WEBVTT 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:06.559 So we are in Judges chapter four and five, like we've been saying as we've been studying our way through the book of Judges. 00:00:06.799 --> 00:00:10.160 This is one of those books that we oftentimes just sort of skip over. 00:00:10.240 --> 00:00:12.400 It's filled with a lot of strange stories. 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:14.160 We're trying to make sense of these stories. 00:00:14.320 --> 00:00:21.600 Last week, uh, Brad helped us make sense of these stories as he preached, and he talked about patterns, right? 00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:29.679 And he talked about how Mandy makes him go eat tapas food, which we learned is Spanish for not enough food for Brad. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:34.799 Uh, and then the pattern is his dessert is uh swinging by five guys on the way home. 00:00:35.039 --> 00:00:42.960 Christy, and my date night pattern, it's also very clear, and that's Thursday nights, and for us it means we drive to Atlanta. 00:00:43.119 --> 00:00:49.520 It's the end of the week for us, Sunday through Thursday, uh work week, exhausted, tired, been all over the place. 00:00:49.600 --> 00:00:58.960 We can barely talk, we're kind of comatose as we drive down the expressway, and we go eat at Tacaria del Sol, where waiting for us is guacamole and cheese dip and a margarita. 00:00:59.039 --> 00:01:07.760 It takes about halfway through the margarita before life is returning into us, and we start having functional, like relational conversation. 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:08.799 That's our pattern. 00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:13.840 Like it's the story that we live by over and over and over again. 00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:15.680 It's a pattern. 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:16.239 Right? 00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:19.920 Well, these stories and judges, it's a pattern. 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:24.400 This pattern that we saw last week is actually the pattern we're gonna see this week. 00:01:24.480 --> 00:01:27.840 It's the pattern that we see in the story of the Old Testament. 00:01:28.079 --> 00:01:30.239 And that is that we're God's people. 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:32.400 We often forget God. 00:01:32.799 --> 00:01:39.120 We become enslaved to sin, and in that slavery, at some point we cry, Uncle, I've had enough. 00:01:39.359 --> 00:01:41.760 Please, Lord, rescue me. 00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:44.319 And God is gracious and he shows up. 00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:48.640 So Judges 4 starts out with Ehud, their leader, he dies. 00:01:48.719 --> 00:01:58.159 And Ehud must have been providing some amount of leadership to keep everybody in line because he dies, and then the text says the people begin to forget God and rebel. 00:01:58.239 --> 00:02:05.280 And then this King Jabin shows up with this really horrible army commander, and his name is Sesera. 00:02:05.519 --> 00:02:10.400 And these two, for 20 years, they just wreck havoc, they enslave the people. 00:02:10.719 --> 00:02:17.199 Finally, finally, like the pattern, the people cry out to God for rescue. 00:02:17.439 --> 00:02:21.360 And then this lady shows up, this leader, Deborah. 00:02:21.520 --> 00:02:25.360 She shows up on the scene and she's savvy and she is wise. 00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:33.520 People go to her for counsel, and she gives counsel to this guy named Barak, who's one of the leaders of the army. 00:02:33.680 --> 00:02:36.159 And so we jump into Judges 4. 00:02:36.319 --> 00:02:40.159 We're going to read verses 8 and 9 and then verses 12 through 14. 00:02:40.960 --> 00:02:47.039 Barak said to her, okay, so she had said to him, Hey, you need to take the army and go into battle. 00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:48.080 That's what she said to him. 00:02:48.159 --> 00:02:50.719 And now this is Barak speaking back to her. 00:02:51.759 --> 00:02:56.719 Barak said to her, If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go. 00:02:56.879 --> 00:02:59.120 And she said, I will surely go with you. 00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:07.759 Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Seserah into the hand of a woman. 00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:11.280 Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kadesh. 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:13.199 Then verse 12. 00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:30.479 When Seserah was told that Barak, the son of Abanoam, had gone up to Mount Tabor, Seserah called out all his chariots, 900 chariots of iron, and all the men who were with him, from Hereshet, Hagoim, to the river Keshon. 00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:36.879 And Deborah said to Barak, Up, for this is the day in which the Lord has given Seserah into your hand. 00:03:36.960 --> 00:03:39.039 Does not the Lord go out before you? 00:03:39.199 --> 00:03:43.199 So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him. 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:44.800 And he said, Okay, what are we going to get out of this? 00:03:44.960 --> 00:03:46.639 Well, we're actually going to get a lot out of this. 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:51.280 Deborah becomes this wise counselor to Barak, tells Barak what to do. 00:03:51.599 --> 00:03:54.560 Thus saith the Lord, sort of thing, is what Deborah's doing. 00:03:54.639 --> 00:03:56.319 Thus saith the Lord, take your men and go. 00:03:56.400 --> 00:03:59.599 And Barak says, I'm not going unless you go with me. 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:01.120 And here's where we get our first point. 00:04:01.199 --> 00:04:02.080 We get two points this morning. 00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:08.719 Point number one is this our growth in grace leads us to asking for more help. 00:04:09.919 --> 00:04:11.039 Not less. 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:12.639 Right? 00:04:12.719 --> 00:04:17.120 It would be easy to conclude, man, this guy, he lacks faith. 00:04:17.360 --> 00:04:20.319 Like he won't do the thing he's told to do. 00:04:21.199 --> 00:04:22.720 But the story's bigger than that. 00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:25.839 And we learn that in Hebrews 11, 32 and 33. 00:04:25.920 --> 00:04:28.399 And what shall, what more shall I say? 00:04:28.639 --> 00:04:47.120 For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, there he is, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel, and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions. 00:04:47.279 --> 00:04:54.560 So Barak, this guy, he is listed as a great hero of faith with all these other heroes of faith. 00:04:55.120 --> 00:05:00.800 So he probably, he probably recognized Deborah had a skill set he didn't have. 00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:02.319 I mean, it was something like that. 00:05:02.399 --> 00:05:04.720 We don't know exactly why, but something like that. 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:09.279 But what we do know is it was not a lacking of faith to ask for help. 00:05:09.439 --> 00:05:10.959 It was an act of faith. 00:05:11.120 --> 00:05:12.879 It wasn't weak faith. 00:05:13.360 --> 00:05:15.519 Do you remember the story of 2 Corinthians 12? 00:05:15.680 --> 00:05:17.839 Paul's wrestling with this thorn in his side. 00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:18.639 There's some issue. 00:05:18.720 --> 00:05:20.000 We don't know what the issue is. 00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:26.079 Something, something in his life that's not going well, something that made him feel inadequate or not enough or in pain. 00:05:26.160 --> 00:05:28.240 He's begging God, like, hey, relieve this. 00:05:28.399 --> 00:05:29.600 Take this away. 00:05:29.920 --> 00:05:30.240 Right? 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:32.000 I mean, that would be nice. 00:05:32.319 --> 00:05:34.639 Just to not be in pain. 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:38.160 Or to not feel needy. 00:05:39.199 --> 00:05:42.639 I saw this uh fake CDC update this week. 00:05:42.800 --> 00:05:44.639 This is a fake CDC update. 00:05:44.959 --> 00:05:46.560 It may actually hit pretty true. 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:58.959 If you're fully vaccinated, the only mask you need to wear in public is the elaborate system of defense mechanisms you've built around your true self out of fear that if people knew the real you, they'd decide that you're not worthy of love. 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:05.839 And I saw that, and I sort of wanted to laugh, kind of like you want to laugh right now, but you didn't laugh because it just stung too much, right? 00:06:05.920 --> 00:06:09.680 You're like, ow, like what, like, okay, got me, right? 00:06:12.879 --> 00:06:15.600 Because we realize, like, we're all in the mask wearing business. 00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:19.920 Some of us took our mask off this morning, but we're all still in the mask wearing business. 00:06:20.079 --> 00:06:23.759 We have these defense mechanisms built up inside of us. 00:06:25.439 --> 00:06:32.160 Because we wonder, just like that faked update says, like, we just wonder, if we're fully known, will we be fully loved? 00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:40.000 And especially when it comes to faith, like, could God actually, not just like theoretically love me, like, does he does he really love me? 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:45.519 In my weakness, with this thorn, with this pain, with this woundedness. 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:50.000 Like, if he really knew me, would he love me? 00:06:50.240 --> 00:06:51.519 Would he have me? 00:06:52.079 --> 00:06:53.680 Would he delight in me? 00:06:56.720 --> 00:07:03.279 And then we get that verse in 2 Corinthians 12 when Paul's speaking about his weakness. 00:07:03.680 --> 00:07:04.480 9 and 10. 00:07:04.639 --> 00:07:13.199 But he said to me, this is what Paul heard from the Lord, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. 00:07:13.519 --> 00:07:19.439 Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:22.399 For the sake of Christ, then I am content. 00:07:23.519 --> 00:07:24.480 Isn't that crazy? 00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:32.399 Content, like at peace with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:35.920 For, like, wow, how in the world could he get to that conclusion? 00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:39.360 For when I am weak, then I am strong. 00:07:40.319 --> 00:07:42.399 See, here's the goodness that all this gives us. 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:44.879 It's the sufficiency of Christ for us, is what it is. 00:07:45.439 --> 00:07:48.399 You are perfectly loved by God and Jesus. 00:07:49.360 --> 00:07:56.160 And because of that, you don't have to be afraid to face your weakness or your woundedness. 00:07:56.319 --> 00:07:59.519 And you don't have to pretend to be strong when you're not. 00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:00.720 Isn't that freeing? 00:08:00.800 --> 00:08:02.480 That's what Barack teaches us here. 00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:05.600 We can be people of faith who ask for help. 00:08:05.920 --> 00:08:09.439 He says, I'm not going into war without you, I'm not going to that battle without you, Deborah. 00:08:09.519 --> 00:08:13.759 Like you're coming with me, and Hebrews affirms that he was a person of faith. 00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:24.800 I think for us, what this could mean is it means like the more sad you are, the more disappointed you are, the more you call your friends. 00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:26.399 Not the less. 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:36.559 I think also what it could mean is that going to therapy and going to counseling, we would normalize it more. 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:39.759 We would deem it healthy to do. 00:08:40.080 --> 00:08:46.960 Like it would make me incredibly happy if we were like the most counseled church in the city of Marietta. 00:08:47.120 --> 00:08:48.480 That would be unbelievable. 00:08:48.559 --> 00:08:50.799 Like, maybe they got so many people in counseling. 00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:52.159 We'd be like, yes, amen. 00:08:52.480 --> 00:08:59.519 Like we're so secure in Jesus that we can work through our weaknesses and woundedness. 00:09:00.639 --> 00:09:01.919 That would be such good news. 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:05.759 And that is not a lack of faith, that is faith. 00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:09.279 The story of Judges continues to go. 00:09:09.360 --> 00:09:11.840 A bit of reading here, verses uh 17 through 22. 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:12.799 Judges 4. 00:09:12.960 --> 00:09:24.080 But Seserah fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. 00:09:24.159 --> 00:09:29.039 And Jael came out to meet Sesera and said to him, Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me. 00:09:29.200 --> 00:09:30.480 Do not be afraid. 00:09:30.720 --> 00:09:40.080 So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug, and he said to her, Please give me a little water to drink, for I'm thirsty. 00:09:40.799 --> 00:09:45.519 So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:48.000 And he said to her, Stand at the opening of the tent. 00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:50.320 If any man comes and asks you, is anyone here? 00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:51.279 Say no. 00:09:51.759 --> 00:09:57.120 But Jael, the wife of Heber, this is kind of right at the point of the story, like, what's this lady gonna do? 00:09:58.480 --> 00:10:02.480 Took a tent peg, took a hammer in her hand. 00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:12.080 Then she went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple until it went down into the ground while he was lying fast asleep from weariness. 00:10:12.320 --> 00:10:13.440 Okay, do you get that? 00:10:13.600 --> 00:10:14.399 What she did? 00:10:14.559 --> 00:10:18.799 Okay, I just want to make sure we're all on the same page. 00:10:19.120 --> 00:10:21.360 And in case we didn't get it, so he died. 00:10:21.519 --> 00:10:21.759 Okay. 00:10:23.600 --> 00:10:24.799 Verse 22. 00:10:25.039 --> 00:10:33.679 And behold, as Barak was pursuing Sesera, Jael went out to meet him and said to him, Come and I will show you the man whom you are seeking. 00:10:33.919 --> 00:10:39.759 So he went in to her tent, and there lay Sesera dead with the tent peg in his temple. 00:10:40.399 --> 00:10:42.240 Alright, now listen to Judges 5. 00:10:42.320 --> 00:10:45.679 So Judges 5 is a song that Deborah wrote. 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:47.360 Judges 4 is the narrative. 00:10:47.519 --> 00:10:52.159 Judges 5 is Deborah writing a song about the same events. 00:10:52.399 --> 00:10:56.399 Verses 26 and 27, this is Deborah writing a song about this. 00:10:56.639 --> 00:11:01.279 She sent her hand to the tent peg and her right hand to the workman's mallet. 00:11:01.440 --> 00:11:05.840 She struck Sesera, she crushed his head, she shattered and pierced his temple. 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:09.279 Between her feet he sank, he fell, he lay still. 00:11:09.440 --> 00:11:11.600 Between her feet he sank, he fell. 00:11:11.759 --> 00:11:14.559 Where he sank, there he fell dead. 00:11:17.360 --> 00:11:17.679 Right? 00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:20.879 Like fierce Beyoncé women. 00:11:25.039 --> 00:11:27.519 I mean, you have to remember these people are at war. 00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:34.080 These people are at war, and this is Osama bin Laden. 00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:41.840 Like these people are at war, and this is a this is a horrible human being, not somebody not deserving of love. 00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:49.120 But this man and his armies, they stole and they raped women and girls. 00:11:49.679 --> 00:11:54.080 That word girl or womb in verse 30, it could be girl slave. 00:11:54.320 --> 00:11:57.440 So girls were taken from their moms and their dads. 00:11:57.679 --> 00:12:01.919 Just before you get too judgmental about JL, I'm just trying to set the setting here, right? 00:12:02.080 --> 00:12:11.519 So girls were taken from their moms and dads, held, enslaved as sex slaves to soldiers where they were raped over and over again. 00:12:11.679 --> 00:12:13.919 This might be why JL did this. 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:15.440 Right? 00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:17.519 It gives us the context of this moment. 00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:27.039 The Bible's not morally weighing in on this individual one-to-one violence, but it is setting the story in front of us. 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:29.840 Now back to the battle itself. 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:35.279 Barak is told to lead an army into battle against an enemy that is superior in every way. 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:44.240 And the scripture is very clear to tell us, like, they had iron chariots, 900 that could just mow down the Israelites. 00:12:44.480 --> 00:12:49.200 The Israelites had 10,000 men, but not 900 chariots of iron. 00:12:49.360 --> 00:12:52.480 I mean, these chariots would just run them over. 00:12:54.879 --> 00:13:00.399 But somehow Barak, it's probably why Hebrews 11 esteems him as a person of faith. 00:13:00.639 --> 00:13:07.039 He humbles himself before what the Lord has said, and he says, I'll we'll go. 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:11.120 Maybe he realizes he doesn't know the whole story. 00:13:11.440 --> 00:13:13.039 Something could happen. 00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:23.759 And point number two is this rescue and relief is always found in our surrendering to the God fighting for us. 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:27.600 I just say that point over and over again pretty much every Sunday. 00:13:27.679 --> 00:13:29.279 I just do it in different wording, right? 00:13:29.360 --> 00:13:30.960 Like you're catching on, but this is it. 00:13:31.039 --> 00:13:34.320 It's a victory outside of us given to us. 00:13:34.480 --> 00:13:35.679 This is the pattern. 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:37.120 This is the pattern. 00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:40.799 It's the pattern in judges, the pattern of Old Testament, it's the pattern for our own hearts. 00:13:40.960 --> 00:13:49.039 I could say it this way: faith is not a fight for God or for his approval or for delight or for the kingdom to come. 00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:56.480 Faith is a fight from God, from his kingdom coming, from his delight, from his approval. 00:13:57.519 --> 00:14:01.519 It's not a fight for the cross, it's a fight from the cross that's given to you. 00:14:01.679 --> 00:14:05.279 Listen to the end of the song in Judges 5, 20 and 21. 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:08.960 From heaven the stars fought. 00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:12.159 From their courses they fought against Sesera. 00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:15.440 The torrent Kishon swept them away. 00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:20.559 The ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon, march on my soul with might. 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:24.559 So in the song, this is where we get kind of the clue of what happened here. 00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:26.159 Like, what happened? 00:14:27.120 --> 00:14:33.039 We get the clue that the star of heaven and there was a rising river that swept them away. 00:14:33.279 --> 00:14:35.279 Barak is not mentioned. 00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:36.559 Not here. 00:14:37.039 --> 00:14:41.759 So somehow Israel gained this victory, and the credit's not given to Barak. 00:14:42.399 --> 00:14:46.639 Deborah says something happened in the heavens and the river flooded. 00:14:46.799 --> 00:14:48.240 So a rain came. 00:14:48.559 --> 00:14:57.600 Now, what's interesting is Sesra would have never brought out his 900 chariots that would have never moved in a rainy river and riverbed. 00:14:57.919 --> 00:14:59.600 So it must not have been rainy season. 00:14:59.679 --> 00:15:00.720 That's what the commentator says. 00:15:01.039 --> 00:15:02.960 It probably wasn't rainy season, but it rained. 00:15:03.039 --> 00:15:09.200 So this is probably why Deborah, she saw those clouds, that rain starting, and she yelled out to Brock, like, go, go now. 00:15:09.360 --> 00:15:10.320 Like this is the moment. 00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:13.919 Like we are receiving something from God, a breakthrough. 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:16.480 Something unimaginable just happened. 00:15:17.440 --> 00:15:34.080 It reminds me of the verse in the New Testament where Paul is giving an explanation of his life, of his own transformation, of being bound by a performance-oriented spirituality and faith to faith by grace and grace alone. 00:15:36.159 --> 00:15:39.039 And he says this in 1 Corinthians 15, 10. 00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:42.879 Explaining his life, explaining his work, his transformation. 00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:47.120 He only has one explanation, but by the grace of God I am what I am. 00:15:47.360 --> 00:15:49.440 And his grace toward me was not in vain. 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:52.399 On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them. 00:15:52.559 --> 00:15:58.720 So he said, hey, I'm fighting from this position I am with God, but I'm not fighting for it. 00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:04.879 I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 00:16:05.519 --> 00:16:07.679 But by the grace of God. 00:16:08.960 --> 00:16:12.879 Friday, I took my girls and a few of their friends to my mom's lake house. 00:16:12.960 --> 00:16:14.159 And apparently there was a gas shortage. 00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:15.440 I don't know about the gas shortage. 00:16:15.759 --> 00:16:16.720 I was a moron. 00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:18.080 I didn't know a lot about it. 00:16:18.480 --> 00:16:19.519 My mom told me about it. 00:16:19.600 --> 00:16:24.480 She keeps me up on these current events, sends me texts about these types of things, as a mom does. 00:16:24.559 --> 00:16:27.519 And I thought to myself, I need gas. 00:16:27.919 --> 00:16:29.039 I can get some gas. 00:16:29.200 --> 00:16:30.799 Like, I mean, come on. 00:16:30.960 --> 00:16:35.759 Like, how hard can it really be to get some gas or find some gas? 00:16:35.919 --> 00:16:38.159 So I'm a little bit below a quarter of a tank. 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:47.759 I have two little girls in my car, and we're gonna go about 30 minutes up north from here, and then later that evening, I'm gonna need to get 30 minutes back. 00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:56.480 And so I get in the car, we start on our way, and I realize about after five minutes of driving, like I don't think I have enough to get back. 00:16:56.639 --> 00:17:01.039 Like I can get there, and I get back, and I think to myself, I can get gas. 00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:02.960 Like I can handle this, right? 00:17:03.039 --> 00:17:03.759 Like I can do this. 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:06.480 I've done this a million times before. 00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:10.079 First gas station, second gas station, third gas station. 00:17:10.160 --> 00:17:10.880 I'm looping through. 00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:14.960 Any of y'all looped through this week and just little baggies tied up on those handles, right? 00:17:15.119 --> 00:17:17.200 Just rejection, rejection, rejection. 00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:21.599 Fourth gas station, fifth gas station, nothing, nothing. 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:23.039 Sixth gas station. 00:17:23.119 --> 00:17:24.880 I'm starting to get a little concerned. 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:28.079 Like, okay, I'm a moron. 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:32.240 I should have gotten gas like two or three days ago when I heard about it, and I had plenty of gas. 00:17:32.319 --> 00:17:33.279 Like, I should have done that. 00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:34.559 I'm powerless now. 00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:36.160 Like I really am stuck. 00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:42.079 I'm feeling I'm starting to feel a little stuck at this point because I can't do anything to solve this problem. 00:17:42.400 --> 00:17:46.319 I'm through six gas stations, and I'm going, like, I don't I don't know what's gonna happen. 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:52.160 Like, okay, so we're gonna I'm gonna leave my car up there, we're gonna pile in another car, and I don't know, I'm gonna get on a bike at some point. 00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:54.079 I'm trying to like figure all this out. 00:17:54.240 --> 00:17:55.839 Then the seventh gas station came. 00:17:56.000 --> 00:17:58.880 The Chevron Bells Ferry in Town Lake Parkway. 00:17:58.960 --> 00:18:02.559 Like, like the Messiah was waiting for me, is what this was. 00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:08.000 And I'd swing that thing in there, my girls are screaming, you know, like push old lady out of the way. 00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:09.759 And I gas up. 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:11.279 It was like$53. 00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:13.119 Did anybody gas up during those days? 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:15.680 I must have spent on gas in my entire life, right? 00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:18.400 But by the grace of Chevron, I was stuck. 00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:22.640 I mean, I I had like if they if it had not been there for me, I was stuck. 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:27.519 I mean, I, you know, we go through those seasons where things are easy, and you go, like, it's easy, I can do this. 00:18:27.599 --> 00:18:28.480 I can get gas. 00:18:28.559 --> 00:18:29.519 I got it. 00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:31.759 And that works until it doesn't work anymore. 00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:34.480 Like your coping works until your coping doesn't work. 00:18:34.720 --> 00:18:37.920 Your performance-oriented faith works until it doesn't work anymore. 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:40.319 Then you're crushed, you're condemned, you're exhausted. 00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:44.559 You really need something from outside of you to fill you up. 00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:46.720 Right? 00:18:46.799 --> 00:18:49.200 I mean, maybe you're here and you've already lost it all. 00:18:49.279 --> 00:18:51.839 You've been in the valley, you came out the other side, you get it. 00:18:52.000 --> 00:19:00.480 Like you already went through performance-oriented faith, and you came out the other side, and you're out of guilt and shame, and you get it, and you're all Jesus because of that, and you get that. 00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:02.720 Or maybe you still feel a lot of that weight. 00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:13.519 Like 900 chariots of weight on your heart and soul because you're still trying to live to earn God's approval or earn forgiveness or earn validation. 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:15.440 That's exhaustion. 00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:17.839 That feels like 900 chariots, is what it feels like. 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:19.599 It feels like you're getting mowed down. 00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:26.160 I was walking with my little girl this last week, and I asked her, I don't know what we were talking about to get to this question. 00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:40.799 I said, um, hey, if you could pick between um being rich and famous, being powerful, or being always at peace, like which one would you pick? 00:19:41.519 --> 00:19:42.720 So she didn't talk for a little bit. 00:19:42.799 --> 00:19:45.039 We took like about you know 10 steps. 00:19:45.759 --> 00:19:50.160 She said, I know which one I'm supposed to say. 00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:54.480 But I pick rich and famous. 00:19:55.839 --> 00:19:58.799 Yeah, I think I kind of pick that sometimes too. 00:19:59.119 --> 00:19:59.359 Right? 00:19:59.519 --> 00:20:05.440 Don't we all like don't we all like I know which one really works, but I sort of want to try the other. 00:20:05.519 --> 00:20:09.200 It's like that old cliche, it's like you never see anybody crying on a jet ski. 00:20:09.279 --> 00:20:12.559 Like everybody looks happy on a jet ski. 00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:16.079 It's like I just really want to try out the rich and famous thing. 00:20:16.160 --> 00:20:23.759 Like, I know the being at peace every moment of every day at all times should be my answer, and like, you know, collapsing into Jesus should be my. 00:20:24.480 --> 00:20:27.119 I'm gonna keep trying this other thing that's not working for a while. 00:20:27.200 --> 00:20:27.440 Right? 00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:29.680 I mean, that's so and that's our sin, right? 00:20:29.839 --> 00:20:30.640 That's our sin. 00:20:30.799 --> 00:20:36.160 That even when we know the right thing to do, we make choices that aren't the right thing. 00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:38.079 Our hearts do that. 00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:42.960 We do we do that out of self-justification, we we do that out of selfishness. 00:20:43.680 --> 00:20:48.640 We do that out of just trying to think if we can achieve more or earn more, then we'll be okay. 00:20:49.039 --> 00:20:51.039 But by the grace of God. 00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:51.599 Right? 00:20:51.759 --> 00:20:52.720 That's the story. 00:20:53.039 --> 00:20:54.319 That's your story. 00:20:54.720 --> 00:20:57.119 I don't know what happened, but something happened. 00:20:58.079 --> 00:20:59.759 But by the grace of God. 00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:05.359 Paul gives us his gift in these two passages, right? 00:21:05.519 --> 00:21:06.400 Think about these two passages. 00:21:06.480 --> 00:21:12.160 One that's talking about a thorn in him he can't get beyond, and the other one that he's saying, but by the grace of God I am what I am. 00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:14.960 What a great, what a great gift to us. 00:21:15.039 --> 00:21:18.960 That that it's not being welcomed into perfection. 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:21.279 You're not perfect. 00:21:22.160 --> 00:21:32.240 It's being welcomed into a relationship where God has deemed you perfect, even while you're gonna have a life that has pain and discomfort in it, and even sin in it. 00:21:33.759 --> 00:21:37.920 We have a loving Abba that delivers us, that fights for us. 00:21:38.160 --> 00:21:53.599 Ultimately, this story judges in the Old Testament is leading us to understand our need of Jesus, not to win these battles and our lives all the time on the exterior, but on the internal at the heart, at the core of us. 00:21:54.720 --> 00:21:59.039 Forgiveness, worth, belovedness, identity. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:02.880 And that these things are given to us in Jesus. 00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:05.680 We are forgiven, we are welcomed. 00:22:05.920 --> 00:22:09.839 And we don't become superhuman Christians, right? 00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:13.920 We just become rooted in our belovedness. 00:22:16.160 --> 00:22:23.599 The good news is clear for us, and I close it with Deborah's song that she declared, march on my soul with might. 00:22:23.759 --> 00:22:24.799 Let's pray together. 00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:31.839 God, would you help our souls to march on with might because you showed up. 00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:36.640 Just like you sent the rains at that battle. 00:22:37.200 --> 00:22:40.559 And it must not have been rainy season, chariots wouldn't have been there. 00:22:40.880 --> 00:22:45.200 And God, we know the feeling of 900 chariots on our hearts. 00:22:45.519 --> 00:22:50.000 We know what that feels like when we're living in condemnation from the world or from ourselves. 00:22:50.079 --> 00:22:52.880 We know what that feels like when we're believing lies. 00:22:53.119 --> 00:23:00.559 We know what that feels like when we're trying to perform our way into relationship with you or perform our way into worth in this world. 00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:02.079 It's all 900 chariots. 00:23:02.160 --> 00:23:11.039 And God, how we need how we need you to show up into that, and that you do help us to rest in the fact that the rain already came. 00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:13.039 That we have the cross. 00:23:13.599 --> 00:23:22.400 That no matter how we're feeling this morning, it is secure in Jesus, that we are forgiven forever forgiven and forever your beloved. 00:23:22.880 --> 00:23:24.559 We pray this in Jesus' name. 00:23:24.720 --> 00:23:25.200 Amen.