

the jury. So, that's that's the kind of

judges we see in judges. But in the book

of Exodus, we see that there was a

different kind of judge as well. And

they were called different things at

different times. But it was a spiritual

adviser that would meet people and help

them settle their disputes one with

another. You know, you you've got an

argument over a boundary line or you've

got an argument over an inheritance or

whatever it is, you'd bring your case to

somebody and they would kind of judge.

So, it's hard to tell whether Deborah

was one of those kinds of judges or not

uh because she's not necessarily ever

called a judge, but we know she's a

prophetist and she receives this word

from the Lord. And so, she says, "Hey,

we need to uh we need to get Barack, the

son of Abonoam."

Now, one thing that should probably pop

out, as I said before, prophets were

typically men in the Old Testament.

Both types of judges also were typically

men in the Old Testament. So for the

Hebrew reader, for somebody that was

understanding of these these types of uh

in fact in Exodus, uh the kind of judge

that settled disputes, it was commanded

it had to be a man. So we should kind of

get a hint that something's not quite

right in Israel. Um the the the men

aren't leading spiritually. They don't

seem to be leading uh functionally. Uh,

and so God has raised up this this

beautiful, wonderful woman, Deborah. And

so Deborah says, "Hey, let's go get

let's go get this guy, Barack, the son

of Abanoam."

And then um what she's to say to him is,

"Has not the Lord God of Israel

commanded you?" So it it sounds like

it's in the form of a question, but this

is actually what what one would call a

prophetic formula. It's very rhetorical.

she means he has he has 100% called you

and it's just kind of phrased that way

for uh for dramatic effect and for

writing purposes and all that kind of

stuff. But so she she has this big

prophetic pronouncement to Barack saying

go and gather and fight. All right,

you're going to be the one that delivers

Israel. You're gonna be the one. You're

going to be the judge that takes care of

this this this awful cruel general Cisra

and this cruel King Jabin. You're going

to be the one.

And she recruits or

excuse me, she tells him to recruit from

two of the tribes. Um, excuse me, got

something in my throat. Zebulun and

Naphali. And interestingly, we're going

to find out in chapter five. Chapter 5

is actually a song about what happens in

chapter 4. Uh so we're not going to

preach verse by verse through chapter 5.

I know I usually do that, but we're

going to we're going to let you do that

on your own. Give you some homework this

week. But we find out this detail that

um actually all of the tribes are

invited to go do the fighting. It's just

that the dominates were from those two

tribes. And so uh we'll find that out a

little bit later and I'll I'll talk

about that. Um, but in verse 7, I want

you to notice the change of subject as

we start in verse six of the things that

Barack is to do. Go and gather and you

guys are going to fight. But guess what?

What who who's talking here? And it

says, "And I will draw out Cicora."

God, it's God through Deborah, right? So

he's promising, "I will draw out Cisra."

And what else will God do? God will give

them into your hand. So, the subject

changes from what Barack is going to do

to what God is going to do.

And I was thinking about this this week.

I'm a little tempted to be jealous of

Barack because God gives him this clear

and easy instruction. Okay, here's

here's the things you're going to do.

And and then he gives him a guarantee, a

victory

of even drawing them out towards the

river Keshan. God's going to do this

stuff. So I a simple instruction and a

guaranteed victory. Man, I was I mean I

was talking to a friend just this week.

There's so many things in my life that

I'm like I want to know what God's will

is in this regard or in this regard. I

don't know what God wants me to do. I

want to know God's will. And I would

just love it if you just in a really

nice clear voice say, Kevin, what I'd

like you to do is gather your

belongings, get in your truck, and go to

this place and do this thing. And guess

what? I'm going to show up and do the

things that I do. and it's going to be a

great result. And I'd be like, "Oh,

thank you, Lord. What? That would be so

nice."

But then God reminded me

that I've got a whole book full of

things that I know the Lord has

commanded me to do and a whole book full

of guarantees he makes to me in the

process.

And yet I still fail to do some of those

things. And I still lack the faith to

walk in those things. And when I wuss

out, I miss out.

But even with Barack, he's he's a lot

like me and you. He's human. We're going

to find out. Even though he's got these

clear instructions and this guarantee,

he's going to struggle to faithfully

obey. Barack said to her, "I if if you

will go with me, I will go. But if you

will not go with me, I will not go." And

she said, "I will surely go with you.

Nevertheless, the road on which you are

going will not lead to your glory, for

the Lord will sell Cicora into the hand

of a woman." Then Deborah arose and went

with Barack to Cadesh. And Barack called

out Zebulun and Naphali to Cadesh. And

10,000 men went up at his heels. And

Deborah went up with him.

Now this should hurt every man in the

room.

What's he doing?

He's got clear instructions.

He's got a guarantee.

And he says, "Um,

I don't want to go alone. Will you go

with me?

What What is he afraid of? Well, there's

there's plenty of things, I'm sure, to

be afraid of. We all have plenty of

things to be afraid of in this world.

He's he he could be fearful. Well,

people won't follow me. They know you.

You're the prophetist. They won't follow

me. I need the weight of of your your

words so that they'll come and and I can

recruit them. Well, maybe he's afraid of

the recruiting. Maybe he's afraid of the

fighting like well will God really get

scissor out to fight us and then give us

the will he really or maybe if I have a

little trinket the prophetus with me

like the Israelites who brought the ark

of the covenant with them to battle at

one point that was not what they were

supposed to do maybe if if I got my

little rabbit's foot with me prophet

estra maybe then I can win

I'm sure he had in inadequacies these

he and he sees the obstacles. He sees

again this modern warfare stuff that

they don't have.

There's plenty of reasons. But I tell

you, a believer when God is given a

clear command,

there should never be any ifs. And there

should also never definitely ever be I

will not if not. That should not be in

Brock's vocabulary. That should not be

in my vocabulary. Again,

could we throw the first stone though?

Think through your life. Allow Holy

Spirit to search your heart. What

commands has God given me that I'm

unwilling to complete?

And what promises has God guaranteed me

and yet I faithfully fail to participate

in his kingdom work?

What inadequacies do I focus on

that stop me from serving in my local

church,

being involved in ministry, and serving

my neighbor? It's all these things I'm

called to do. What What obstacles do I

face

that stop me from sharing Christ with my

neighbor?

Deborah does agree to go with him, which

is interesting. I think it's the grace

of God.

Despite his rebellious attitude, God

still is going to graciously use Barack.

However, there's going to be this

consequence. He's not going to get the

military glory that normally as the

commander of this large force and uh you

know being oppressed for all those

years, the the victory and the and the

cries and the shouts and all that, it's

not going to go to him, but it's going

to go to a woman, which at this point in

the story, if you're like me, I'm

assuming that's Deborah, but we'll see

if that's true or not.

So perhaps by way of application, you

can relate to uh Barack's story and but

perhaps you relate a little bit to

Deborah's story.

Um

maybe you're married to a spiritually

passive man.

You know, you've given your husband

books on how to be a godly man. You've

tried to drag him to church with you.

you've you sent him sermon clips.

I just want to caution you, be careful

that you don't drive him farther from

God because I I was thinking about it

like a drug addict this week. I was

talking about a friend who just refuses

to want any help with his drug

addiction. He just doesn't want it. And

you can never force an addict to get

help. They have to want the help.

And you can't for force a passive man to

lead because you'll just emasculate him

further.

So I I think we need to be like Deborah

in this way. She doesn't berate him. She

doesn't unnecessarily embarrass him even

though there are going to be

consequences and she's a prophetist. She

has to tell him the pro the consequences

that God has told her.

But scripture talks about that uh that

wives can even win an unbelieving spouse

to the Lord. Wives can do that by having

a gentle and respectful tone and

attitude and activity and that someone

can be one over to Christ with that kind

of a godly life. So just be cautious

that you leave some room for your

husband to come along.

And this this story, I do think, is

highlighting on purpose that there's a

contrast between men who who decline to

lead and women who God then uses to lead

faithfully.

Both on a spiritual level and on a

military level, God will raise up women

to lead when the Israelite men are

cowards and when they decline

leadership. And it still happens today.

So, first of all, men start leading.

Pick up the mantle of leadership. Bring

your family through the scriptures. Pray

with them. You be the one to say, "No,

we're going to church in the morning."

So, be up. This is an optional thing. We

do this. This is what we do. We gather

together with God's people and we

worship the Lord. We learn about him.

We're going to go to service Sunday.

Yeah, there's an obstacle. We've got a

little tiny baby. Hey, strap it on.

Let's go work. Will we get as much work

done as everybody else? Maybe not. But

we'll be there and we'll testify to the

good God that we serve. Men, men lead in

all of these ways. And women, of course,

allow room for your formerly passive man

to step into his God-given role of

leadership.

So Deborah accompanies Barack. He calls

out the uh the tribes, assembles the

10,000 men. We're going out to fight.

But who will the woman be that gets the

glory for slaying Cicora?

Now Heber the Kenite had separated from

the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab,

the father-in-law of Moses, and had

pitched his tent as far away as the oak

in Zah Ananim, which is near Kadesh.

Now, this is odd. Um, what does this

have to do with the price of rice in

China?

I mean, we all have that family member,

don't we? You're talk and you sit there

talking about the nice dinner and and

you know you subject comes up and maybe

we're talking about sports or board

games and they're like I like corn.

What? What do you say, Grandma? I like

corn.

We were talking what? Somehow it makes

total sense to them. They had this

stream of consciousness thing that got

them to where they like corn or whatever

it is. We all have that family member.

If you don't, it's you. Um,

but here's what apparently we're

supposed to learn. There's a guy named

Heber who had separated from the

Kenites. Now, the Kenites are uh long

descendants of uh Moses family. So, his

his father-in-law's family and they had

they had converted to the God of Israel

and lived among the Israelites for many

many years. Faithful, good clan.

We learn a little bit about them in

chapters 1 and two as far as you know

where they settled and all that kind of

stuff. But Heber seems gone over to the

dark side. There's a couple things that

we know about the Kenites. One is that

they were nomadic and we kind of get a

hint of that as far as he had pitched

his tent uh over by the oak of Anam

which is near Cadesh. Remember Kadesh is

where they're headed for the battle. Um,

so he the the second thing that we know

about the Kenites is that they were

smiths. So they were metal workers. The

the metallurgy. Uh, I'm a bit of a metal

worker myself, so I get it. The hint

though I think that we might get is

we've got all these chariots of

iron.

And uh, as a smith, you could probably

get a good amount of work there. I think

maybe the subtle clue reading between

the lines is that there may be some sort

of financial gain to switching sides to

those that were oppressing and maybe you

get a little less depressed too. So

Heber the Kenite totally wusses out

instead of serving God, instead of doing

the time, whatever it is, he totally

wusses out of his responsibilities and

defects.

Jesus himself talks about how uh how

difficult it is for a rich person to

enter the kingdom of heaven. And we're

warned throughout scripture uh against

the love of money because the love of

money is the root of all kinds of evil.

So you got to be careful when it comes

to money. And that's kind of where we

are with this little interruption. So

let's let's get back to the story. Okay.

I want to know how this battle goes.

When Cicero was told that Barack the son

of Abodome had gone up to Mount Tabor,

Cicora called out all his chariots, 900

chariots of iron, and all the men who

were with him from Herish Hagim to the

river Keson. And Deborah said to

Bareric, "Up, for this is the day in

which the Lord has given Cicora into

your hand. Does not the Lord go out

before you?" Another prophetic

rhetorical question. And of course he

does. So Barack went down from Mount

Tabor with 10,000 men following him. And

the Lord routed Cisora and all his

chariots and all his army before Barack

by the edge of the sword. And Cicora got

down from his chariot and fled away on

foot. And Barack pursued the chariots

and the army to Heresth Hagim. And all

the army of Cicora fell fell by the edge

of the sword. Not a man was left.

Yeah, baby. This This is a part There's

a lot of uh biblical accounts,

historical accounts that get made into

movies. This would be the big battle

scene, and I'm telling you, this would

have been epic. That 10,000 and and the

chariots and the horses and the the foot

soldiers from the other side, and they

come to battle.

But what what we would see behind the

scenes is that Cisora, this this cruel,

mighty uh warlord guy, he's bloodthirsty

and he's greedy for battle.

He's a little overconfident. In fact, he

sends all the chariots and all the foot

soldiers because he's like, "This is a

guaranteed victory." And you know,

there'd be that one color guy that's,

you know, a lieutenant or something

that's like, "But Cisora, we don't need

all of them do. we shouldn't we wait and

have a second wave? And he'd be like,

"No way. I'm squashing these Israelites

like ants." You know, bam. And they go

in there. Notice uh you may have noticed

already, but the river Kishon is

mentioned quite a bit in this story. And

again, we have it in here at the end of

verse uh 13 there.

Why is that mentioned? Well, again, uh,

chapter five, in the song of this

account, uh, there's a couple blanks

that get filled in telling us that God

caused the river Kishon to flood over

its banks.

And so, this created this muddy mess

that slowed and stopped these chariots,

completely eliminating their advantage

and allowing Barack and his army to take

out how many? All of the chariots. Yeah.

900. And how many of the foot soldiers?

All of the foot soldiers. All of them.

Not a man was left.

Now, there's some things that we can uh

enjoy about the author's writing.

Um

Barack or Cisora. First of all, this is

just kind of a picture. This isn't even

about the writing. This is about what

happened. Cisora, this mighty man

entered a battle with his armor, you

know, and chest out, riding this

magnificent chariot, going in ready for

the victory. He's forced to get down.

Can I get down, mommy? I'm done with my

dinner. Total wuss move here and flee on

foot. He just runs like a coward.

No, no, there's there's no bravery. Oh,

I go down with my soldiers. I go down

with a ship. There's nothing like that.

He runs away. And it says at the end,

not a man was left.

Do you get the subtle dig?

Yeah, Cicero wasn't a man at all. He was

left. Everybody else is dead. There was

a man left, but there wasn't a man left.

So, the author gets his dig in.

Again though, the prophetus Deborah has

predicted that Cicora wasn't going to

fall by Barack's hand. So even this is

providential uh by God. But Cicora fled

away on foot to the tent of Jel, the

wife of Heber the Kenite.

For there was peace between Jabin, the

king of Hazor, and the house of Heber

the Kenite. And JL came out to meet

Cisora and said to him, "Turn aside, my

lord. Turn aside to me. Don't be

afraid." So he turned aside to her into

the tent and she covered him with a rug.

And he said to her, "Please give me a

give me a little water to drink for I'm

thirsty." She opened a skin of milk and

gave him a drink and covered him. And he

said to her, "Stand at the opening of

the tent. And if any man comes and asks

you, is anyone here?" Say no. So again,

finally we figure out why the author

told us about Hebrew the Kenite. He is a

part of the story. or maybe more

accurately, his wife is part of the

story. Because as Cicero is running away

on foot, looking behind him, hoping he

can save his hide, he comes to her tent

and she invites him in to hide from the

pursuing army. And exhausted and

defeated, he's so thirsty, asks for some

water. She gives him a little bit of

milk. Uh the name JL means goat, so it

could be goat's milk. She could have had

a thing for goats. We don't know. But

she gives him some milk. Isn't that

sweet? Well, little baby sister the

coward, the little boy got down from his

dinner, but he just wants a little milk.

I love this.

And his words too, they also drip with

uh with with ironic comedy here because

this translated is anyone here in the

Hebrew translated directly is is any man

here? Is any man here? Nope. No man

here. just this chump, this was.

But JL, the wife of Heber, took a tent

peg and took a hammer in her hand. Then

she went softly to him and drove the peg

into his temple until it went down into

the ground while he was lying fast

asleep from weariness. So he died.

And behold, as Barack was pursuing

Cisora, JL went out to meet him and said

to him, "Come, and I will show you the

man whom you are seeking." So when he

went into her tent, and there lay Cicora

dead with the tent peg in his temple.

Okay.

He

may have been comfortable betraying God

and Israel with the Canaanites, but not

his wife.

Again, we have an example of a man who's

a coward and who's a traitor and a woman

who is faithful and she knows what

they're supposed to do. She's the

heroine of our story today. She takes

action to redeem the Israelites from the

cruel oppression of the Canaanites.

We might think this is so crazy though.

This is so brutal. It's there's trickery

involved. She's she's deceiving him. Is

this okay? Yes. All is fair in love and

war. When you're at wartime, this is

this you people need to die. And I'm

telling you again, this is an

oppressive, cruel, ungodly, sinful

people group. You know, we read about uh

the the the Muslim faith and how in the

Quran it says that if you uh if you

capture another people, you can take as

many of those women as you want as as

wives. And and it's not it's compulsory.

In fact, you can rape as many as you

want as well because they're less than

people if they're not you. This is like

given as permission. It's guess who are

the descendants that that start Islam?

They get it from these people groups. So

these these people likely had molested

and hurt

countless Israelite women, possibly JL

herself, possibly her daughters. We

don't know. But we know again this is a

wicked man that gets what he deserves.

So, don't feel too sorry for for tent

peg boy here. Okay.

And you kind of wonder about the tent

peg. I know I did. Well, I read this

week that as a nomadic people in the

nomadic tribe, it was typically the

wife's job to put the tent up, including

the tent pegs.

She knows how to do this. You know, some

of you are like, "I couldn't swing a

hammer that accurately." You're like,

"No, she could." So, she took what she

had. She took what she knew and she

offered it up to God in an act of

obedience. She knew what God's will was

and she took care of business with what

she had. And again, I think this is a

reminder like we like we learned last

week that my responsibility is to

respond to God's ability. I'm not

counting on myself. I'm not counting on

my knowledge, my experience, my prowess,

my vigor.

I'm counting on God's ability to get

things done. And when we act in faith

upon what God's called to do, he can

take what little we have and he can

multiply it according to his ability.

One of the themes in our community group

this week, we were talking about what,

you know, what are the obstacles to

sharing our faith with others? Major

theme was I don't feel like I know

enough. I don't feel like I know enough.

I I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to

answer the questions and the disputes

and the the frustrations that people

have. We have to remind ourselves it's

not about what you know. God can take

what little you know and he can save a

soul. Because what we're doing when we

begin to talk to somebody about the

gospel of Jesus Christ, when we when we

tell them about how he's impacted our

life, no matter how little we know,

we're entering a conversation that Holy

Spirit started quite a while ago and

that Holy Spirit has been having with

this person. Holy Spirit is already

calling and compelling and we're just

entering the conversation. And so what

little we know is what God asks us to

bring. And we have to remind ourselves

it's okay if somebody has an objection

to Christianity or really hard question

to go, "Man, that's a good question. I

don't know.

I don't know." But I bet you I can find

out and we can continue this

conversation later. That is totally

okay. You're not expected to be the

Bible answer man or be the Bible answer

woman. You don't have to know all the

trivia and all the names and all the

references, but you know what God has

done for you. Take what little you have

and offer it up to God and see that he

doesn't multiply it.

Interestingly, uh the verb for drove the

tent peg into his temple is the same as

last week when Ehood drove his sword

into the fat belly of Eglon. So this

woman is a war hero just like Ehood was.

It's epic. So on that day, God subdued

Jabin, the king of Canaan, before the

people of Israel. And the hand of the

people of Israel pressed harder and

harder against Jabin, the king of

Canaan, until they destroyed Jabin, the

king of of Canaan.

So verse 23 really as it sums up the

story is highlighting the true hero, the

true hero. So on that day, God subdued.

God conquered. God destroyed the king of

Canaan.

Let's not forget again, this is hundreds

of years after the Israelites were

called to destroy these chariots. But

it's done

and it's done by God.

When he says something needs to be done,

he's going to get it done. If I say no,

he's going to use somebody else.

If you say no, he's going to use

somebody else. And all of a sudden,

because I worked out, now I miss out.

And and and two faithful women go down

in history as helping to deliver and

save Israel. And the slightly less

faithful Bareric Barack is kind of a

laughingtock.

Chapter 5, like I said, is a song. We're

not going to read it all today, but I

want to read the first uh two verses and

the last verse. Then saying Deborah and

Barack the son of Abenome on that day

that the leaders that the leaders took

the lead in Israel that the people

offered themselves willingly bless the

Lord. So bless the Lord will be said

three times in the song and as you guys

read it on your own highlight those

bless the Lords because that's a major

theme. But look what happens. He says

man we're praising God because the

leaders took the lead. those who were

called to said yes and that the people

offered themselves fully and willingly

to the to the work of the Lord and they

praised God for that.

There's only a couple new pieces of

information in chapter 5, a couple of

which I've already told you, but another

is that even though all the tribes were

invited, there was, I think, four tribes

that declined to participate.

and the the the the big things the

obstacles they let get in their way was

apathy, uh passivity, busyiness, and the

love of money.

So, we all must make a choice whether

we're going to serve the Lord or not.

And the final verse,

so may all your enemies perish, oh Lord,

but your friends be like the sun as he

rises in his might. And the land had

rest for 40 years. I love that concept.

I'm like, Lord, may I be like the sun as

he rises in his mind. May I be as

reliable as the sun rising every day.

We don't have to wonder if it's going to

rise tomorrow. It will. And it has our

whole life. May I be that kind of man.

May I be that kind of woman that says

yes regularly to God. And there's no

question of whether I'm going to respond

or not.

Father, thank you so very much for this

convicting passage.

I confess so many ways that I'm passive

and apathetic.

I confess so many ways that I look at my

obstacles or my my inadequacies and I

let them become bigger than uh my faith.

I repent of those things, Lord.

we all do together.

May we be a church that obeys you with

with almost a reckless faith because we

count so much on your promises that you

will always be with us, that you will

win in the end, and that we'll have an

eternity to spend with you. Thank you

for the gift of the cross, which we

celebrate this week. Thank you that you

rose again on the third day. We love you

with all of our hearts. We pray these

things in the powerful and beautiful and

precious name of Jesus. Amen.

We're going to do a few more worship

songs during this time. Feel free to

make your way around to the back and

sides for communion. Uh we observe a

open communion here. You don't have to

be a member. Um so feel free to uh to

make your way around.

Worthy of every song we could ever sing.

Worthy of all the praise we could ever

bring.

Worthy of every breath we could ever

brea. We live for you.

>> Jesus, the name above every other name.

>> Jesus, the only one who could ever say,

>> worthy of every breath we could ever

brea. We live for you.

For we live for you,

>> holy,

there is no one like you. There is none

beside you. Open up my eyes and wonder.

Show me who you are and fill me with

your heart and lead me in your love to

those all around me.

Worthy of every song we could ever sing.

>> Worthy of all the praise we could ever

bring.

>> Worthy of every breath we could ever

brea. We live for you.

Jesus the name above every other name.

>> Jesus the only one who could ever say

>> worthy of every breath we could ever

breathe. We live for you.

Oh, we live in you

>> and holy.

There is no one like you. There is none

beside you. Open up my eyes in wonder

and show me who you are and fill me with

your heart and lead me in your love to

those around me. Holy,

there is no one like you. There is none

beside you. Open up my eyes in wonder

and show me who you are and fill me with

your heart and lead me in your love to

those around me.

and I will build my life

upon your love. It is a foundation.

And I will put my trust in you alone.

And I will not be shenen.

And I will build a life

upon your love. It is perfect

foundation.

I will put my trust in you, Lord, Lord,

and I will not be shame.

And I will build my life upon your love.

It is a

foundation

and I will put my trust in you alone

and I will not be shen

holy.

There is no one like you. There is none

beside you. Open up my eyes in wonder

and show me who you are and fill me with

your heart and lead me in your love to

those around me. Holy.

There is no one like you. There is none

beside you. Open up my eyes in wonder

and show me who you are and fill me with

your heart and lead me in your love to

those around me.

You are here

moving in our midst.

I worship you.

You are here

working in this place.

I worship you.

You are here

working in our midst.

I worship you.

You are here

working in this place.

I worship you.

You are way maker, miracle worker,

promise keeper, light in the darkness.

My God, that is who you are.

You are here

to touch every heart.

I worship you.

You are here

in every heart.

I worship you.

You are here

turning lives around.

I worship you.

You are here

men in every heart.

I worship you.

I worship you

cuz you are awake maker, miracle worker,

promise keeper. Tired of the darkness.

My God, that is who you are.

You are way maker, miracle worker,

promise keeper, light in the darkness by

God. That is who you are.

That is who you are.

Even when I don't see it, you're

working. Even when I don't feel it,

you're working. You never stop. You

never stop working. You never stop. You

never stop working. Even when I don't

see it, you're working. Even when I

don't feel it, you're working. You never

stop. You never stop working. You never

stop. You never stop working. Even when

I don't see it, you're working. Even

when I don't feel it, you're working.

You never stop. You never stop working.

Even when I don't see it, you're

working. Even when I don't feel it,

you're working. You never stop. You

never stop working. You never stop. You

never stop working.

You're miracle worker, promise keeper,

light in the darkness. My God, that is

who you are.

You are way maker, miracle worker,

promise keeper, light in the darkness.

My God. That is who you are.

That is who you are.

That is who you are. are. That is who

you are.

That is who you are.

A way maker, miracle worker, promise

keeper, light in the darkness. My God,

that is who you are.

You are way maker, miracle worker,

promise keeper, light in the darkness.

My God, that is who you are.

We're gonna do one more song. You know

the drill. Ushers are going to come

forward to collect any offering that you

have to give. If you don't call this

place your home, please just let it go.

We'd love to get to know you a little

better. Hang out, get to know some

people, shake some hands, laugh a

little. Okay, here we go.

I was lost at the fall running away when

I hear you call.

Father, you were your

I had no righteousness of my own. I had

no right to draw near your throne.

Father, you love me still.

And in love before you laid the world's

foundation,

you predestined to adopt me as your own.

You have raised me up so high above my

station.

I'm a child of God by grace and grace

alone.

You left your home to seek out the lost.

You knew the great terrible cause.

Jesus, your face was sad.

I work my fingers down to the bone and

nothing I did could ever atone.

Jesus, you paid my de.

And by your blood, I have redemption and

salvation.

Lord, you died that I might reap what

you have sown.

And you rose that I might be a new

creation.

I am born again by grace and grace

alone.

I was in darkness all of my life. I

never knew the day from the night. The

spirit you made me see.

I swore I knew the way on my own. A head

full of rocks, a heart made of stone.

Spirit, you moved in me.

As your touch was sleeping spirit was

awaken

on my dark and my light Christ has shown

into a kingom that cannot be shaken.

Heaven cited by grace and praise the

Lord.

So I stand in faith by grace and grace

alone.

I will run the race by grace and grace

alone.

I will slay my sin by grace and grace

alone.

I will reach the end by grace and grace

alone.

>> Amen. Have a great week.

Oh,

heat, heat. Heat.

Heat.