Deborah [Part 2]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. No more of this delay and hesitation, no more of this fear ruling your life.

It's time to rise up to who you actually are. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series titled, God Used Who?

And you may just be surprised, as presented at Rinaldo Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I wanna make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries. As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at pastorallen.org or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. More on that later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching.

Here is Alan Wright. We're not in a culture where everybody's going to church and everybody's thinking like a Christian. No, we got this pluralistic culture and you feel the clash of that all the time. So the book of Judges is relevant for us. These judges, these warrior, redeemer, saviors function over about a 300 year period during a time of much rebellion amongst the people of God. So in other words, the book of Judges is a collection of historical stories and narratives about the ways that God raised up deliverers who would save an undeserving people from the consequences of their sin.

That sound familiar? It's stories of how God would raise up often unlikely saviors to redeem the people so that they would not ultimately suffer the full demise of their sin. In that sense, it's the story of the gospel. Now, Deborah is distinct from other judges and she's fascinating because several reasons. First place, she's a woman and Deborah is a prophetess and she gets words from the Lord and people knew that she was intimate with God and they knew that she had wisdom and discernment. I think she got words of knowledge and wisdom and encouraging prophecies and clarity and she counseled and people came and she was a leader. She was a magistrate.

She was the one who was leading at the time. And she references herself as a mother of Israel. If we looked over into Judges chapter 5, you'll see that after the defeat of Sisera, Deborah begins to sing a song unto the Lord and I love this at verse 7. She says as she's singing, the villagers ceased in Israel.

They ceased to be until I arose. I, Deborah, arose as a mother in Israel. She was a spiritual mother. A mother is someone who nourishes and someone who might seem at one moment quiet but you try to interfere with her children and she becomes a she bear protecting her cubs and I've seen some women who you might think were just quiet and weak but you get them into motherhood and everything changes. It's amazing what happens when a woman becomes a mother and a mother is the one who holds the family in her heart as she once did in her womb and in this sense a mother cannot rest if the children are not okay.

Deborah was a mother in Israel. We had our future in-laws with us for the weekend. How fun and strange and odd.

I can't even believe that this is happening. Our son's getting married in June and his fiance and her parents stayed with us over the weekend. We had a great time. We like them.

We love them. We enjoy them and but you ought to see my wife when she's got people in the house. She is a mother and she doesn't sit down. She doesn't stop. Everything is on her mind is are the guests okay? Do they have what they need?

Is everybody all right? That's who the mother is. The mother seeks out the hurting child. She's a life giver, a protector, a comforter, and a nourisher and that's who Deborah was. She is also a prophetess. She got words from the Lord and so what was different about Deborah was she did not rule out of brute force like a Samson or something. She instead she led because of wisdom from God and revelations from God and part of what the story is about is if you get one word from heaven then it'll be stronger than the strongest army and she got a word that it was time for Barak to summon 10,000 troops and to take on Sisera even though Sisera had 900 chariots of iron and the reason you keep hearing about the 900 chariots of iron is because Israel didn't have any of this iron equipment and they were slower coming along through the iron age and they didn't have the sophisticated weaponry so think of it this way those chariots were like modern day tanks and smart missiles and they were going to go up against the chariots and the likelihood and the natural of being able to defeat them was very very slim but she got a word from the Lord that it was the time and she spoke on that that word and what happened is that as we read in the song of Deborah we don't really learn this until later in the song of Deborah I'm going to read a little bit more from chapter 5 verse 12 awake awake Deborah awake awake break out in song of Deborah song arise Barak lead away your captives oh son of Abanoam they down marched the remnant of the noble the people of the Lord marched down for me against the mighty and so she goes on singing kind of retelling the battle and she comes to verse 19 the kings came they fought then fought the kings of Canaan at Tanakh by the waters of Megiddo they got no spoils of silver from heavens the stars fought from their courses they fought against Sisera the torrent Kishon that's the river swept them away the ancient torrent the torrent Kishon march on my soul with might and what scholars recognize that she is describing here is that though it was the dry season and evidently what happened was that as the battle was about to ensue the Lord brought this huge rain and the Kishon river was swelling and overflowing its banks and what it did was it made all the lowlands really soggy and muddy and the iron chariots came and were just stuck and mired in the mud and so the chariots were rendered useless and the people then were able to fight them she had a word from the Lord about all this see the Lord knows these things and I remember the story of a position that years ago back when telegraph morse code were being used as primary communication and it was a telegraph operator position it was open and number of men had come in and were going to seek to interview for the job about a dozen of them sitting out in a crowded waiting room and one man came in kind of late and then about three minutes after sitting there that man jumped up went into the office and a few moments later came out and the boss said everybody can go home the job's been filled by this young man and they all said well what is going on why did he get the job we didn't even get a chance to interview and he said well all while people have been out here talking he says there's been a message of being tapped out a morse code that was saying whoever comes in the office first after hearing this message will receive the job it's just who was tuned in to the message you see and whole armies can fall as somebody gets one word from the Lord the name deborah means bee like a honeybee and some of the old ancient fathers of the early church they they like to think of deborah like a honeybee honeybee associated with honey and the honeycomb because they're reminded of the psalmist who says that the word of the Lord is sweeter than honey sweeter than the honeycomb and it might be a stretch to associate her in that way but she is associated with the word of the Lord and then what's also unique about deborah i just love this about deborah is this whole i won't take time to read all of chapter five i read a little bit of it where she's just saying she's saying the villager ceased in israel they ceased until i arose i deborah and she's she's able to not only sing a song of celebration to the Lord but she celebrates that God has used her let me just say i just so wish that i had understood this much earlier in my life what pride is what humility is and what they are not and let's just say that pride is when you think that all these good things in your life have been generated by you and you have no acknowledgement of what God has done but there is a way in which as Christians we can fall into this false humility in which we can't even celebrate that God has made us fearfully and wonderfully and given us gifts and uses us in such wonderful wonderful ways and deborah didn't have that problem um my wife is is it's just fun being in the house with her because she's she feels so good about herself um and she our son is applying to law schools and he's getting accepted to prestigious schools and every time he'd email us and say i've gotten accepted so and so i got a scholarship so and so and and she homeschooled been all the way through right and so when she gets the email she this is what she texts or texts she'll text back and she'll say i did it i got into such and such because she goes i got into another one and uh and we're like okay we're giving you the credit and uh it's okay to celebrate like deborah and realize that uh she was a mother in israel and god used her in this wonderful way she's a she's a wonderful person one of the things that's remarkable about deborah uh sets it apart from all the other judges there's nothing negative that's ever spoken of deborah this is not a negative word now she's a human being and there's got to be something wrong with her but you just can't kind of like karen revas you there's got to be something wrong you just don't know what it is you can't find anything you can't find anything that's alan wright and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series god's love you've heard about it with your ears you've believed it in your mind now experience it in your heart with alan wright's beloved book lover of my soul the bible is a love story from beginning to end you are the spiritual bride of christ the perfect bridegroom the bible tells about a god who has gone to unimaginable lengths to woo you to win you and to walk with you hand in hand for any man who has fallen in love with a woman you've tasted the sweetness of what god's love for you is like for any woman who has searched for true love which you long for can only be found fully in god gary chatman renowned author of the five love languages says the incredible reality that god pursues us in love comes to life and lover of my soul ancient biblical accounts explode in the heart accept christ's proposal enjoy his embrace revel in his love after all it's a match made in heaven it's lover of my soul by alan wright the gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries this broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support when you give today we will send you today's special offer we are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries call us at 877-544-4860 that's 877-544-4860 or come to our website pastor alan.org today's teaching now continues here once again is alan wright contrasted with barak who comes across at first like big sissy and interestingly his name means lightning but he's the opposite of lightning he's not fast and electric and powerful he's like well i'll go but if only if you'll go with me um what is so fascinating about this though is that when you get to hebrews 11 and you read this famous list of the heroes of the faith you'll come to verse 32 of hebrews 11 where we read and what more shall i say for time would fail me to tell of gideon barack sampson jeff of david and samuel and the prophets who through faith conquered kingdoms and forced justice obtained promises stopped the mouths of lions quenched the power of fire escaped the edge of the sword were made strong out of weakness became mighty in war and put foreign armies to flight do you see that barack is listed here amongst sampson and david and samuel and the prophets there's been a lot of discussion as to why deborah's not listed rather than barack but the fact of the matter is this is what faith is he got a word from the lord and he acted on it faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of god right and whether barack was afraid or not in the end didn't matter because what faith is is acting on a word of the of the lord all right and so he's listed in hebrews 11 as one of the great people of faith so where do you find yourself in a story like this well i i don't really identify with with with deborah she's too she's too wonderful and flawless but i could identify with barack who couldn't where you've got a battle to fight and it seems ominous and bigger than who you are but at some point you get a word from god a reassurance that in the midst of a pluralistic and pagan society when you don't have faith or courage but you get into the word of god and something happens and is quickened on the inside of you there's a reason that barack wanted deborah to go with him and it wasn't because she was going to fight she never does fight she never lifts the sword but instead she is the representative of the revelation of god i think barack is something like moses when he said to the lord if your presence does not go with us do not send me he does not want to go without the meditation upon the word of the lord and sometimes all you need are just the promises of god and it's not just his word and his promises but it's god himself that goes he's saying i don't just want to go on this word i want the one who brought the word to come and go with me you have the unfilling of the holy spirit you have believers the mind of christ you have not just a prophetess that walks along with you you have christ ephesians says you have become the dwelling place of god himself the creator of the ends of the earth who knows all mysteries whose knowledge is unlimited and whose power is unfathomable and that god lives inside of you this is how you move forward the battle belongs to the lord so the rains come the chariots are mired in the mud and barack defeats the armies of cicero and cicero's destroyed at the hands of another woman just as deborah had prophesied and in the midst of all of this i hear the word of the lord to us a beautiful word that comes in verse 14 of judges chapter 4 she has called deborah has called barack up she has prophesied to him she has instructed him and she has promised to go with him and then at verse 14 and deborah said to barack up for this is the day in which the lord has given cicero into your hand does not the lord go out before you and i think it's a word for us it's a word for somebody here there's somebody under the sound of my voice it's the word of the lord to you up up today is the day to say to say this is on the one hand to say wake up she's the mother of israel and she's like one who wakes up a child in the morning you know wake up i don't want to get enough right now wake up uh there's five more minutes wake up there's something in front of you very important there's a way in which god's present to wake up your inmost being wake up and when god says up there's power in the command let him speak to your spirit that slumbers wake up have you ever experienced that before was like i just saw something inside of me was just asleep it happens to me sometimes i'll come i'll come and i feel like i'm just i'm under that heaviness that's like it's like i'm sleepy on the inside and then i'll get a group of people with me to start praying or we come in and we start singing unto the lord and something inside of me wakes up you ever felt that wake up wake up to the goodness of god wake up to the plans of god wake up rise shine your light has come but it is also to say rise up rise up barak to who you are no more of this delay and hesitation no more of this fear ruling your life it's time to rise up to who you actually are up you ever had somebody in your life that's just spoken to you like that it's just gonna be so so simple i was i'm transferring contents of a safe deposit box to a new location and i i pulled out all this stuff too much stuff in there and stuff that that's like why is this even in here and the stuff that my wife had stuffed in there and i think and i pulled out one of them and it was what we called a blue book at the university of north carolina it was an exam i took i didn't know i didn't know it had been saved but it was from a professor my freshman year who had written on the cover of the blue book alan why are you so quiet in class anybody that could write an exam like this ought to speak up more we need to hear what you have to say shy kid from a broken family who didn't feel like he even belonged in that class is told by professor up rise up wake up rise up it's like to say move up to a new place you have a destiny and so it was that barack got up follow the word of the lord deborah went with him and the headship of evil was crushed and chapter 4 adds this line and there were 40 years of peace deborah a judge of israel a mother of israel a prophetess in the land who in the end points us to the true deliverer and savior jesus himself who again today smiles at you and says smiles at you and says up for the battle belongs to the lord and that's the gospel allen right and there's a word there peace that jumps out it's part of today's teaching on deborah from the teaching god used who and allen is back here in the studio in a moment with additional insight on this for your life and a final word god's love you've heard about it with your ears you've believed it in your mind now experience it in your heart with allen wright's beloved book lover of my soul the bible is a love story from beginning to end you are the spiritual bride of christ the perfect bridegroom the bible tells about a god who has gone to unimaginable lengths to woo you to win you and to walk with you hand in hand for any man who has fallen in love with a woman you've tasted the sweetness of what god's love for you is like for any woman who has searched for true love what you long for can only be found fully in god gary chatman renowned author of the five love languages says the incredible reality that god pursues us in love comes to life and lover of my soul ancient biblical accounts explode in the heart accept christ's proposal enjoy his embrace revel in his love after all it's a match made in heaven it's lover of my soul by allen wright the gospel is shared when you give to allen wright ministries this broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support when you give today we will send you today's special offer we are happy to send this to you as our thanks from allen wright ministries call us at 877-544-4860 that's 877-544-4860 or come to our website pastorallen.org allen somebody's listening right now maybe that word peace has really jumped out to them and this is their prayer their hope but maybe today something has changed and it's it's something they want to claim they say you know i'm claiming the peace that is promised right well i think you hear uh on route to that peace you hear a word from the lord that is the word that deborah brought to barrack up it's something in your spirit to wake up to rise up to move up it is you know sometimes when you hear a word from the lord like that you can hear it down in your heart it empowers you and i think that's that's it is like there is a way in which god is calling you up and you might have fear that you can't do it but the word of the lord goes with you and in in facing perhaps the difficulty you need to face there's going to be peace amazing peace on the other side today's good news message is a listener supported production of allen wright ministries