3-19-24 Sermon
Notes
Transcript
Judges 4:1-5:31
Judges 4:1-5:31
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When we don't obey God the way that we should,,, we might miss blessings along the way,,, but God knows what we will do even before we do it,,, and already has everything in place for us.
We can see that from the scriptures that we will look at today,,, as well as the testimony of the way that I have lived my life.
It's always best,,, to immediately obey God when He speaks,,, so that you can receive what God has planned for you,,, instead of waiting,,, and just getting by.
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The scriptures tell us that Barak had already received a message from God telling him to go to battle against Sisera,,, but apparently he was hesitant about obeying this command.
We will focus on verses 6-9 this afternoon.
Deborah begins speaking to him in verse 6.
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6 She summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh 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 Zebulunites? 7 Then I will lure Sisera commander of Jabin’s forces, his chariots, and his army at the Wadi Kishon to fight against you, and I will hand him over to you.’ ” 8 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.” 9 “I will go with you,” she said, “but you will receive no honor on the road you are about to take, because the Lord will sell Sisera into a woman’s hand.” So Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.
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So we can see from the way that Deborah confronts Barak that he has received a message from God but he has not began to gather his men so that they can fight.
We are not told why he is waiting to obey God or if he intended to obey,,, but either way,,, he hasn't gotten around to it.
We are left to our own speculation.
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There were a couple of commentaries that gave a little insight into this question,,, even though they still leave us wondering.
The Tony Evans Study Bible stated what I was already thinking,,, "Barak was going to miss out on blessing because he balked at obeying God’s command to assume leadership."
He continued with,,, "Make no mistake: if God can’t find the right man to take care of a task, he will find a good woman."
This fit my original direction that I thought the scripture would take me.
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The Bible Knowledge Commentary said that regardless of his motivation,,, Barak’s conditional reply to Deborah (if you don’t go with me, I won’t go) was an unfitting response to a command from God.
It suggested that maybe Barak simply wanted to be assured of the divine presence in battle,,, represented by His prophetess-judge Deborah.
But it was this statement that got my attention,,, when it said,,, "It is noteworthy that Barak is listed among the heroes of faith."
This did not fit my earlier direction at all!
This idea had not crossed my mind,,, and I had to stop and look this up,,, but there it was in Hebrews 11:32.
Hebrews 11:32
“And what more can I say? Time is too short for me to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets,”
Hard to argue with God's word!
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The Holy Bible with Commentary and critical notes said,,, The Septuagint makes a remarkable addition to the speech of Barak after he says,,, “If thou wilt go with me I will go; but if thou wilt not go with me, I will not go",,, after that sentence it had the translated words,,, "because I know not the day in which the Lord will send his angel to give me success.”
It said that appears to mean,,, that although Barak was certain of a Divine call to this work,,, he didn't know what time would be the correct time to make the attack,,, therefore he wants Deborah,,, the one with God's Spirit resting on her,,, to come with him to let him know when to strike,,, that way he knew it would be decisive.
It stated,,, this was quite natural,,, and quite reasonable,,, and doesn't take anything away from Barak’s faith.
St. Ambrose and St. Augustine have the same reading; but it is found in no manuscript nor in any other of the versions.
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So as we can see,,, there was not a definite answer to the question of Barak's obedience.
We are still left with questions.
Now we will look at my answer to God's call.
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I was baptized when I was twelve.
I felt God's call then but before I knew it, I was living my life as I, not God, wanted.
I accepted Jesus as my savior but I refused to let God lead. This happened even though, on the outside, I lived a decent Christian life.
Although from twelve to fifteen was when I got into the most trouble.
My life during this time wouldn't reflect a Christian life at all.
When I turned fifteen I realized that things were getting out of control and luckily I began to visit other friends who were a better influence on me.
Even though my life on the outside, the one that people could see, improved.
My spiritual battle continued.
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It was during this time that I met my future wife.
She played the piano in her church and I began to attend church with her.
After we were married we continued to attend Oakdale United Methodist Church.
For many years I was very active in our church.
I led the singing and my wife played the piano.
In 1998,,, God spoke to me and made me realize that I was not living like I should.
Since then,,, I have rededicated my life to concentrating on my relationship with God.
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This was during the time our 2 boys were growing up in church and we also had several other children in our congregation.
We decided to start a Sunday school class for them.
I wasn't comfortable speaking in front of others, even children.
About this time we needed a new lay speaker, as we were called then, and I was elected.
I had no intention of doing any preaching, just thought about classes to help me get more comfortable speaking.
Apparently God had other ideas.
In my first class, I learned that God doesn't use those that we as humans would choose.
He uses those that he has chosen if we answer his call.
I'm ashamed now to say that this scared me.
Right there in class, I almost got up and left.
I prayed , “Lord, this wasn't what I had in mind”.
But, I stayed in class and even continued to go to other classes.
I began to fill in for the preacher when he was not able to be there.
Then in 2004 we bought a poultry farm.
This put a stop to my preaching for awhile.
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We kept the farm until we sold it in 2015.
I had a farming accident in Dec 2013 where I lost my right dominant arm.
This was a life changing experience for me.
My shirt got hung up in the pto shaft of the tractor and I couldn't get it loose.
I was working by myself so as the tractor continued to run, I said, (either silently or spoken aloud, I'm not sure which) "Lord, I've messed up, you will have to save me".
As the shaft rotated around and pulled me closer, my clothes split and I fell to the ground on the other side.
The only damages that I had were to my elbow.
Of course that damage was enough to require amputation but at the time I thought that my time on this earth was over.
After I got up, I walked back to my truck and drove home across the field.
After several days in the hospital and many surgeries later, I began the rebuilding of my life.
This time God became very important to me.
Finally realizing that He needed to be in control, completely, not just in words.
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After my accident, I was able to get back to church. I was asked to lead the singing again.
This helps keep me on the right path.
I've found that if I'm totally involved in church and especially working on a sermon that it’s a lot easier to stay focused.
Not long after coming back to Oakdale I was asked to fill in for our preacher while she was sick.
This was the second chance for me and I didn't want to make the same mistakes again.
I began taking classes to become a lay servant.
I started this time with the intention of becoming a lay minister.
Immediately after finishing my classes to become a certified lay minister,,, I received the call to become the pastor at Oakdale and Seminary UMC.
Now I had to answer God again,,, and this time I gave Him my all.
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I told you all of this so that you can see where my thoughts come from.
For many years I’ve regretted my decisions in waiting to answer God’s call.
Even though I have seen many advantages to my waiting,,, God giving me many chances to see different sides of the workforce,,, such as,,, employee and employer,,, making a smaller paycheck versus a larger paycheck,,, as well as working for the public and being a farmer,,, all of these help me in different situations,,, they didn’t keep me from regretting my failure.
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When I originally read the scripture passages for today,,, I thought that I was being led to speak on Barak’s failure to answer God’s call,,, and that did happen,,, but it wasn’t as clear of an answer as I originally thought it would be.
I had different thoughts about my own call after I read the different ideas offered in the commentaries about Barak’s call.
I realized that,,, maybe,,, I was being too hard on both Barak and myself.
Maybe you are too hard on yourself as well,,, and you need to hear these words like I do!
God knows our intentions before we ever make them,,, and He has covered for any mistakes that we might make along the way.
Looking back over my life,,, I can see where I fell short many times,,, but I can also say that my life is so much better than it was,,, that it would be hard to say that I’ve missed any blessings,,, but I know that I have.
I’m guessing that most of us have,,, as well as Barak.
But God has our failures already figured into His plan,,, and we have to trust Him going forward,,, as well as looking back at our mistakes.
It’s still better to obey God immediately,,, but if we have already made that mistake,,, the important part is to concentrate on doing the best that we can today and not dwell on our past that cannot be changed anyway.
I don't have a definite answer about Barak and his faith,,, but he still made the list of the faithful in Hebrews and that's good enough for me!
Going forward I will focus on today,,, and trust God since everything is in His hands,,, and I pray,,, that you will do the same!
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