Rise Up Conference

Intro

Good morning NWMN Women. I am thrilled to be with you this morning. I know that the Holy Spirit has already been working and ministering to all of you this weekend. I am honored to be a part of the weekend with you. This Network is my network for the last eight year. Born and raised in NorCal by two church planters and felt the call of God on my life honestly watching them do ministry and bringing us girls along with them for the journey. Do I have any other PKs in the house?! And by their example i was excited todo the same with my future children. And i pray we do it just as good as them.’

But I am married to Canaan Baca. Going on 5 years this summer woohoo! Canaan is our worship pastor at New life church. And it is such a joy to do misnitry alongside of him. I serve as our Discipleship pastor: next steps of faith. Leadership and spirtual formation gets me going! And we are parents to our passionate loud one year old Brave Mone Baca.

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Romans 15:13 ESV

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Yesterday we heard an incredible message by Pastor Naomi. As to what does it look like to Rise up in our relationship with Jesus and our need for God. He is our life line. Our ever present help. Our redeemer. Our restorer. Our way maker. And miracle maker.

But I dont know about you. Growing up in church, i knew in my mind that he was all these things. I saw that he was. But needed to experience His touch. I need to experience the warmth of the Spirit.

Paul says……

So that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. SO that by the power of the Holy Spirit.

How many of you know that we need the power of the Holy Spirit todo any and everything ?

I can’t help but think about the prophetess Deborah or rose up in leadership where no woman had ever ventured before.

Do ya’ll know my girl Deborah?

Do we have any Deborah’s in the house or Debbie’s? To have a name in the Bible who represents such a strong leader who is close to the heart of the Father. Let me just say ya’ll are lucky!

Debbie, who is 55 travels all over the country to tower race. Who still makes times to lead her home and lead women. This woman runs hard not only physically but spiritually. She is in the trenches in prayer ; going to battle for her family and sisters in christ. If i was named Deborah, and i would want to be like that!

Now back to our Bible girl Deborah. She is found in the book of Judges. Now if you aren’t familiar with Judges let me give you a little background. The era of judges was a major transition period after Israel’s slavery and before the monarchy. Israel literally had no king which made them very disunited. And although the Israelites did not deserve to get what they wanted…the Lord had compassion on them and gave them a judge to deliver them . To give them an experience of peace and rest. But time and time again they would turn from the Lord and turn back to their old ways of idolatry and irresponsible intermixing with their enemies and the trouble would start again and again. So there were many judges that functioned as a temporary warrior leader raised up by God to get Israel out of the mess that they got themselves in

Because how many of you know…most times that we are in a mess we play a part in getting there…

What I found interesting about Deboah in a recent book a read called “Tell Her Story”. The author said Deborah was not “raised up” as a deliverer she was already “judging” israel. She was not a trained warrior but described as a prophetess and a magistrate who arbitrated disputes among the Israelites. This didn’t make her less of a judge-deliverer; it made her a different kind of judge, and certainly not less effective since her ministry brought the cyclical forty years of peace (Judg 5:31)

Let’s jump in Judges chapter 4.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

6 She sent and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali 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 Naphtali and the people of Zebulun. 7 And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand’?” 8 Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” 9 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 Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 And Barak called out Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh. And 10,000 men went up at his heels, and Deborah went up with him.

Barak a commander who sat under the leadership of Deborah. Barak was’t a coward but he did recognize the authority Deborah carried. Deborah called Barak up and called Barak out on needing to rise up in courage. She reminded Him who His God was.

“Has not the LORD, the God of Israel, commanded you?”

Soemetimes we need friends who we trust to calls up and call us out. But us also we need to be women who allow this to happen.

I dont know about you but we women are sometimes… difficult to see our own blind spots. Maybe it’s just me but when canaan brings something up that i may not see initially, i instantly get defensive. “How could you”?! All of sudden i feel betrayed even tho i am the one who initially hurt him.

Although Barak hesitated it was not a mark of cowardice but it could have reflected his lack of faith in the situation. He needed to borrow some of Deborah’s faith and knew that her being there would ensure the Lord’s presence. And you know sometimes our faith may be weak but rather than sulking in the lack…why not bring in someone elses faith who could help get you there…He knew Deborah was a carrier of the Holy Spirit. He knew that the strength she carried was one that that wasn’t easily shaken. The Israelites recognized Deboah’s as God’s mouth peace. as a prophet. Just by her presence with the troops built their confidence.

Wow. Imagine that . Just by being a carrier of the Holy Spirit other’s confidence builds. Faith arises. Hope is given , as Paul talks about.

I think we can take a few notes from Deborah in leadership.

Before i get into this. I think some of you may struggle with the idea that God has chosen you to lead. Just like God called women to lead back then, he is still doing that now. Whether that is in your home, in your marriage, in your work place, in your neighborhood, in your church. WE all have an avenue where we can rise up and lead. And the beauty of this is that it’s in any and every season there are opportunities of this. Some of you keep going back to where you once lead and you want to go back to that. But maybe God has you in a new season. And you need to, like Barak go into uncharted territories and maybe borrow someone elses faith to believe that there is something for you.

James 4:10 ESV

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Submit your way to him and he will be the one to lift you up. He will be the one to allow you to rise. But you cant push your way through and ask God to bless it if He isn’t in it. Even if it is “for the glory of the Lord”

As we humble ourselves and submit our thoughts to him, he will direct our steps.

Deborah submitted her ways to the Lord. They weren’t her ways. A prophet knows the voice of the Lord and walks in it.

For those of you who want to walk in this Deborah authority, ask the Lord for this. I find myself in each new season, I need a touch from the Holy Spirit.

When i was single i needed His touch

When I got married I needed His touch

When I was working in a non church environement i needed his touch

When i started working in the church, i needed His touch

When I became a mom, I needed His touch

We never not need His touch. A fresh one. I can’t live off of yesterdays victories. I need a fresh outpouring.

Now, do you know where to get that? Have you set aside time for the Lord todo a new thing. Or routinely go thorugh your quiet devotional time with the Lord. I know sometimes it is easy to get into checking it off the list.

Posture and position have a lot todo with allowing the HS to minsiter to you in power.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel came up to her for judgment.

Deborah has her holy place under the palm and it was here that the Spirit of the Lord would give her great wisdom and discernment to give to those who approached her.

Intentional time and intentional place births i believe have an impact on meeting Him face to face.

The association between trees and divine encounters with God is well known in the patriarchal narratives. From Abraham and the oak at Shechem with the promise of covenant, to Joshua’s chosen holy place, to Gideon who was declared king by the oak and to David …God told him to listen for the sound of marching in tops f the trees as a sign to attack the Philistines. The guidance was.

Where is your sacred place? Maybe it’s it a spot on the couch in that one room, or by the water, or on a walk. Can i encourage you; have it be a place where you can frequent enough. Not just once a year in hawaii. I have people i know that say that really feel His presnce in Maui and if i can could get a flight to Maui once a month id do it. Now im all about Mark Batterson’s “Change of Place, Change of Pace, equals change of perspective”. But man i need to meet with Him daily.

Now maybe you have that place but you need to change your posture. It could be a new way of reading the Bible, memorizing one scripture a month, reading the Bible out-loud. My new thing is that i can’t leave the presence of the Lord until i have met with him face to face.

John 15 goes on and on about abiding. That word is stated ten times in ten verses because the Lord knows we needed reminding. Things get tossed our way but that doesn’t mean we need to be tosses every which way.

It out of a place of spending time with Him we reflect the greatest security, confidence, grace, and humility.

You know the victory that Deborah and Barak held wasn’t for them to take the credit it on. It was through another women, Jael, to destory the army of Sisera and Jabin’s kingdom.

As we rise up and allow the Holy Spirit to use us:

-We recognize we need Him daily

-We need to sometimes borrow other’s faith

-We realize it’s about other’s rising too and getting the victory that benefits the greater community

-And its about praising God till the very end

After the great victory that took place Deborah and Barak sing a song of all that God had done to provide the Israelites with 40 years of peace.

English Standard Version Chapter 5

3  “Hear, O kings; give ear, O princes;

to the LORD I will sing;

I will make melody to the LORD, the God of Israel

Giving praise for all to hear but also for you too. reminding us that man God is the one who is charge creating these victories we get to experience. So as we rise up, lets be women who constantly give honor and glory when its due. For the big things and for the little things.

I encourage you read chapter 5 of Judges and Deborah recounts all that just happened in chapter 4 but as a worship song.

My prayer for you is the same as Paul’s

Romans 15:13 ESV

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

By the power of the Holy Spirit may you rise up in greater confidence, leadership, authority, wisdom on new seasons, discernment on old season, women and men that can help carry your faith, time and place to meet him face to face, those you can elevate and watch them rise up too so that together you sing victory songs like Deborah.