Sisera

We continue to wade through the waters of the Old Testament, revealing intricate lessons from prominent Biblical figures. The downfall of Sisera, as sung by Deborah, in the book of Judges, teaches us how to connect the dots between ancient wisdom and today's struggles, all under the ever-watchful eye of a loving God.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:19

Hi and welcome to the Cheer Up Podcast. I am your host, kevin R Hunt, and with me is the beautiful and enlightening Sherri Swalwell. How are you today, sherri?

Speaker 2: 0:34

I am doing fantastic, and I have to tell you so.

Speaker 2: 0:38

Today was a cold morning, so I decided to have hot coffee again and I ended up making myself more of a latte than a coffee, because I had what I thought was just a little bit of creamer left in the bottom of my creamer container and so I went to pour it and it was a little more than I thought and I'm like, well, I'm not going to dump it out now, so I'm going to go ahead and use it. Oh, my goodness, I am having a latte, not a coffee.

Speaker 1: 1:05

Nothing. It's funny. You know what I may, because Huffy has his coffee every morning and I'm. You know what? You got me wanting coffee. I was content with my white peppermint tea. Isn't it funny how, when somebody says something, you may have never even thought about it, and then someone says it and you're like, hey, that sounds good.

Speaker 2: 1:31

You know Well, the one that I'm drinking today is supposed to be helping me with my liver too, so I'm like you know what Extra bonus, right?

Speaker 1: 1:40

Yeah Well, coffee in itself is a great benefit. So you know good, healthy, like organic coffee without all the sugar and creamers and stuff that we put into it, unless it's, like you know, the heavy good stuff. But I'm not getting ready to get people upset with us this morning over coffee.

Speaker 2: 2:03

To get people upset with us this morning over coffee. Well, mine's pretty healthy this morning, except it just has a little extra half and half, so yeah, but my point being is that drinking a cup of coffee by itself has tons of health benefits.

Speaker 1: 2:20

So if anyone's listening this morning, just say, hmm, does it, you know, and just kind of do your own research on it. Just coffee has tons of health benefits. Just way too many to have now. But again, all good things in moderation, right. And of course it also depends on how you fix it, you know and everything.

Speaker 1: 2:42

So I used to know someone who loved salads right, and this particular person would just you know. If we went out somewhere, you know whether it be at the church or whatever they would just have these big, huge salads. But everything in the salad was not healthy, was?

Speaker 2: 3:02

not healthy.

Speaker 1: 3:04

So it went from being like a healthy salad to a salad that was pretty much like a regular snack, like you might as well had a bag of chips, right?

Speaker 2: 3:13

Right, exactly.

Speaker 1: 3:16

I am guilty of that with a salad, but one of my favorites and it was my favorites growing up and I just don't eat them anymore. But it was baked favorites growing up and um, I, I, I just don't eat them anymore, but it was baked potatoes yeah, oh my gosh, we have a.

Speaker 2: 3:33

It's not open yet, they're still working on it. We have a whole restaurant that's called. I want to say it's called the loaded spud, and I actually kind of want to go there when they open just to see what kind of toppings they have.

Speaker 1: 3:47

See, and that's what I'm saying, because by the time I baked potato, when I got done with it, it was no longer healthy.

Speaker 2: 3:59

I agree, yes, yes.

Speaker 1: 4:03

It had so much stuff in it and it was like, why am I even doing this? Like this is not even healthy. You know, by the time I loaded it with all the sour cream, all the bacon bits, all the cheese, you know, and who knows what else I put into it, it just wasn't healthy anymore, you know, right? So, anyway, we have to be mindful of that with our coffees and like our teas and you know, and just different things like that. But for those of you who are just tuning in, we just want to say welcome to Cheer Nation and welcome to the Cheer Up podcast, the Cheer Up Podcast.

Speaker 1: 4:44

And if you're listening on a particular podcast platform, whether it's Spotify, iheart, amazon, echo or Alexa or wherever you're listening, if you could just hit the like button and click subscribe, we would greatly appreciate it. It keeps us active in algorithms who are looking for uplifting and inspiring podcasting programs, and it also will let you know when we upload a new podcast episode. So we thank you so much for all of those of you who are doing that and who tune in weekly, nationally and globally. So we want to say thank you and we greatly, greatly appreciate it. And for those of you who have been following us this particular month, actually since last month, to be honest, right, sherry, we've been doing biblical figures in the Bible, right?

Speaker 1: 5:41

We started in February, so yeah, Right, I was just thinking about that. Yeah, since last month, and I was going to say this month, but I'm like no, it actually started last month, in February, and we did Samson and Delilah, we've done Ruth and Boaz, ruth and Boaz. We have done Mary and Joseph and David and Bathsheba. Thank you, sherry.

Speaker 2: 6:25

We also did.

Speaker 1: 6:26

Adam and Eve and Noah and Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Rebecca. Yes, and so we are yes, and so we've done those. And so we've just talking about biblical figures. Right now we're just starting in the Old Testament, kind of like some Old Testament biblical figures, their stories, the things that they did and how that applies to us in our modern day today, even though it was thousands of years ago when and things may obviously are different here in our world today than it was thousands of years ago in biblical times, but the God is still the same. That's the most important part and the stories really are still the same. That's the most important part, and the stories really are still the same. It was how they dealt with them compared to how we can deal with them today, and this particular we've already.

Speaker 1: 7:18

Today we're going to talk about Sisera and for those of you who are not familiar with Sisera in the Old Testament, that's S-I-S-E-R-A he's going to be found in the Book of Judges, and we've been talking a lot about the Book of Judges the past couple of weeks, as we talked about Deborah B-A-R-A-K. And you can follow this story in the Book of Judges, Neal Testament, and I believe it's from chapters 1 to 6, even though it may go on a little bit further. But the characters, the figures we're talking about Barak, deborah Barak and Sisera right now, they can be found, like in those first early books of the book, the first early chapters of the book of Judges. Okay, and they're not long they're not long chapters at all, but their whole story they're all intertwined. Their story is intertwined and so you could just kind of read about what happened there.

Speaker 1: 8:22

And Deborah, as we mentioned in a previous podcast, is the book of Judges. When it talks about her and I think it starts talking about her in chapter four when it gets into, when it actually describes her it talks about how she was a prophetess and a judge. She was risen up as a judge in Israel that time and the first woman judge, as a matter of fact. And she was. She was risen, but she was also a prophetess, so we talked about her. She was very relevant in the old Testament and so we've already talked about her. So if you want to go back and listen to any of those old podcasts oh, podcast that we just did recently on different biblical figures just go back and you can listen to those and everything else. So we're just continuing that story in the book of Judges. And Sisera was.

Speaker 1: 9:14

So, just to kind of give a quick summary, israel was in trouble. They were in trouble Again, this is the Old Testament, biblical times. They were in trouble and they were about to get annihilated by an enemy of Israel and Sisera was a mighty commander and he was of the enemy's army. He was actually so it was the and I hope I'm pronouncing his name right Jabin, j-a-b-i-n in the Old Testament. He was a king and he was going against Israel, but he was known for all the iron chariots and things that he had and his, so he was king. So I guess it would be King Jabin. So again, I'm hoping I'm pronouncing that right. But he was the king and Sisera was his mighty commander. I mean, sisera was feared and he was known for taking all of these iron chariots and horses and thousands and thousands and thousands of men.

Speaker 1: 10:29

And just when they were coming after you as a country, you were shaking in your boots because this is what you were like oh my gosh, we're done, we're toast. You know he's going to kill our men, they're going to kidnap our children. Who knows what they're going to do with the women, but all of our property and livestock is going to now be theirs. You know, um and everything else. So when you knew that they were coming in and they were getting ready to come to war against you, um, and if you were just a small little um and just had like a little small army like Israel, at the time, you just you're like what are we going to do? Right? You just you're like what are we going to do? Right, like it's over, life as we know it is over. They're coming, they're taking over um and everything like that.

Speaker 1: 11:10

But then it was deborah, and she had talked to barack, who was the captain of the israeli army, and she was saying the lord is going to deliver you and to is going to deliver Sisera and his men, all of King Jabin's men, to you. Right, we're smaller, we're not as mighty per se as in number of chariots, number of horses, number of men, number of swords, number of warriors, but God is going to deliver. We got the victory. Okay, it's pretty much what she said and, true enough, what the Lord had told her and had told Barak came true. And so then you have Sisera, who, completely again, he's the captain of King Jamin's army. And you have him and he's thinking he's going to go in and he's getting ready to completely, totally unalloyed, destroy and just take over this small army of Israel. Right, well, because God was with them, that didn't happen. As a matter of fact, barak and his small band of army small and compared to King Javid's army they were able to completely defeat them.

Speaker 1: 12:36

As a matter of fact, the scriptures in the book of Judges talks about how all of them fell, all of those warriors of Sisera who was a captain of King Jabin's army, all of their soldiers fell to the lesser army quote-unquote in size of Barak's army. But it had been predicted. The prophetess and Judge Deborah had already told Barak that was going to happen, and so it did rock. That was going to happen, and so it did. So every in the book of Judges it talks about how every man of the enemy's army that came against Israel fell at the sword, by the edge of the sword, I think is what it says. So there's no one left except Sisera, right, and Sisera. He's like he looks around or whatever, and he realizes that there's no one left there but him. You know he's like he has no one. He has no army.

Speaker 1: 13:32

I have no idea where all the chariots were, but they were no good if there was no one there to drive them you know, and there was probably a lot of swords left there, but what was the point of all the swords being there if there were no men to lift them up and to fight with them? So he's like there's no one there and he looks around. So now he's the king, he's this mighty commander, he's this person that everybody feared right, and now he's running. He's running for his life and because he knows that the captain of Israel's army, barak, is coming after him. You know, because you know, there is no coup d'etat or greater victory right than to show that you have the enemy's head, so to speak, and everything else.

Speaker 1: 14:21

So today, when we're talking about Sisera, it's how the mighty have fallen. Right, you're so big, you. You're so bad, you're so feared by the world and by the surrounding people and everything else. And they just have, when your name is mentioned, like they're shaking in their boots right, and you're like so used to victory, you're so used to winning, You're so used to completely oh, what's the word taking over somebody else's stuff? Right, and you can. And in today's world, I guess the same could be saying for, like large companies, right, and how, because, like, let's just say, company ABC is huge. It's a behemoth of a company and you're the head of it. And then all of a sudden you're like you know what? We're good, it's A, b and C, but we'll be even bigger and badder and bolder if we take up all these other little companies and we become we're not just ABC, but we're ABC D, e and F. And then next year we're going to take GH&I and you just keep doing that and you're just so used to doing that and you're just so used to winning and doing everything else, and then boom, all of a sudden, someone who you did not see coming, someone who you did not know even existed.

Speaker 1: 15:53

So was Sisera aware that the God of Israel was behind this particular army? Because there's no way, if you were just going man for man, that they could have or should have even been defeated. You know, and I think in our Christian life we just have to sometimes just look at it from that perspective Like, what can we learn from Sisera? Because that morning he woke up a mighty warrior, a mighty commander, he had a good reputation as far as that goes, he had expected to come home.

Speaker 1: 16:25

As a matter of fact, when you read further into it, of fact, when you read further into it, and there's a part in the book of Judges where Deborah's song I think that's what the scriptures call it Correct me if I'm wrong, sherry, but it's a song that Deborah sings after they get this great victory and in that particular song she tells about stuff that actually happened and it talks about how Sisera's mother was waiting for him to come home and it was like, well, wow, I wonder what is delaying him. Like you know, was there more? I keep I'm struggling for the biblical word to use that they did when they took, like, their livestock and all this stuff. But he was like, was there more for them to bring home? Or, you know, and everything else. She's not even considering that they lost, right, she's just like expecting him home, and you know, and it's like, wow, it's taking him a long time, you know, and her and her friends are kind of talking and you know, and they're like what you know? Yeah, like what's taking them so long? Well, maybe they got sidetracked or maybe this or maybe that, or, you know, maybe there's more. I'm just going to use the word loot because I'm struggling to find the other word, but maybe there was more loot that they had to gather, you know and all this other stuff. It's not even crossing their mind that he could have lost. It's just not there. That's how assured this victory was. It's just not there. That's how assured this victory was.

Speaker 1: 18:03

And have we ever been in situations like that, sherry, where we just are assured, we just know that things are going to turn out one way and then, boom, it turns out another? So not only was his mother expecting him, he was expecting to return back home the winner right, and to be hailed as he won another victory, you know, as he conquered another nation. But as a matter of fact, he wouldn't even get the chance to go home at all. And we're not going to share with you right now why that is because that's going to be in next week's episode. But he won't even go home at all. But his friends and family and everyone was expecting him. It's like it never crossed their mind that he would not make it back home.

Speaker 1: 18:37

And so we know it didn't cross Cicero's. You know he was like oh, this is easy, breezy, this will be done, we'll be back His mom and him expecting him. I guess they were going to have a great feast and whatnot and everything, and so he did not wake up that morning thinking that that day was going to turn out the way it has. But oh, what a day can bring. Am I right, sherry? Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 19:01

Absolutely. I think there's a lot that we can learn from sisters Like one is. I think we need to check ourselves to make sure that we stay humble to make sure that we always.

Speaker 2: 19:15

I was talking with somebody else, with somebody in my Bible study. We were talking about Second Samuel and the life of David, and my Bible study friend had the insight that God wants us to ask him and talk to him about every opportunity that we have. God doesn't want us to get comfortable. God doesn't want us to get to the place where we're like oh, I talked to him about something similar last month. It's all cool, it's good, he said I can make this decision myself.

Speaker 2: 19:58

I'm not saying that God thinks that we're so weak that we can't make decisions ourselves. God wants to be in every aspect of our life and he wants us to trust him with every aspect of our life. So it's not a matter of God doesn't think that we're good enough. It's the matter of God wants to be number one in our life, and we can't be number one in our life if we are taking the reins and we're saying, oh, you know what? God, you helped me out last month, you did such a great job, I got this. This time you can just rest. God doesn't want to rest. God wants to be involved in every area of our life. There's no expiration date on that. There's no one and done or you finally made it. God wants to be involved just as much yesterday and when we were first believers as he does tomorrow and five years from now, when we're quote-unquote seasoned believers. So I think we can have encouragement and hope that way, in that God is in control of everything. So we need to check ourselves to make sure that we're staying humble and that we're making sure that we're staying under God's protection, under God's umbrella, under God's covering.

Speaker 2: 21:08

Because I don't know how many times, kara, I've read in the Old Testament where the Israelites thought that they okay, just because God took care of them and gave them the victory with Jericho, the very first city in the promised land. They then got cocky and they're like, oh well, then, if God got me here, then God's got me there. Well, no, because everything is different, every battle is different, every situation is different. God might have helped them with Jericho by having them walk around the city for seven times and then blow their trumpets, but he had different plans for different other battles. So we need to make sure that we stay in tune with what God wants and what his plan is, because if we go half crazy and or half coughed, or whatever that phrase is and we just decide to take it into our own hands, it's not going to end well.

Speaker 2: 22:09

Take the life and the example of Sisera and learn from it. It is not going to end well if you take it into your own hands. Cockiness, pride and doing it our own way and coming up with our own plan is not the way that God wants us to live. And it's not because he well, it's because he's God and it's because he says I am the Lord, your God. You'll have no other gods before me. And having no other gods before him also means letting him be in charge of our life, because if we try to be in charge of our own life, then we're being our own God, and he doesn't want that. And, honestly, those who are true Christ followers, those who are true Christ followers, those who really truly love God and have surrendered themselves to God, don't want that either. We don't want to be our own God. We want God to be God.

Speaker 2: 23:00

So I think that that's a really good lesson to learn, but also I think that we can find a lot of hope just because Sisera thought that he had it and that he had it made and that all was good and he would come home, and everybody in his family thought that he was going to come home. God had other plans and God has the final say yes, there's such a thing as free will, and that's something maybe Kara and I should talk about at some point in time on the podcast. What is free will, what does it mean, how do you live with free will, et cetera, et cetera. But for today, just knowing that there is free will, and so because of that, there are things that happen in this world that we wish wouldn't happen. But God gives us free will because he doesn't want a whole bunch of robots running around. He wants people who genuinely, truly love him and want to serve him. But God is still ultimately, in control. God is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Speaker 2: 23:57

And we can trust him. So that means that if God has a victory outline, and even if we get it wrong and we don't do it right the first time or we don't do it exactly the right way, god is still in control. So if we, if we truly surrender and if we truly want him to be in charge, then he will get the glory and people like Cicero will get defeated, because God, ultimately, is in control and it's God's plan that needs to happen, not our plan.

Speaker 1: 24:29

Absolutely, and it's about trusting God and His plan. Right, and we talked about this. Oh, go ahead, cher. I'm sorry.

Speaker 2: 24:38

Just and His timing, trusting not just His plan but also His timing, which I know for me is so hard sometimes, because I want it and I want it now.

Speaker 1: 24:48

I want it and I want it now Right. We are an impatient type of people, aren't we? Yes, we are. It's like you know, and I think the scriptures remind us right that our timing is not God's timing and our timing is good Like His timing is what we really truly want, honestly. Yes, and we're just like, oh Lord, I've been waiting on this for two years now, you know, and he's like just two years, that's like two days in my kingdom, you know, and we're like what?

Speaker 1: 25:29

It's been two years.

Speaker 1: 25:30

But our timing is not God's timing and, like you know, as Sherry just you know mentioned earlier that's why we need to have conversations with Him. Conversations with God is, and you know, the scriptures talk about praying without ceasing, and to me that just means everyday conversation with God about anything and everything that's happening, that's going on. You know, from the simple and the mundane, because, trust me, he can teach you things, even in the simple and the mundane, and any everyday things, or whether it's something more complicated or life-threatening. He wants to hear those too. But we can have that open communication with God at all times, and we will. As John 16, 33, the foundational verse of our podcast talks about, in this world we will have trials and tribulations, but be of good cheer for he has overcome the world, and that is the attitude that we need to have during those deepest trials, during those darkest tribulations, during where it seems like it's never, ever, ever going to end. God promises us that it will and, as Sherri also mentioned, as true believers, we in our hearts, we truly desire His timing. We know that because we know that our timing is flawed, because we are humans and we are flawed, and so our timing and our mindset is flawed. Not only that, he's the God, he's our creator, he is the Holy One of Israel, he is El Shaddai, and the Great I Am. He not only has known us from before we were knitted in our mother's room, he also knows the end of every situation, every trial and every tribulation that we're going to be in. We don't know that he's the Alpha and Omega. We are not. We are not. We can't see the end of it, but he's going. Listen, I need you to trust me. You don't see the end. I see the end, and this is the way it needs to go for now. And so that's why, as true believers, we have just got to take rest and just trust and believe in his timing and that he's true to his word, that he would never leave us nor forsake us, and that, in end, we will have the victory.

Speaker 1: 27:51

Um, for those of you who had listened to the previous podcast about barack, he did. He, god had told him that he was assured the victory, right, but he had a hard time believing it. He, he had more faith in deborah, the prophetess, than he had in the word that god had told him. And as Christians, as believers, we don't want to be like that. I mean, barak was assured the victory but he didn't get the glory that he did because he just did not believe what the word of the Lord that God had told him himself.

Speaker 1: 28:22

And so I think, as Christians and as true believers, we have got to be okay with what the Lord is telling us and just trusting in Him that, in the end, that we are going to be okay with what the Lord is telling us and just being trusting in him that, in the end, that we are going to be victorious in it and he's not going to leave us and that he's not going to forsake us, right? And if he tells us to take on this big old army, and we're sitting there going, lord, did I hear you right? And he's like yeah, I did, you're sure the victory, you know, in this situation, you did, I hear you right. And he's like, yeah, I did, you're sure the victory, you know, in this situation, you're sure the victory in this trial, you're sure the victory in this dark time in your life. And you're just, you can't see it Right. But we have to take him at his word. He may not have come in and spoke to you directly, like he may have did, barack, which it looks like in the book of Judges he did, but he's given us his word. That tells us exactly that, that he won't leave us, that he will not forsake us, that he only has our best plans in mind.

Speaker 1: 29:24

And so we have got to, you know, I think, just be able to trust that and, like John 16, 33 says, just cheer up. And I know that sounds so easy to do in a very dark situation, you know. But all I want to say is go into the New Testament, think about how, in some of the darkest prisons especially I'm thinking of Paul and Silas right now Am I right, sherry? It's Paul and Silas who are praising in prison and their chains broke, am I right? Yep, yep, okay, see.

Speaker 1: 29:56

And so it may seem dark, you may seem chained, you may seem like there's no way out, it may seem like someone's guarding the door from you ever getting out and being free to do what you want to do. But be of good cheer, because God has overcome the world, and being of good cheer means that you can sing right. And so, even though you may be chained, even though you may be bound, even though it might seem like someone else has the power, lift praises to the Lord. Give God the glory in that particular situation. The book of James also tells us in the New Testament that we're supposed to do that regardless and watch those chains and everything break off. You know, because in the end we have the victory. Is there anything else you want to ask, sherry?

Speaker 2: 30:39

Well, I just want to reiterate again what you said. We're not thanking God for the trial, necessarily. We're not thanking God that we're well. In a sense, we kind of are. We need to get to the point and I'm speaking to myself as much as I'm trying to encourage you this morning but we need to get to the point where we honestly trust God. We trust Him because if we trust Him, if we truly trust him, the way that Paul and Silas did, they didn't know what was going to happen. They didn't know if they were going to die or if God was going to rescue them. They they weren't necessarily praising him with like okay, this movie will be over very soon and you know, we're, we're going to ride off into the sunset. They, they, they didn't know what their sunset meant. Their sunset could have meant death and they were okay with that. And the reason they were okay with that is because they trusted God.

Speaker 2: 31:39

So does anybody necessarily want to die? No, does anybody necessarily want to be persecuted or canceled or whatever else happens? I mean, there are far worse things in life than being canceled with cancel culture. But do we want to be persecuted? Do we want to have, you know, our life on the line? No, but do we trust God enough? Do we trust him that his ultimate plan is for the best for us and for others? You know there are.

Speaker 2: 32:16

We have lost a lot of people, and by loss I guess that's probably the wrong word to say there have been a lot of people in my family who have died, and and I think about that and that the more, the older I get and the more people that I have to say goodbye to, or at least goodbye temporarily to, the more I think about would I really want them back? Would I really want them to have to come back here after having seen Jesus's face, after having gone to heaven and seen him face to face for the first time? And the more I think about it, kara, the more I say no, like there's a reason why God allowed them to live, the number of years that they lived, the number of days that they lived. The Bible tells us that God knows the numbers of our days. He knows before we're even born how long we're going to live, and so when I think about how much I miss them, it's really quite selfish. I don't want them to come back, not because I don't miss them? Because I do, but because once you've seen heaven, once you've seen God, why would you want to come back? So, even if death is the ultimate well, it's the ultimate end for all of us. But even if death is the ultimate end of whatever situation that you're going through which most of the time it is not that's not a bad thing.

Speaker 2: 33:42

I was reading another. I was reading a book just this past weekend and it was talking about how, as believers, when we say goodbye or when death comes and we pass from death to life, that's exactly what we're doing. We're passing from death to life. It's the beginning of living, it's not the end of life. So, as believers, even if the worst thing that could happen is that we die and, like I said, majority of the time that's not going to happen we still win because it's the beginning of real life. Or I should say, when we live that way, when we can have that perspective, then our trust in our faith in God can grow, because we know that, ultimately, the end goal is that we get to spend eternity with him and how we live our life here on earth.

Speaker 2: 34:42

Until then, I want to live it and again, I'm speaking to myself today, but I want to live it full of faith.

Speaker 2: 34:50

I want to live it trusting God.

Speaker 2: 34:51

I want to live it with joy and with peace, knowing that whatever comes today, whatever it is that I have to handle whether it's a bad meeting, whether it's traffic, whether it's family conflict, whether it's illness, whether it's disease, whatever whatever I have to face today, I want to do it trusting fully in God and knowing that nothing that happens to me today is without his approval and without his stamp and without him knowing and he not only knows what's happening to me today, but he has a way out.

Speaker 2: 35:32

He has a way for me to get through it and to have victory in it. So I don't know, I guess that's a lot of different things that I just said there, but I hope that some of them were encouraging and hopeful because, ultimately, to live with the faith that the people in the olden days had and I know, or I should say, in Bible times had and I know they didn't all have it, because we just got done talking about Barack, but when you think about Paul and Silas and the the times of persecution that they lived through, and yet they were so on fire for him and they were able to sit there in prison and praise him despite their surroundings and despite their circumstances. I just want to be more like that. I really do. I have a long way to go, but that's what I want to be when I grow up.

Speaker 1: 36:28

But you know what I just want to add to that, sherry, a little bit. I think, as believers, that's who we all want to be when we grow up, right. Right, life can be so hard, and when you were talking about death and illness and sickness, and I mean that's in the past couple of weeks, right, life can be scary, and I'm talking about just in America right now, where things that we thought were long gone are resurfacing again. Measles has made a comeback, and it's been. We thought it had been eradicated, but yet it's making its appearance again.

Speaker 1: 37:12

Measles and leprosy in the southeastern part of America has made a comeback. Of course, now it's not called leprosy anymore, they call it Hansen's disease. I believe it's called, but it has made a comeback. And when you hear leprosy, you're like, oh my goodness, like that's when they had all those skins and boils and stuff on their lead, like what. Like this hasn't been seen in ages and decades. Like Kara and Sherry, do you guys know what's going on in the world? And you're just telling me to just trust God? The answer is a resounding yes, a resounding yes, 100% yes. And just like she was saying with Paul and Cyrus, that in the midst of it, even when you don't even know the outcome, even when you, instead of we, could be shaking in our boots and going, oh my goodness, my kids, they go to school, they're going to be exposed to measles. Leprosy can spread, it'll be just a short time before it reaches the rest of America and everything like that. And God is saying no, as believers, as my son and daughters, that's not the way you respond to things that are happening around you. No, you cast those cares on me. You trust in me. You believe in me. You trust in me. You believe in me and you thank thankfulness in all things.

Speaker 1: 38:36

I believe the books that James said, sherry, as you were talking about earlier, that we should thank him in all things. That means the good and the bad, and sometimes it even means thanking him for the bad. I think that's what he means by in all things you know, give thanks, because I am working things out for your good. And yeah, that's what it says, right, sherry, in the book of James I'm working these things out for your good. I didn't want to say glory, but that's not it. It's not glory, it's good. I'm working all these things out for your good. I didn't want to misquote the scripture.

Speaker 1: 39:08

To give thanks in all these situations because the good, the bad, the scripture.

Speaker 1: 39:13

To give thanks in all these situations because the good, the bad, the dark, the ugly, the scary, right, all of it.

Speaker 1: 39:20

Give me thanks because in all these situations, I am working Him out towards your good and it all comes down to just thanking Him, continuing to give Him praise and continuing to trust and believe in everything that he is doing, because in the end, we are assured the victory, whether it's that victory here on earth, right, will we see it? Or is it a victory where we have a celebration of life or someone else will be having a celebration of life? For us, either way it goes, it's a victory, right, and I think, like Sherry was just saying, we have to look at it from that perspective. But until then, until the Lord calls us home, we are to walk in faith, we are to not be stressed out by the things we hear and see on the news, we are to cast those cares upon Him and we are to know that in the end, we have the victory. Why do we have the victory? Because he has overcome the world. Okay, sherry, I'm done.

Speaker 2: 40:20

Well, you summed it up perfectly In John 16, 33,. It says in me these things I have spoken to you that in me may have peace In the world. You will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. That is honestly, such a comforting verse. Knowing that there's nothing that we can deal with, nothing that can come our way that God hasn't already dealt with, god hasn't already figured out, god doesn't already have the answer to, doesn't mean that we'll see the answer right away, but that's where faith comes in, that's where trust comes in, and I truly want to live not just a thankful life, being thankful in all situations and all circumstances, but I want to live a life where people see a difference in me. People see I want what she has and it's not anything to do with me. It all has to do with giving God glory.

Speaker 2: 41:22

I was watching I don't know, I don't even know who the person was and this is terrible, but he's some basketball player he's like a young basketball player, I think for the Detroit Pistons and he happened to come up on my YouTube channel this morning and so I saw the little like title or whatever that draws people in and it was talking about Jesus Christ and it said Jesus Christ is coming soon was the title, and I'm like, oh, what's this guy saying? And I didn't. It was six minutes long or whatever, and I didn't have the whole six minutes to listen to it, but the parts that I listened to I was so impressed because he kept saying and God gets all the glory, and God gets all the glory, and I give all the glory to my Lord and Savior, jesus Christ.

Speaker 1: 42:07

Lord and Savior Jesus, Christ and I was like what an amazing kid and sorry young man.

Speaker 2: 42:13

And I. That is what I want to be. That is who I want to be. That is the way that I want to be, not because of anything that I've done not to give any kind of praise back to me whatsoever but just simply for the fact that I want people to know that God is the one who's in control. God is the one who gets all the glory, and I trust him with my life. That is the way that I want to live and that is just kind of what we want to encourage you with today.

Speaker 2: 42:47

So if you need prayer, you need encouragement, if there are things going on in your life and you're just like but Tara and Cher, you guys don't understand, I can't praise God right now. I can't be thankful in this situation. I email us at cheeruppodcasts at gmailcom. Email us and let us pray with you. Let us come alongside you and just help you grow your faith and remind you, stand with you during these times, because you know, I am so thankful for Kara. I am so thankful for my prayer partner, nyla. I'm so thankful for my Bible study group and my friends there. I would not be able to do life the way that I do without their encouragement, without their friendship, without their reminders of thanking God, praising God, trusting God. You know we are supposed to live in community and I'm so grateful for the community that God has blessed me with. Over at the Facebook group, we have the Cheer Up Podcast Facebook group and we want to help you grow your community as well. So come join us over there and we can have conversations about the different biblical figures that we're talking about. But we can also just have conversations about life and just different ways that, um, that God is showing up in our lives in different ways that we can encourage um and be an encouragement to people. So I would encourage you to come over and join that as well.

Speaker 2: 44:25

Head over to Kara's uh website, kararhuntcom. Um, I love fiction speaks to me. Christian fiction really speaks to me and encourages me, and Kara has a series, a paper doll series, and it is absolutely positively amazing. So you can go check out the paper doll series over on her website and you'll see all the different names of the books and where you can get them. She also has videos to tell you about some of them, um, and then you can also head over to my website, sherryswellallcom, and you'll see the different things that I have. There's a youtube channel. There's a monthly membership that will help grow your relationship with god for a very small, um cost less than the cost of a cup of coffee. Well, a frou-frou coffee, the non-healthy, coffee.

Speaker 2: 45:18

Although I think you can get some of those frou-frou coffees healthy or kind of healthy.

Speaker 1: 45:24

Hey, but remember, black coffee is always inexpensive that is very true, very true.

Speaker 2: 45:29

So for the cost of two cups of black coffee a month, you can join the monthly membership. Jesus in the Every Day. So we are just so grateful that you are here. We're grateful for our faithful listeners every week, and come back next week. We're going to tie it all up, we're going to finish the story, we're going to talk about how Sisera met his downfall.

Speaker 2: 45:54

I don't want to say anything more than that. But, as always, god shows up, and he always shows up in a very big way and in a memorable way and a way that teaches us that. You know, kara, that's one of the things, one of the many, many things that I love about God is that not only is he so gentle with us and so patient with us and I swear half of the time that well, I don't swear because I'm not supposed to do that, but half of the time I think his timing goes so quote unquote, slowly, in my opinion, simply because he's being so patient with me to catch up with the program and to get to be where he wants me to be. But one of the things that I absolutely love about God is that he is so. He just teaches us stuff, and it's always for our good. It's always for our good, it's always for our good. It doesn't mean that it's an easy process and it doesn't mean that it's um, that it's always an enjoyable process, but it is always for our good and um, yeah, and so I just I want to be more like Paul.

Speaker 2: 47:10

Paul had such faith, paul from the New Testament, he had such faith. But then again, so did Noah, and so did Abraham, and so did so many of the people, deborah yeah, I was just going to say that and Deborah, they had such faith and we can just really stand to learn from their examples and just make a difference in the world. Just be that light that other people need to draw them to a relationship with God. It's never about a religion, it's always about a relationship. And on that note I'm going to say have a great rest of your day, thanks for joining us, and come back next week when we finish up the story and we find out what really happened to Cicero.