Flawed Heroes: Deborah - Do Your Job

Main Idea: Overcome your Fear and Fulfill your call (Or something else will)

Note cards: Everyone write down your job.

Have you ever been asked to do something you didn’t want to do? Or maybe you were afraid to do it?

Judges 4:4–10 (NIV)

4 Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. 5 She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided. 6 She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor. 7 I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’ ”

8 Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.”

9 “Certainly I will go with you,” said Deborah. “But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 There Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali, and ten thousand men went up under his command. Deborah also went up with him.

Barak gathers the army and goes to fight, but was afraid to follow God and wanted Deborah to go with him.

Often we are like Barak in that when God gives us direction for life or a task to complete we choose fear instead of walking in the victory and freedom His has promised us.

Fear will stop us from God’s Plan

Judges 4:11–24 NIV

11 Now Heber the Kenite had left the other Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law, and pitched his tent by the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh. 12 When they told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, 13 Sisera summoned from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River all his men and his nine hundred chariots fitted with iron. 14 Then Deborah said to Barak, “Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?” So Barak went down Mount Tabor, with ten thousand men following him. 15 At Barak’s advance, the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot. 16 Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim, and all Sisera’s troops fell by the sword; not a man was left. 17 Sisera, meanwhile, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was an alliance between Jabin king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite. 18 Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come, my lord, come right in. Don’t be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket. 19 “I’m thirsty,” he said. “Please give me some water.” She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up. 20 “Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he told her. “If someone comes by and asks you, ‘Is anyone in there?’ say ‘No.’ ” 21 But Jael, Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died. 22 Just then Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man you’re looking for.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple—dead. 23 On that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites. 24 And the hand of the Israelites pressed harder and harder against Jabin king of Canaan until they destroyed him.

The Lord’s purposes will always succeed, but often He is calling each of us to be His champions, but we let fear stand between us and the calling He set before us.

Barak chose to live in fear when Jael chose to obey God and freed Israel from Jabin King of Canaan.

Will you be a Barak or a Jael in your life?

Throughout Scripture we see God is saying the same thing to so many as God said through Deborah

Go!

In Isaiah God was looking for someone who was willing to GO

Isaiah 6:8 (NIV)

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

Note Card: What is your Job as a Christian? - Write it down?

Jesus said GO!

Luke 10:1–4 (NIV)

1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.

Mark 16:15 (NIV)

15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.

Just as Deborah told Barak to Go, God was sending Him to fight the battle and bring freedom and salvation to the people of Israel God is still sending people.

After Jesus Rose from the Dead He spoke to His followers just like Deborah

John 20:19–23 (NIV)

19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

We see that God’s plan was not to do everything for us, but to bring us into this amazing journey of showing the path to freedom and salvation to those who are enslaved by their sin. This is clear from another time when Jesus spoke of sending.

Jesus said to Paul on the Road to Damascus

Acts 26:16–18 (NIV)

16 ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. 17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

Deborah’s Job was to speak for God about the Justice and Victory for Israel.

Barak’s Job was to follow the command of God through Deborah, but he allowed his fear to stop him from his true purpose.

How do we not be like Barak?

Become like Jael.

1. Be in the World

Judges 4:17 NIV

17 Sisera, meanwhile, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was an alliance between Jabin king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite.

To often we are afraid of the world and what they might say or do if we build friendships or connections with people who are not like us.

*Remember Jesus was criticized many times for spending time with those who were not considered good people.*

Jael’s household had an alliance with Jabin.

We have a lot of connections with people who need to see the light of Christ. This could be a dangerous thing, because we must not allow ourselves to fall into sin, but building connections is what we are called to do.

God Says, “I am sending you!” Not “I am hiding you.”

The one time in scripture that mentions God as a hiding place the following verse may change your perspective.

Psalm 32:7–8 (NIV)

7 You are my hiding place;

you will protect me from trouble

and surround me with songs of deliverance.

8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.

Even in the idea of a hiding place in God, it is only a springboard to Go where He is leading.

2. Be Generous and Patient

Judges 4:19–21 NIV

19 “I’m thirsty,” he said. “Please give me some water.” She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up. 20 “Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he told her. “If someone comes by and asks you, ‘Is anyone in there?’ say ‘No.’ ” 21 But Jael, Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.

When we are willing to do extra to help those or care for those around us…especially when don’t deserve it we become a great light in the world of darkness.

Jesus said

Matthew 5:40–42 NIV

40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. 41 If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Don’t do the bear minimum, but do your best to show care to those around you.

When we are generous and patient God will open the door to defeat the darkness through you!

Worship Team

But you must be like Isaiah and answer.

Isaiah 6:8 NIV

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

The time is now! This week invite someone to church and the chili cook off next week. Are you doing to continue to live in fear? Or will you DO YOUR JOB for God?

Closing Line: As Deborah said to Barak I say to you today, “Go!This is the day the Lord has given Sesera (those who are lost) into YOUR hands” Stop living in fear and start living in the victory that God has given!

Will you be Barak and hide in fear hoping I will do everything (like Deborah) or will you be like Jael who was willing to pierce the darkness and become the Driving force behind change?

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