Flawed Heroes | Week 2 | Full Service

If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn with me to Judges chapter number four. Judges chapter number four. We're gonna get there in a little while. I just want you to be ready. And as I was preparing this message and I thought about the title of the series, flawed hero,

all I could say to myself as it relates to the individual that you and I are getting ready to have a discussion about today, y'all, this person is anything but flawed. As a matter of fact, in Judges chapter four, the person that we're about to dive deep into, this individual was called, anointed, appointed, chosen, selected,

and ordained by God to be a leader for their generation. Matter of fact, not only were they selected, appointed, called, ordained by God to be a leader for their generation, this person y'all holds the title of both prophet and judge. You see, this individual is very unique in the sense that they

speak the truth of what it is that God says. They give out the instructions of the Lord to God's people. But at the same time, this person is also trusted by the community to weigh the weightier matters of the issues that take place within the community. Y'all, this person is not flawed, this person is special.

But there is something that makes this person unique, that makes this person different. Here's the truth of the matter, out of all of the judges that God has used in scripture, out of all of the prophets that God has used in scripture, This person just so happens to be a woman, and her name is Deborah. Y'all today,

I know no ifs, no ands, no buts about it, we all would agree that God has called men to lead. He's built men to lead. He's built us to be

the priest of our homes, the head of our homes, but can I say that when I look throughout scripture and when I look throughout history, that while no ifs, no ands, no buts about it, God has called and used men to lead, but there is no doubt in my mind that God has also called, anointed, appointed, and ordained

some women to lead to? So

my assignment is very clear today. We're gonna look at the life of Deborah, and there are two things that I'm going to do. Y'all, I am going to challenge the men today. But here's the cool thing, I have every intention to encourage the women. And every sister in here said, amen. So

with that being said, as we go throughout this text, and let me just tell you right now, I love it when you talk back to me. So if y'all wanna shout amen and hallelujah in the middle of this message, please feel free to do so. But as we go throughout this message, there's something that I want you to pay attention to as it relates to Deborah.

Y'all, she holds this title, two of them, of prophet and judge. And that's super cool. But I don't want you to put all of your attention and pay attention to her title. Bigger than anything for everybody in this room, as we go throughout the text, what I want you to pay closest attention to is her posture.

Here's what I mean. This is the big idea. Yes, Deborah is a prophet. Yes, she's a judge, but Deborah's faithful to God. She's got a heart that lines up with the will of God, and the big idea is this, the posture of your heart will determine the position that you play.

See, the truth of the matter is God could care less about Deborah's titles. God could care less about your titles. What God really cares about is what is the posture of your heart? Can I trust you so I can use you?

And that's what we see happens in the life of Deborah. I'm excited for the conversation we're getting ready to have, but y'all I'd be remiss if I didn't ask the Holy Spirit to help me communicate what it is he wants me to share. So would you join me in a word of prayer?

Gracious and kind father, we thank you so much for your goodness, for your mercy, for your grace, for your love, for your peace, for you just being who you are. God, I thank you that you are in the room. I thank you that the folks in the room are hungry for more of you. So, god, in this moment, I decrease and ask that you would increase. Would you pour out your spirit upon all of us? Would you allow us to receive what it is that you want us to hear? And God, wherever I mess up, would you make it up? Thank you, Holy Spirit, for giving me preaching power that only comes from you. Hide me behind the cross, let them not see me, let them only see you. And God, I pray at the end of this message

we'd be closer to you and that you would be glorifying above all. God, we thank you, we bless you, we praise you. And it's in Jesus' name we pray and give thanks, and everybody said, Amen. So before I talk about Deborah, y'all, I gotta spend a few moments

sharing a bit personal story as it relates to the woman in my life. I brought a picture so you could just get a background of my family. So here is myself and my family. That little precious girl that I'm holding is my baby girl. That's my youngest daughter. Her name is Zuri. She's two.

We affectionately call her our Rona baby. Some Some of y'all will catch that as you're driving home. Shelter in place was a blessing in our lives. Hallelujah. And then there's my youngest son. His name is Brent as well. We call him LB for little Brent. He's an amazing, energetic young man, and I am so excited

for all the things that I know that God is going to do in his life and through his life, but then that amazingly beautiful, gorgeous, fine as wine woman And between me and my daughter, y'all, that is my wife, Shannon. She and I have been married for eleven years. Come on.

We've been married for eleven years. And one of the things that I could say as it relates to my marriage, I am one of those husbands who does, y'all pray for me, a really amazing job of hearing her, but y'all I don't always listen. I think there's some wives who can relate

to what my wife has experienced. My mama used to say, if you could you could hear. So I could hear all the things that she tells me, but there's been some moments and seasons in our lives where I didn't do a very good job of listening. And here's what I've learned as I have matured in my marriage.

I have learned that oftentimes, God will use the women in our lives, fellas, to help guide us closer to Him. God will use the women in our lives to help guide us towards the will of God for our lives. And one of the things that you and I have to be willing to do sometimes is just simply listen.

And there's a wife right now or a significant other who is just hitting her significant other, a husband in the elbow right now. Keep talking to you today. This sermon for you today.

So here it is. One day, my wife and I, we were out to dinner with another couple. This is an older couple. This is a wiser couple. The husband in this couple, he's been pouring into me. He's been mentoring me, and it's been an amazing, amazing experience. And as we were at this dinner, y'all,

there's a blind spot that's revealed about me that crushed my little soul. And the blind spot that was revealed about me, y'all, was that I struggled. We're gonna put an ED on this and just proclaim that I am delivered. But I struggle with comparison.

I struggle with looking at other men in ministry, looking at other men in life and seeing how they seem to be quote unquote further than me in my eyes, and I feel like how come I'm not further along?

So we go through the dinner and they're talking to me at the dinner and everything is fine and I leave, and when I get home, I'm still stuck on the fact that I've got this little bit of unhealthy

part about me that needs to be dealt with. Because here's the thing, my wife will tell you, I'm an Enneagram three, I'm a high achiever, I love success, love making sure that I do great things, but the truth of the matter is there's nothing wrong with that until it becomes unhealthy. So I get home, I can't sleep.

I'm tossing, I'm turning. It's 01:00 in the morning and I said, you know what, I need to go downstairs and let me just pray about this. I go downstairs, y'all, I say a thirty second prayer which was simply this, Holy Spirit, will you help me? I'm struggling. In Jesus' name, amen.

I go upstairs, I go to bed, and then y'all, I have the craziest dream. It wasn't one of those dreams to where you went to Chipotle and you had too much spicy salsa, so you're just dreaming something silly. This was one of those,

oh my goodness, the bush is on fire, but it's not being consumed. God is speaking. What are you saying, Lord? So

I wake up from this crazy dream. My wife wakes up around the same time as me. She could tell something's off. She looks at me and she says, Stop overthinking it. And I'm like, No, I'm not overthinking I just had this crazy dream and I'm trying to figure out what it means.

So then she says, well, tell me the dream. So here's the dream y'all. I'm gonna bring y'all in my personal business. So in this dream, I'm back home in Michigan, which is where I'm from. And I oh, shout out to Michigan. And I'm trying to get back home to my family.

So I'm getting ready to catch this flight and I tell my mom who's in the dream, I say, hey, ma, can you take me to the airport?

And she says, yeah, but your flight's not for another six hours. I say, cool, don't worry about it, I'll have dad take me. So then this father figure appears, and he's getting ready to take me to the airport. So I'm sitting in the back, he's sitting in the front, we're driving to the airport, but y'all,

he is driving so slow. But I mean he's driving slow, he's driving so slow to the point where I'm in the back seat in this dream and I'm getting aggravated and agitated. So I tell this gentleman who's this father figure, I say, hey man, I can't miss my flight. Do you mind driving a little faster?

And this father figure looks back at me and he says, Just chill, it'll be okay. I say, Alright, but we better not miss this flight, mister Just Chill, it'll be okay. So he keeps driving, but he's still driving slow. I'm fiddling with my phone in the back seat in this dream, and all of a sudden, I get a notification

that I miss my flight. So now I go from being agitated to angry. And this is why I was spoke by the dream because this wasn't a calm anger. I was literally raging mad. And I started yelling at this dude. I told you to drive faster. You caused me to miss my flight. And the guy says, just chill. It'll be okay.

No, it's not gonna be okay. Do you know how much airline tickets with the flight fuel is these days? It's not gonna be okay. How come you made me miss my flight? And then here's the crazy part that happens, y'all. All of a sudden, my son just randomly pops into the dream.

And this dude starts playing with my son. My son's got his bike, and my son is riding his bike all up in my dream. And the dude is like, have fun, LB. Have a great time. And I'm sitting there, and I'm like, how are y'all playing? How are y'all having fun? Do you not realize I had a destination I had to be to? And because you were driving slow, I missed my flight. And The dude looks at me one last time and he says,

Just chill, be okay. Then I wake up from the dream. So I say, Honey, that's the whole dream. Y'all, can I tell you that after I told my wife this dream, she bust out laughing at me? And

I'm like, why are you laughing at me? And she says, because, Brent, God is laughing at you. Whatever do you mean? Why is God laughing at me? What did I do wrong? And here's what she said. She said, three years ago, when your life completely and totally started to fall apart when we moved to Arizona,

you thought you were gonna plant a church, but you lost your church planting endorsement because of a sermon you preached in seminary. And then the sermon you preached in seminary got you kicked out of seminary.

And then you thought you were gonna get a job at this church, but because you put your foot in your mouth and said something you weren't supposed to say, they didn't hire you. Oh, and then by the way, you also had to go through the season where you started to drive dump trucks, which you felt was beneath you.

And now all of a sudden, the whole time when you were going through that season, I kept telling you, just chill, it'll be okay. But you were so angry with God and you were so angry with your circumstances that nobody could tell you anything. I think God just spoke to you through this dream to let you know

that you're gonna get to where you're gonna get to when you're supposed to be there. And it's not gonna be in the time and the way you think you're gonna get there. Just chill, it'll be okay.

And I kid you not, y'all, there was so much peace that came over my life in that moment. I literally experienced what scripture talks about when God will give you a peace that surpasses all understanding. And the reason why I'm sharing this story about my wife is because in that moment, she was the minister to me

to help me realize that these are the instructions of the Lord. And if you follow these instructions, it will lead you to victory. Just chill, it'll be okay. This

is what Deborah does in Judges chapter four. In a moment you're going to see how when Israel and Barak and everybody's in a panic, she's going to hear the instructions of the Lord, and those instructions are going to lead them to victory.

So let's open up our Bibles to Judges chapter four. We're gonna begin at verse number one. I am so excited about this word. Thank you, Holy Spirit. So here's what it says, verse number one. It says, after Ehud's death,

the Israelites again did evil in the Lord's sight. So the Lord turned them over to King Jabin of Hazor, a Canaanite king. The commander of his army was Sisera who lived in Harasheth Haggaiim. Y'all pray that sounds like a tongue and a hard word to pronounce. Sisera

who had 900 iron chariots ruthlessly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years. And after twenty years, then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help. So here it is, you have Israel, y'all, who is God's chosen people. But sometimes even God's chosen people have a tendency to lose their mind.

So here it is, Israel has lost their mind after they have already been delivered by Ehud, who was a judge, and they're living in this season of peace. When he dies, they all of a sudden forget what God has done for them, and now they start to live in their own way. They start to live in rebellion. They start to do their own thing. And one of the things that I cannot skip over in this particular passage is that you and I live in a culture and a context, especially in this Christian world, to where we always hear about God's love. We always hear about God's mercy. We always hear about God's grace. And y'all, I am so thankful for God's love. I am so thankful for God's grace. And I am so thankful for God's mercy. But can I be honest with you? If you and I make the decision to live in God's disobedience,

we will also experience God's wrath. And here in this text, Israel decides to live in disobedience. And God says, Since you don't want to obey, since you want to do your own thing, I'm a leave you up to your own devices. How about you be in oppression for the next twenty years?

It was like going back to Israel all over again. But I'm so grateful that God doesn't always treat us as our sins deserve, because even though they had to deal with season of oppression, once they finally repented, all of a sudden God responds. They cry out for help. And out of all of the people

that could be chosen to be used by God to help bring Israel out of oppression, he uses this woman named Deborah.

See what the rest of the text goes on to say. Verse number four, Deborah, the wife of Lapith, was a prophet who was judging Israel at the time. She would sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim. And the Israelites would go to her for judgment.

One day she sent for Barak or Barak son of Abenam, who lived in Kadesh in the land of Naphtali. She said to him, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, commands you. I want you to call out 10,000 warriors, Barak, from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulon and Mount Tabor.

And I'm gonna call out Sisera, commander of Jabin's army, along with his chariots and warriors to the Kishan River. And here's the instructions of the Lord. When we do this, there I will give you victory over him.

Y'all, as I was reading this text, I was asking myself the question out of all of the people in the world that God could have used to be his minister to Israel in the season of their lives when they're getting better to be called out of oppression and go into a season of victory, why did he decide to choose Deborah?

And here's where I landed the plane. For twenty years, Israel was unfaithful to God. And while they were being faithful,

Deborah took a heart posture that said, God, by their being unfaithful, my desire is to be faithful to you. My desire is to sit before you and be pleasing to your will.

God, I know that they are out there and they are doing their thing and they're living any kind of way and they're saying what they want to say and they're going what they want to go and they're doing what they want to do. But God, I know that you are the God of the universe.

I know that you are the king of kings, the Lord of lords, the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the great I am. You've got all power in your hands, so I don't care what the culture around me is doing. God, my desire is to be faithful to you.

And I believe that if you and I are gonna be men and women who wanna be used by God one day to steward a move of God in the earth, y'all, I must confess, I think the only way that you and I will be able to be used by God to steward a move of God in the earth, to steward a move of God in our communities, to steward a move of God in our churches, to steward a move of God in our homes, is we've gotta make the decision to say, I don't care what's happening around me. I have made up in my mind that I am going to have a posture that says, God, no matter what, I will be faithful

to you. On Christ, the solid rock I stand, all of the ground is sinking sand. So Debra's takes this posture of humility. She takes this posture of faithfulness. While everybody else is out sitting, while everybody else is doing their thing, God was watching her for twenty years.

God was looking to see what decisions she was going to make. What type of life was she going to live? And for twenty years before anybody knew her name, she was being faithful. And here's what I love about Deborah y'all, not only was she being faithful, and not only did God see her faithfulness, the community did too.

Because she was a judge. Y'all, she's the first judge, Judy.

She was actually trusted by the community to weigh the weightier matters of conflicts that took place within the community. And there are two questions I want everybody to wrestle with in this room, and the questions are simply this.

Number one, do you have a heart posture that says, God, no matter what takes place in my life, I wanna be faithful to you? And number two, do you live a life to where everybody can look at you and say, That man, that woman, they can be trusted. That man, that woman, they've got good judgment.

Here's the beautiful part, and I don't know where some of you may fall on the theological spectrum, but here's what I could tell you what I love about this text. What I love about this text is because Deborah takes this posture of being faithful. Now God can trust her with some instructions, Some instructions

that lead to victory. Let me pause and parenthetically insert here, one of the reasons that I love Deborah so much is because she is a woman that is led by the spirit of God. And can I tell every woman in this room that when you are a woman that is led by the spirit of God, it leads to victories in your life?

And God will begin to give you revelation and wisdom and insight that is probably beyond your years and beyond your own knowledge. So here it is, this woman who is living in a culture to where women are seen as second class citizens, who are seen as subservient, who have no influence. God trusts her with the instructions.

And here's what she does with these instructions. Check this out. It says, Deborah, the wife of Lepideth, was a prophet Wait, I know, I already read that one, didn't I? Yes, I did. Thank you, Holy Spirit. Let's jump down to verse number eight.

Barak told her, I will go out, but only if you go with me. Verse nine, Very well, she replied, I will go with you, but you will receive no honor in this venture, for the Lord's victory over Sisera will be at the hands of a woman. So Deborah went with Barak to Kadesh. At Kadesh, Barak called together the tribes of Zebulon and Naphtali,

and 10,000 warriors went up with him. Deborah also went with him. This is the part where I've got to challenge the men in the room, so here it is.

Deborah gets the instructions of the Lord,

and when she gets the instructions of the Lord, she gets this wisdom and says, all right, let's get Barak. Barak, here's what you need to do. You need to get your 10,000 warriors from these three different tribes, and then I'm a call Sisera, and then we're gonna have showdown like Blood and Crips, but don't worry, we got the blood of Jesus, we represent him, and we're gonna win this thing.

So they get ready to go into battle, but here's what Barack does, y'all. Barack says, Deborah, I'm a go, but I'm a only go if you come with me. Y'all, there's a problem here. And here's the problem in the text. Deborah's a prophet, she's a judge, but now you have Barack who's asking her to be a soldier.

And here's why it's a problem. It's a problem because Barack is asking Deborah to do something that she can do it, and she did do it. But if we're being honest, she wasn't necessarily built or ordained to do. She was built and ordained to be a prophet and a judge, not going to battle with a sword and a spear.

And the reason why I bring this up is because, fellas, you and I have to learn how to stop putting women in positions that they can do, but aren't necessarily built or ordained to do. Thank you.

Here's what I love about Deborah. She was still willing to do it, and the reason why she was willing to do it because she had a heart posture that simply said, God, no matter what, I wanna be in your will. But here's the thing, fellas, what would it look like if you and I would step up to the plate when God needs a mediator?

Fellas, what would it look like if you became the spiritual leader in your home? What would it look like if you initiated prayer with your spouses and your children? What would it look like if you spent more time studying God's word?

Don't get it twisted. God's got some amazing, some awesome, some anointed, some beautiful, some powerful women up in this room. But fellows, we cannot allow our women, the women in our lives, to fill roles, to do things that God's really been calling us to do. Now here's the beautiful part about the text.

Just in case the fellows start tripping, y'all, one of the things that I have learned is that God's always got a woman in the bullpen that's ready to step up to the plate and hit a home run for the kingdom. And every woman said amen. So here it is. They get ready to go into war. They get ready to go

into battle, and I want you to see what happens.

Verse number 11, so now Heber the Kenite had descended of Moses' brother-in-law, Hobab, had moved away from the other members of his tribe and pitched his tent by the oak of Zanim near Kadesh. Verse 12, when Sisera was told that Barak son of Abenham

had gone up to Mount Tabor, he called for all 900 of his iron chariots and all of his warriors, and they marched from Harosheth Haggaiim to the Kishan River. Verse 14. Then Deborah said to Barak, Barak, boy, you better get ready. This is the day the Lord will give you victory over Cecere,

for the Lord is marching ahead of you. So Barak led his 10,000 warriors down the slopes of Mount Tabor into battle. And when Barak attacked, the Lord threw Sisera and all his chariots and warriors into a panic. And Sisera leaped down from his chariot and escaped on foot. Then Barak chased the chariots and the enemy army all the way to Harasheth Hagaim,

killing all of Sisera's warriors, and not a single one was left alive.

So watch this, y'all. The blood versus the crypts, the blood win because they covered by the blood of Jesus. Not a single one of Jabin's army members was alive. Now Sisera had escaped, and Deborah told Barak because you wanted to have this contingency plan on the instructions of the Lord, there is going to be a woman that is going to get the honor on this day. So when Sisera left, he found himself in the house of a woman by the name of Jael.

Jael takes a hammer, takes a nail, sets him up, and ends up killing Sisera. Here's the good news. Whether it's a man that did it or a woman that did it, God still gets the glory. And I need every single person in this room to know that all God is looking for out of me and out of you is take a heart posture that says, God,

I'll be faithful. And if you and I'll be faithful, we'll get the victory, and God will get the glory.

So as I get ready to wrap up, let me just take a couple of minutes to minister to the women in the room. Women, here's what I want you to do. I want you to recognize that God wants to use you. I want you to realize that you don't need anything more than what God's already placed on the inside of you. I need you to know

that yes, you may be a mom, yes, you may be a wife, but you're also a child of the king. A child of the king that has a calling on your life. A child of the king that has a purpose for your life.

And just like God wants to use the men and women in our worlds to be the hands and feet of Jesus, he wants to do the same to you. And from one man who is standing up here on the stage who was married to a very strong woman, let me tell you, number one, girl, you got it going on. But number two, let me tell you

that you are anointed, that you are appointed, that you are selected, that you are chosen, that you are preordained

to be a mouthpiece for God, to do an amazing work in the world. And don't you dare let anybody make you think that you are less than or that you cannot because of your gender. You are made in the image of God. You are made in the likeness of God, and you are made to be more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus just like everybody else. If God be for you, who in the world can be against you? And

I wanna encourage you to be a woman that's led by the spirit of God. Be a woman who is in close relationship with Jesus, Because there's people that are depending on you. The people may be your husband. The people may be your sons and daughters.

But let me just say beyond your immediate family, there's another woman that needs you. There's a coworker that needs you. There's a community, there's a church, there's a family that needs you. And all I ask you to do is don't worry about your title. Don't worry about your position.

God doesn't care about your resume. He doesn't care about your qualifications. All he wants from you is to have a heart posture that wants to be faithful to him. Because the posture of your heart will determine the position that you play. Let's pray.

Hey, Holy Spirit, I thank you so much. Man, you're so good and so kind for giving me the opportunity to preach this word. And Father, I pray that as we get ready to leave this place and go into another week, that every single one of us would take on a heart posture that says, God, we want to be pleasing to you.

We want to be used by you. We want to be trusted by you to steward a move of you. So if there's anything in us, God, that is not like you, would you remove it? And God, we'll be careful to give you all the glory, all the honor, and all the praise. And it's in Jesus' name we pray and give thanks. And everybody said, amen.

Thanks for joining us online this weekend. Let us know if we can help you in any way. Make sure to follow us on social media and connect with us on the We Are Rock Point app for prayer and everything happening here at Rock Point.