Judges 4 | The Crisis of Leadership

In Judges 4, the story of Deborah and Barak raises important questions about leadership, courage, and God’s design for men and women. As Israel falls deeper into spiritual compromise, God raises up Deborah during a time marked by fear, passivity, and weak leadership among the men of Israel.

In this episode, we explore what this passage truly teaches about biblical manhood and womanhood, the difference between egalitarian and complementary views, and why God’s design for men and women is both purposeful and good. Most importantly, this message challenges the church to pursue faithful obedience, courageous leadership, and discipleship in a culture filled with confusion and compromise.

Transcript

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That was good. Not only do I like those songs, I like the way we sang them. And you know what? You guys did a really good job as well. I got just to listen for a moment up here, and you guys did great with that. And what great truth is that, right? How marvelous, how wonderful. Oh, our song will ever be of our Savior's love for us. What a great promise and great truth that is. Well, Judges chapter 4 is where we're going to be today, and we're going to look at one of the more famous, one of the more known stories in the book of Judges, because it's a little bit different than a lot of stories we're going to see in Judges, but also that we see in the Bible, because one of the main focal characters in this passage is a woman by the name of Deborah. And there's a lot of questions surrounding her role in this and who she is and what she's done. And we're going to try to address some of those. And one of the reasons that it stands out in a lot of ways is because really, as you look through the Bible, it tends to be, especially in the Old Testament, a fairly male-dominated book. That the majority of the characters in the Bible and the people that we think about most are men. Yet as we work through the Bible, one of the ways that we, we, or one of the things that we see is that God is very much working through women in the Bible as well. That there is a litany of women who exemplify faithfulness, they exemplify faith in the Lord, that God does great things through them. And when we get to Hebrews chapter 11 in the faith chapter, we see that while there's a lot of men listed in that chapter, there's also women that are recorded. We've talked before about the genealogies of Jesus and how we managed to find some women in those genealogies, not just because, of course, women are part of being able to have children and a genealogy, but for the people of Jesus' day, really what they were concerned about most with was the male line, the male heritage. And what's interesting though, as we've talked about before, is that many of the women who find themselves in those genealogies are not the women that you think would be notified. And it's proof, again, that God's way is not always our way, that God is working through anyone and everything and all kinds of stories to accomplish his will and his plans. And I want to be clear on what the Bible teaches. The Bible never says that there can't be leaders who are women in the life of the church. A matter of fact, I think throughout history, throughout the biblical narratives, we very much see women playing a prominent role in the life of the church. I would tell you that the majority of churches that exist anywhere exist because there were faithful women who were very much a part of them at the beginning and saw a need to have a gospel-centered biblical church in that area. And so no one, even the Bible, does not sit there and suggest for a moment that women are not part of God's plan, his design, and what he's doing in life. The question goes back to are there specific roles for men and women, or is there no difference in roles for men and women? And the egalitarian view simply says that there's no difference in roles, that men can do what women can do, and women can do what men can do. And really their strongest argument for that is that they want to find a few passages, and for instance, they'll use Deborah as an example, and we're going to speak that to it for a moment. Say, look, God used someone like Deborah, so he can use a woman for anything. And while there is some truth to that, one of the contexts that we need to see is what's going on in Israel, and what are even Deborah's roles, and what are some of the words that she uses to describe herself in this narrative. Now, the egalitarian view says, hey, there's no difference in that, in roles between men and women. And they want to base it upon verses, for instance, when the Apostle Paul says, there's neither Jew nor Gentile, Scythian slave nor free. And one of the things he says in there, there's no male or female. Now, I think the point of the Apostle Paul in that passage is rooted in, as far as the gospel's concerned, there's no difference. The gospel has come for any and for all. So it doesn't matter if you're male or female, Jew or Gentile, Scythian, slave or free. The gospel isn't just for one group of people, the gospel's for everyone. But yet the same author, Paul, who wrote that passage, is the same one who, when we looked at this last week, said, Husbands, love your wives as Christ loves the church, and you're to resemble Christ through leadership. You're the head of the wife, and at the same time, wives submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. And so for the Apostle Paul, in one passage to say, hey, there's no difference in role, seems to contradict what he's clearly saying in other places where there is a difference in role. Matter of fact, the Apostle Paul speaks and says that he does not permit women to teach men in the context of the gathering of the body of Christ. And his argument for that is because God formed man first or Adam first, then Eve. And so his whole argument, and a lot of people want to try to say, well, he's speaking about a certain type of woman in that congregation. And the reality is, I think that there was a certain type of woman who's usurping authority, but his argument isn't just that they're usurping authority. He goes back to creative order. And he says, because God first made Adam, then he made Eve. And the point is this it's never an equality issue that we want to turn it into. It's always a creative order and design issue by which God has made men distinct and women distinct and equal in their value, but with different roles and responsibilities in the life of the home and in the context of the body of Christ. Now that view is referred to as the complementarian view. And the complementarian view simply says this that while God has made men and women equal, he's made them different, and their responsibility and their roles complement one another. And so the fact that he made them different was purposeful. And if you see this, you'll see it in the creation narrative when he said, It's not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him, right? So what is his whole purpose in making Eve? Someone to complement the male. And God does this with perfect design and reasoning. He lets Adam realize first that he's inadequate in the fact that he's missing someone. And he lets Adam see that in all creation there's pairs, there's male and female, and then he looks around and says, but wait, there's no one suitable for me. And I don't believe that God realized, oh, wait, I forgot to make someone for Adam. Now I better come back and do this. Or Adam's asking for someone. I think the reason that God did it from the beginning was to say, Adam, I want to show you that you do need someone to compliment you, and I'm gonna make the perfect person to compliment you. I'm gonna take a rib from you, I'm gonna fashion her out of it, and she is going to be your helper. You're gonna work together to accomplish my purpose and mission. And here's the reason that I point that out that I do believe it's important for us, especially in a day and time, again, and I've said this before, where we are blurring the lines of gender so much to stop and say, no, the way that God designed gender is a good thing. I can remember probably about 10 years ago was the first time, and it might have been a little bit longer than that, but I remember seeing a t-shirt that said, no gender, as if it was like a good thing. And little did I know what was going to flow from that in our culture today, where we have all of these different genders that we want to come up with, and cisgender and transgender and all of these things. And I remember even thinking at the time, like why on earth would we see gender as a bad thing? God made males specifically the way that they are. Masculinity is a good thing in the proper context as God designed it. And in the same way, He made women specifically just the way they are. And femininity is a beautiful thing and it's a good thing, and they possess similar characteristics and qualities, but they also possess very distinct and different qualities and abilities. And both of them are necessary, both of them have the same worth, and both of them fit into God's plan of great design. Now, the reason that I point that out again is because here we're going to see the story of a woman that God is going to use in a leadership role. And the question is for some people, is Deborah being used in this passage to be a leader of Israel, a prototype for women leadership, or is it a description of what was going on and more a picture of the fact that society has crumbled and is not obedient to God, and therefore order is out of place, and because there's no good male leadership specifically around, this is a sign of how bad things are that a woman is now having to step up and take male leadership roles. And I think it's more of the latter than the former. And what I mean by that is I think one of the things that's going on in Israel is the fact that things have become so corrupt, sin has run so rampant, things have decayed and fallen apart to such an extreme that we're gonna see now that men aren't even fulfilling their responsibilities, and as such, the the a woman is having to step up and take leadership where it should have been a male leadership. And I think Deborah is even gonna support this in what she's saying. Now, unfortunately, I've lived long enough to see that in marriage relationships there are women who have to step up and take the leadership role in that marriage as a spiritual leader because the man won't. But that is not to sit there and say that's the way that it should be. It's a sign of poor male leadership to say, I'm not gonna do what I'm supposed to do. So now my wife is gonna have to do things that God never intended her to have to do. And I've never met a godly woman who's ever sat there and said, Yeah, I'd rather do this on my own and lead on my own, but instead they would say, Oh, how I wish my husband would step in and take responsibility. Are there churches where there is more female leadership than male leadership? Unfortunately, yes. Does that mean that it's the way that it's supposed to be? Typically, it's a sign of spiritual apathy in the life of the church because men just want to sit back and either not participate at all or they want to act as if everything is women's work. You know, one of the things that I've advocated for and wish we had more of is more men working with children in the life of our church. I think it's unfortunate that we want to take the raising up of children and say, you know what, that's for women, when the reality is that God has put a strong importance in both male and female taking the role to raise up children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. One of the things that we're gonna see as we look at Rome, or Ephesians chapter 6 is when Paul looks and says, Children obey your parents in the Lord, he then says, and fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but lead them in the nurture and admonition. Now the word there can mean parents, and I think it speaks generally in some contexts, but there's a reason why our translators have chosen to use the word father, because it seems to be that Paul is calling out men and saying, You have a responsibility to help raise children in the home. Don't expect your wife just to do it. I think unfortunately, we live in a culture today where children in school, at home, and all around rarely, if ever, see quality, godly men in their life. We've essentially turned all of it over for women to do. And it's not that women aren't doing a good job, it's that there is a missing link, and there's a wonder why young men grow up not knowing what it looks like to be a man, because so many of them fail to see that in their life. They don't see it at home, they don't see it in society, they don't see it in the schools, they don't see it maybe in the kids' wing of the church. And so, therefore, the calling is for men, as I preached a couple weeks ago, to step up and take the responsibility to fulfill the calling of God in their life, as husbands, as fathers, as leaders in the church, and also just in culture in society in general. And I say that today to say that as we look at this passage, not only do we see a strong woman in Deborah, and I don't think we should negate that at all, we do see a godly strong woman, which is something to be celebrated. But the reason that we see her stepping out so clearly in the passages is also because we're seeing such weak males in the passage. Now, here is the amazing thing about it. As I read through this story, I'm gonna tell you that there's little about Barak, who is going to really be the more judge of the two in the care in the story. Deborah's never really referred to uh as a judge as much as she's referred to as a prophetess. And then in uh Judges chapter 5, she refers to herself, interestingly enough, as the mother of Israel. And so as she sees herself even in a leadership role, she chooses the feminine, God-given uh title of mother to describe herself. She says, I'm the mother of Israel. So she doesn't say, I'm the leader of Israel, the judge of Israel. She sees herself in that role by which God has designed it. But Barak, interestingly enough, is gonna find himself in Hebrews chapter 11 mentioned among the people of faith. And I look at that and think, man, couldn't the couldn't the uh author of Hebrews find a better character to describe than what we're gonna see here in Barak? And and and I think part of the answer is that God acknowledges our faithfulness, he works through us even when we're not perfect, even when we're seriously flawed, and he does simply just desire for us to be obedient to him. But let's just pick up the story in verse one. The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud had died. Now, I'm getting tired of hearing these words, right? I mean, we're only four chapters in, and we are getting a repetition of they did again what was evil in the sight of the Lord. I think not only is it bad for us to hear it, but but Samuel has been attributed as the author of this book, and I think Samuel probably got tired of writing it. I can only imagine as he's sitting here recounting the history over a period of hundreds of years of Israel and just reading it and writing it down. Yet, I don't think that if there were some historical writings from a Christian perspective about us, our culture, our time and place in history, that they would maybe say much different. That the church once again did what was evil in the sight of the God, that the nation once again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, because I don't know about you, but I look around us and see nothing but rampant evil running around. I see nothing but idolatry and sinfulness and waywardness and flat-out rebellion against God and what he says and loving and living for the things of the world more than we live for the things of God. And unfortunately, that mentality creeps into the church just as much as it creeps into other parts of society. And so when I think about maybe how Paul would write a letter to us or how history would describe us, if the Holy Spirit of God was looking in our hearts and our practices and what we were doing, and then spurring someone to write a letter to us, what would it say? Would we be acknowledged for faithfulness? Would we be acknowledged for a love for God? Would we be acknowledged of a group of people who in the midst of the culture are shining bright and looking different? Or would he say, you know, I've got a few things that we need to address because you don't seem to look a whole lot different than the world that's out there. And you talk a good game and you know some of the things that you should know, and you know, you you come to Bible studies and you do all of these things, but but I I struggle because maybe your practices are not keeping in alignment with what you said you believe. And I say that to say, because when I read through the Bible and I read historical accounts of stupidity that's going on throughout the history, I can find myself piously saying, Man, what a bunch of fools. And then sometimes the Spirit of God says, Oh, don't think of yourself so highly. You know, it's kind of like there are moments as a parent when you're getting on to your children for just flat out stupid things. And man, we just have to admit, sometimes our kids do some really stupid things. They say some really stupid things, they justify their sin in some foolish ways. And in the moment of me rebuking them and getting onto them, the Lord says things like, Oh, well, that's interesting. Remember the moment you said this, or remember this thought, or remember this action, and and in disciplining them, I find the Lord disciplining me sometimes and saying, You know what? The apple doesn't far too far from the tree, does it? And so, all of that being said, as we look at this again, here's this reminder that that sin is running rampant. And so here's God's response once again. It's that of a disciplinarian. So the Lord sold them to King Jabon of Canaan, who reigned in Hazer. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Herasheth of the nations. Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord because Jabon had 900 iron chariots, and he harshly oppressed them for 20 years. Now, while that doesn't sound too impressive to us, you need to think in terms of the technology of that day. And essentially, it's like a military occupant who has army tanks when you don't have anything that looks like that. I mean, one of the reasons that the United States has been able to be a world power for some time is it's technological. It's the ability to do things that other nations can't do. And so, in the forms of tanks or planes or now drones and all the technology that we have, there's a superiority that is not to be matched by someone else. And culturally speaking, here and historically speaking, and it's questioned whether this literally means 900, if, you know, because the the Bible, when it gives us numbers, isn't always giving us like specific to the count numbers. But nonetheless, they're being oppressed, what partly because this nation superior has chariots to be able to cover ground, protect people, do things that the other nations are unable to do. And part of the reason they're adding this here is just to show the superiority of this force over the people of Israel, which is going to be given to prove the credit of God later when Israel's able to overcome them. And I think part of the reason that this is listed here is to say, as we read this story, when you see here in a little bit that Israel stands victorious, no, it wasn't because of their military might, it was because God worked through them and delivered them. Deborah, here we go, we introduce her, a prophetess and wife of Lapidath, was judging Israel at the time. Now, the word judging here is interesting because it has to do with possibly settling disputes, as we're going to see later in the passage. So she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went to her to settle disputes. Now, these few verses here raise a lot of questions amongst scholars about who Deborah was and what was her role. The first thing is it says very clearly that she was a prophetess. Now we need to address what this is. Often when we think of prophet, we think of future telling. But that's not always what a prophet does. Matter of fact, that's not the majority of the things a prophet does. What a prophet simply does, speaks on behalf of the Lord and says, thus saith the Lord. And so Deborah is one, and the Bible does refer to not only prophets, but prophetesses, that there are these people that God has gifted and that he works through, and he speaks through them. And so when a prophet would speak, the people would listen because they would speak on behalf of the Lord. Now, what is another warning? Well, there's false prophets. There were those who would say, Thus saith the Lord, and they didn't have the authority of God to be able to do that. But the Bible here is dedicating Deborah as a prophetess, and she was judging Israel at the time. Now the question is, does this judging Israel mean that she's operating as a judge, as these other men have throughout the text, or is it just simply referring to that she is one who, as this passage says, is settling disputes for people? Now, one of the interesting things about it is that she is outside the city, she's uh underneath the palm tree, and she's doing these things there, and this would not have been the common place for things like this to be dealt with. Typically, they would have happened in a couple of ways, that the men of the city would gather at the city gates, and we saw this back in the in the story of Ruth, where they would sit there, and that's where these things would be dealt with. Also, you remember that there's a Levitical priesthood, and the priests were also to be responsible to help in these matters, to give guidance to people. Now, part of when it says this in verse, Israel went up to her to settle disputes, that literally could read, or they went up to her for judgments. Now, the question is, what was she really doing? Was she just sitting out there settling disputes, or were the people of Israel coming to her and crying out to her because they knew she was a prophetess, given uh strict words from God, and they're using her to come to her and say, We need God's help. We need God to deliver us, we need God to rescue us, and she's maybe playing this role as one who's speaking on behalf of the Lord as the people are coming to her and crying out to her. Nonetheless, here's one thing that it's telling us again, and not to beat this point, but things in Israel are so bad that the men and people are not going through the normal channels to try to get help and get guidance. They've now gone outside the city and they're going to a prophetess by the name of Deborah for it. They don't trust the Levitical system, they don't trust the priesthood, they don't trust the men to help them do what's right. And so it's a sign, I think, of just how bad things are in Israel at this time. So here's what she's gonna have to do, again, because of the lack of malleadership. She summoned Barak, son of Abinoam, from Kadesh in Naphtali, and said to him, Hasn't the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you, go deploy the troops on Mount Tabor and take with you 10,000 men from the Naphtalites and the Zebulanites? So here's the question again in the passage. Has God already spoken to Barak, which is how it leads us to read, and he's not done what he's supposed to do, and now Deborah's having to call him out on it. Or is she in the role of a prophetess calling him up and saying, God has given me a message for you? You need to gather up 10,000 men and go get ready for battle. Nonetheless, here is a picture in sign, and I think it reads more like the former than the latter. God has called this man out, Barak, to go lead the people of Israel, and he hasn't done it yet. And so now, as a prophetess, she's having to be the voice of God to this man who is still failing to do what he's supposed to do, probably because he's afraid, probably because he's intimidated, and she's looking at him and saying, Didn't God tell you to do something? Aren't you supposed to be gathering up some men right now? And what's happening is that a woman in this life of Israel is having to look at a man who's supposed to be a leader, and this is just how weak things have gotten, aren't you going to do what you're supposed to do? Now think about this in a husband and wife type situation. And I want to bring it back to this because we've been talking about this on Sunday mornings. And one of the graces that God gives us is a wife who will do this to us. Amen. A wife who, in a non-nagging, non-confrontational way, just as a voice from the Lord will say, Aren't you supposed to be doing something here? And sometimes we need that grace, right? We need that wife who is our helpmate, who is our companion to call us to task. But you know what that is in that moment? It's a grace that God has given us, but it's also an indictment on us as a husband and leader that we're not being obedient and faithful. Now, I praise God for a wife. I actually told my wife this Sunday night as we were laying down in bed. And I told her as we were getting ready to go to sleep, I said, I want you to know that I thank God for you being a biblically submissive woman. And what I meant by that was not that she's just submissive and does what I tell her to, because I told you before on Sunday, like there have been moments that she's spoken out, and there have been moments I've needed her to speak out. There have been moments that I've needed her to question some things in my life because maybe what I'm doing is not good. There have been moments that she's had to question my style of parenting, because maybe I've not been as gentle as I should be. And one of the graces of a marriage is the fact that I think, and this is why I believe so clearly in complimentary and things, we we compliment one another. In the same way, there have been times in our marriage that I've had to look at her and say, hey, you know, I I don't know if this is the best way for you to go about this. And I live to tell about it. And you want to know why I think I've lived to tell about it? Not because my wife is a weak pushover, but I tend to try to do that in the right heart and right spirit. Not always. But you know, I tend to try to approach it in a way of like I'm not demanding or telling, like I'm just trying to caution you. And part of that has come with years, it's come with the growth of the relationship, it's come with maturity. But you know, here's how I would feel as a husband. If my wife was constantly having to tell me, don't you think God wants you to do this? Don't you think God's told you to do that? You know what that's an indictment on? Me not heeding the voice of the Lord. Me not being obedient. And while Barak is not her husband, he is a leader of Israel, and she's had to call him out and say, Isn't there something you're supposed to be doing? Verse 7, then I will lure Sisera, commander of Jaban's army, his chariots and his infantry at the Wadi Kishon to fight against you, and I will hand him over to you. Now there's the hope in the passage, because up to this point the story doesn't sound very good, right? I want you to gather your men, I want you to go to this location, and I'm gonna lure out the superior army with all of their chariots, and they're gonna come against you, and you're like, this is not a great strategy, but God says, and I will hand them over to you. Now I do think that there's a lesson here that we need to heed. God will often call us to do things that make no sense. I don't know of a military mind that would say, hey, you know what, the best thing to do is to go ahead and go out against the superior army with the idea of luring them out against you. You would think that there would need to be some manipulation, some getting around, some strategic things that are going on. And maybe there's some things implied here that I don't understand or don't know, but what makes this real is God says to him, and when you do this, know this, I will hand them over to you. So there's the hope in there. That's God looking and saying, This is a moment of faith and trust. And one of the things that you're gonna see all throughout biblical narrative is God is gonna call his people out to do things that are beyond them, and our obedience is connected to our faith and trust in God. Let me put it to you this way. Uh, I was reading this morning, and so I was kind of just making some notes to myself and my mind over the last several days about, you know, what is a healthy church? I mean, because I'll tell you this. My heart as your pastor is that we would be a healthy, functioning New Testament church. My heart, anywhere I've lived, has never been like, let's be the biggest, let's be the best, let's do this or that. It's always like, let's be faithful and let's be healthy, like let's be able to look at what the scriptures say and point to our church and say, yeah, we see God doing this. And so in my mind, I'm always like, all right, well, what are the things in the Bible that point us to a healthy church? And really what you want to use them is as a standard to measure yourself up against. Do we see God doing this? And so I was thinking to myself today, all right, let's go back and rethink. And so one of the first things that came to my mind was Jesus in John 13, where he says, the world will know that you're my disciples by how you love one another. And so, in the context of the gathered body of Christ, is there a love that we have for one another that other people would be able to look at us and say, they belong to Jesus because we can tell the way that they love one another? And I will tell you that I think, in from my estimation, what I've seen in the time that I've been here, is I think the answer to that's yes. You know, I think about while we're never going to be perfect, like I can look around the room on a Sunday morning and see interactions with people that I think goes beyond just superficial, hi, how you do in friendship, but a true love for one another is people are concerned about what's going on in other people's lives, they're concerned about their health, they're concerned about their spirituality. And I think one of the things that God has graced us with and is continuing to do is we're to see across the body at large a love for one another. And I'll tell you one of the ways that thrills my heart to do this, that on any given Sunday, I'm gonna be hugged by a 100-year-old and maybe a five-year-old. And you know what? That's a pretty good feeling. It's a pretty good feeling when I've got some boys, and this is interesting to me, and I praise God for it. Like I've got some fifth, fourth, fifth, and sixth grade boys that come up to me on a Sunday and they hug me. Like, I mean, they don't want to shake my hand, like they want to give me a hug. And you know what? I don't know about you, but I think it's kind of hard sometimes to get a fourth, fifth, and sixth-grade boy, especially, to want to do that. And that's not me sitting there saying, man, aren't I the world's greatest pastor because they want to do that? It's saying that's the kind of love that I think God creates in the context of the body of Christ when we're healthy. Another thing that I think about is he says that we're going to be serving one another. Right? John 13 says, as I have done for you after he's just washed the feet and served his disciples, you do for one another. And so serving one another is what? It's a humbling of ourselves and it's a giving up of our preferences and desires on behalf of someone else. And so, can I pat you all on the back here for just a moment in this room? On Sunday mornings when we went to one service, this generation served a younger generation by saying, we're willing to give some things up to bring us together to be the body of Christ. Because I know that while we try to blend the services, it leans more toward new than it does old. I know that. And by and large, the bulk of our gathered body, specifically this age group, has complained little to none and willingly said, we're gonna serve. And that's what that's what it is. I think sometimes we think of serving as like picking up chairs. That is part of it. Like serving is so vast. But I think the heart behind serving is I'm gonna give up for somebody else. And one of the reasons we've been able to have love, and then the next one, which is unity, Jesus says this, Lord, I pray, John 17, that they would be one as we are one, thus the world would know that they belong to me and believe that you sent me. What a powerful statement. That in our unity, the world's gonna know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Now, how is that possible? Well, we know this. If the church is indeed going to be this diverse group of people that God is bringing together, the only way we're ever gonna be unified is supernaturally. But in our love for one another and our serving one another, guess what happens? There's a unity that comes. And your willingness to serve has created a unity within the body of Christ. And so I'm checking off the list, all right? So do we love one another? I think the answer is yes. Are we serving one another? Perfectly, never, but do we see it? Absolutely. I think that we see it. You know, a willingness to just just to jump in there together as a family. Are we seeing a unity that's developed amongst our body? Absolutely. I think that that's there. And then I think about the big one, which is the Great Commission. And I'm gonna bring this back to a point here in just a moment, in case you're like, where are we going with this? Well, the Great Commission says, go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I've commanded you. What an unbelievable command to give a group of a few hundred to thousand people on a hillside in a day and time when the primary mode of travel is foot, donkey, and boat. Think about that, right? And my point that I'm getting you to is that there's gonna be moments when God's gonna call us to do things that seemed completely unreasonable. Gather up your army. Go lure out a superior army. But remember, I'm gonna hand them over to your hands. What was the only reason the disciples had reason to believe that that commission of Jesus was doable? He begins it with all authorities been given to me under heaven on earth, and he ends it with, and I will be with you always, even to the end of the age. And you want to know something? Those early disciples who by faith set out to do what God told them to do. And you want to know how we know it worked? Here we sit in the middle of another continent, thousands of years later, talking about the same thing that they talked about. We gather on a Sunday with our goal to be let's worship the risen Jesus Christ, let's worship the Father who sent him, let's allow the Spirit to work in our life, and let's do our best to teach from the Bible everything the Lord Jesus has commanded. And we see baptisms happen. We are sending people out at different periods in times. We got a group leaving in just a week to go to Oaxaca, Mexico from our church. We had a group that just got back from Honduras, we had a group that went to Japan, and we are fortunately in the size of a church where God has blessed us enough with resources that we get to see that with our own eyes, sending people out. But we also know that through the cooperative program where we give to work together with other churches across the world, that we're a part of sending people out in that way. But as I look at it, I think to myself, how what a thought. No wonder Barack's afraid, right? Gather up your army and go out against a superior army. But here's why he should have believed I will hand them over to you. Now, let's just see how big of a coward Barack is, alright? Barack said to her, verse 8, if you will go with me, I will go. But if you will not go with me, I will not go. Now, you can be a feminist all you want, but I don't think that most feminists down in their heart believe that we should be sending women always to the front line of battle. It's not to say that women don't serve in the military and things of that nature, but but I don't know about you men, but I would have very little respect for a man who is about to say, you know what, I'm about to go get in a fight, but he looked at his wife and said, But I won't go if you don't go with me. Like I kind of think the whole now, your wife might be tougher than you, and you want to know something? I've known some wives that are for sure a whole lot meaner than their husband. Like I've told my kids before, I'm like, if you want to fight with somebody in our house, you better pick me because your mom's a whole lot meaner than I am. I might be stronger, but she will poke you in the eye, she will pull your hair, she will kick you in the shin, she will spit in your face if she has to. But that farm girl, like you don't go pick in a fight with her. Like I've told Adeline before when Adel's being a little sassy, I'm like, you're picking the wrong person to be sassy with. And so, you know, my wife in some ways is probably a little bit meaner and maybe even tougher than I am, but I can guarantee you that none of you would have a whole lot of respect for me if if I looked and said, Hey, you know what? I'm supposed to go do something like lead a group of people to battle, then looked at a woman and said, But I'm not gonna go if you don't go with me. And again, here's just this sign, and part of it might be his acknowledgement that you represent God's voice. But but still, God's told him, go. He shouldn't be looking at her. Now it would have been one thing if he would have said, Hey, God clearly is with you. Would you go with us? That's a whole different different thing than I'm not going if you don't go. So look at her response. Godly woman here. I will gladly go with you. But know this you will receive no honor on the road you are about to take, because the Lord will sell Sisera to a woman. Now we're gonna stop here because it's gonna introduce a whole new part of the story, and it's gonna actually introduce us to another woman. But what we're seeing again is God's going to work how he needs to work to accomplish his purpose and will. And in the absence of strong male leadership, God looks and says, Well, then I'm gonna use a woman. Now I don't think that this is descriptive or prescriptive, meaning that, well, then I I think it's more of a calling for men to say, do what you're supposed to do. So I'm gonna throw this out here and then and then we're gonna be done. And and and this is gonna I thought for a minute Siri was talking to me. Uh in in the month of June, so it's gonna be the Wednesday after Father's Day, I have been convicted that it's one thing to call men out, it's another thing to call them out but not equip them. So it's one thing to sit there to men, like we did a couple weeks ago, and and looking at this passage that we've been looking at as far as husbands love your wives and take the responsibility to lead and say, you need to do that. But it's another thing to say, but but we're gonna show you how to do that. We're gonna equip you to do it. And I've convinced that that's the church's responsibility. Like it's not just to call you out to do something, it's to call you out and say, now let us help you and show you how to do it. And and what confirmed this to me was the other night is I went to the cookout, and you need to understand that I love being around our church, but cookouts are work for me. I just need you to understand that like if you ever don't see me at a cookout, man, it's not because like I don't like the fellowship, but like when I go to a cookout, it's just a constant like take a few steps and have conversations. And I take a few more steps and have conversations. And normally what I know I need to do is an hour before I need to leave, I need to start planning my exit. And here's why I say an hour. Because my goal is normally when I go to something like that is to connect with as many people as I can by saying hi. But I know from the moment I decide to start making my exit, it will be at least an hour by the time I get caught by people on the way out. And they're like, oh wait, can can can I ask you this? Or what about this? And so I'm not asking you to feel sorry for me. I'm just asking you to know that, like, if there's ever a time, because I tried to be very present, that he's like, Well, why didn't he show up? It's because maybe I just had enough going on that I'm like, I don't have it in me to go to a work that hard with people tonight. That being said, I was on my way out and actually went and sat by a couple of young men for a second who I was glad to see there. One of them is is not married, the other one is newly married and then has a child or new baby, and just got sitting down to them. And it was really enjoyable because they were just picking my brain about manhood, about being a dad, about being a husband, about a lot of different things. And and I look back at my life, and here's what I realized: that God, throughout my life, has always blessed me with men who were godly in different stages of the journey to be that person or that voice that you could ask questions. You want to know why? Because when you're 21 and you're only hanging out with 21-year-olds, they don't always have the most sage wisdom for you. And by God's grace, I was smart enough to say, I know I'm dumb, but I also know my friends are dumb. And so I can't ask my dumb friends because they're just going to give me the same dumb answer that I have. And so I've got to find somebody further down the road who can answer this question better for me. And so what we're going to start on, and we're going to start at the Wednesday after Father's Day, and partly because I'm going to be gone for a couple weeks to convention and on a vacation. We're wrapping up end of school year stuff. And so on the Wednesday after Father's Day, I'm going to challenge the men in our church to give us six weeks in the summer, six Wednesday nights for men of all ages to come and we're going to talk about what it looks like to be a biblical, godly man and what God's asking us to do. Now, here's why I'm pitching it in this room. Not just because you don't need it on some level, but you know what we need is older men to help younger men understand what it looks like. And we've got too many young men in the church for just me or pastors to be the one that do all of this. And some of you are doing this already, but here's what I'm hoping that for six weeks this summer, and if you can't make all of them, that's okay. You make what you can. But I'm gonna ask for the men of our church to gather together. There might be five of us, there might be 50 of us, there might be, I don't know how many of us, but I don't care. Whoever shows up, we're gonna do it. And we're gonna go through a simple book together called Disciplines of a Godly Man. All of the pastors are gonna take different turns teaching, you know, different lessons, but but gathering together as men and making sure that we define what it looks like to be a godly, biblical man with biblical manhood, and then encourage, challenge, and help each other to walk in it. So, women, what do I want you to do? Pray. And tell your husband, no, I was gonna say, tell your husband to go, but but let the Spirit of God do that. Maybe through you, but let the Spirit of God do that. But pray, pray that God would raise up godly men in our church. You know, it's it we can sit there all week long and call men out to it, but if we're not gonna help them, and many of these young men, they've never seen it. I mean, look around our world today, there's an epidemic of a lack of godly good men in people's lives. Well, well, it's really possible for a young man to grow up and never encounter a godly man to show him how to be a good husband, how to be a good father, how to steward resources and gifts and how to pray and some of the things that we've taken for granted. And so my hope is that we see a lot of generations of guys, and even if it's a bunch of us, and I'm gonna throw myself in this room because clearly they thought I was old enough to be asking some of these questions that I used to ask old guys, uh even if it's a bunch of us old guys, middle-aged guys, you know what? We'll encourage one another to walk in these things because these disciplines are not something that you master and then they go away. The disciplines of being a godly man are something that you've got to discipline yourself in every day to continue to do it. But I want you to pray, and and men, I would encourage you, it's gonna start on June 24th. There'll be a lot of information that goes out on it between now and then. But we want to ask some of you in this room who are able, willing to join us. Uh that way we can serve our families, our wives, our church, our communities well, as the Lord would have us to do that. And so we won't be a Baroque. I'll go. If you'll go with me, that we'll have men who will stand up in faithfulness and say, Lord, whatever you tell me to do, that's what I'm gonna do. Let's pray and we'll be done. Father in heaven, thank you for this church. Thank you, Lord, for what we see you doing in our midst. Father, I pray that you would continue to expand and strengthen and grow our church because we're making more disciples of you. But Father, I pray that it will never happen at the expense of us being what you've told us to be, which is a place where we love one another, which is a place where we serve one another, which is a place where we're unified in your spirit and in your gospel and in the truth of your word, is a place where making disciples is a priority. We're seeing people take the step of faithful obedience and baptism is happening regularly, where we're faithful to teach everything that you've commanded us to do. And Father, while the calling is daunting and overwhelming, we'll remember that it's possible because you're with us and you'll be with us till the end of the age. Father, would you call out men today in our church who have not only a desire to be godly men, but are willing to help other men do it as well. And Father, may we see transformation happen in our church and our community because the men of First Moore are willing to do hard things and lead and love their wives and their families as you called us to do. Bless us, guide us, lead us. Just as in the life of Deborah, thank you for godly strong women who have served you and your people throughout the ages, who have been willing to stand up and do hard things in the absence of leadership, who have been willing to put themselves out there to accomplish your purpose and will. And Father, I can assure you that there's not a person in this room who cannot point to godly women who are a part of that process in their life. And so we thank you today for them. Father, bless us as we leave this place. Bless us with all we have going on. We've got camps coming up around the corner. We've got the end of another school year, we've got vacation Bible school, we've got so many things that are going to be going on mission trips and groups. And just pray, Lord, that you would bless the effort that we're making. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.