June 22, 2025 • 47 mins
You don’t get to choose who God will use, because God will use whoever He wants. That includes people you didn’t expect… maybe even you. You don’t have to be perfect, just willing. What He’s already placed in your life is more than enough.
If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: http://ele.vc/tIepfr
Scripture References:
Judges 4, verses 1-9, 14, 17-22
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
in your life.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Enjoy the message. Good morning Elevation Church. If you're new
to Elevation, you're going man. Pastor Stephen look different. I
am not pastor to Stephen. My name is Robert Madou,
and I bring your greetings from the great country of Texas.
(00:36):
Lived there in Dallas with my amazing wife Taylor and
our three kids, and pastor Church Social dallast And the
reason there was no introduction, I just came up because
I'm a part of the Elevation family. I hope you
know that that's the level that we all. You know,
those people that come up your houses going to fridge
and get something without asking, that's the level that we're on.
And I've had the privilege come to this church for
(00:56):
years now, and I never take for granted the opportunity
than I have to preach the word here. This house
has blessed me and my family and our church immensely.
And so for me, today is not just about preaching
the word of God, but to me, it's also an
opportunity to give honor to your pastors. Twenty years of
(01:18):
faithful leadership, twenty years of preaching the word of God,
twenty years of standing at the gateway of Hell and
redirecting traffic to heaven. Ooh, twenty years. And I want
you to feel that twenty years because often when you
do things with excellence consistently, people take it for granted.
(01:40):
You just come in, You're like, oh, yeah, we passed
Stephen in another great way. At all time, don't ever
take for granted the gift that God has given you.
So I want us to pause right now and thank
God for Pastor Stephen, for Pastor Holly. Come on, y'all
can do better than that. Across every location in say
we love you, thank you for your faithfulness. You get
(02:01):
a blessing to my life. Where will we be without
this church? And so I'm honored to preach the word
of God to you today. And it's special today because
I came with my baby girl. I have three kids,
but my youngest Remy to the lane, who's seven years old,
said Dad. I've never gone with you on a trip
to ministry, and I want to go by myself, and
I want to go to elevation. So I said, ain't
(02:24):
say less. So shout out to my Rimming, to the
Lane who's here with me and my sisters here today,
So we're gonna have fun. Y'all ready for the words.
If y'all feel like hearing this like I feel like
preaching it, it's gonna be good. Go with me to
Judges chapter four today. Judges Chapter four, I want to
look at verses one through nine. I also want to
(02:44):
look at verses seventeen through twenty two. Judges Chapter four.
Start the verse number one, go to verse nine, and
then verses seventeen through twenty two. Once you found the
Book of Judges, say yeah, if you need some time
to find it, say Holy, I heard that. I ain't
(03:07):
gonna judge you give you some time. Judges chapter number four,
starting at verse number one, and it says again the
Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord now
that Ehud was dead. So the Lord sold them into
the hands of Jabin, King of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor,
(03:30):
cicer of the commander of his army was based in
Hareship Hagoyim. Because he had nine hundred chariots fitted with iron,
and he had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years,
they cried out to the Lord for help. Now Deborah,
a prophet the wife of a Lapidith, was leading Israel
at that time, and she held court under the Palm
(03:52):
of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel and the hill country
of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to
have their disputes decided. She sent for Barack, son of
a Benowim from Kadition Nastalai, and said to him, the
Lord God of Israel commands you. Go you he's already good.
(04:14):
I love when the first commandment from God is go,
because so often we get stuck in situations and stuck
in cycles, and oftentimes in the body of Christs. On
your mark gets it gets set. Some of y'all been
getting set for thirty years. So God often has to
(04:35):
come here and say what you're waiting for? Go? You know,
God will tell you to go. Two thirds of his
Name's go. Go. Take with you ten thousand men of
Nathdalai and Zebulin and lead them up to Mountain Tabor.
I will lead cicer of the commander of Jabin's army,
(04:55):
with his chariots and his truths, to the Kishan river,
and give him into your hands. Barak said to her,
if you go with me, I will go, and if
you don't go with me, I won't go. That's how
he sounds in my head. She said. In verse number nine,
certainly I will go with you, said Deborah, But because
of the course you are taking, the honor will not
(05:18):
be yours. For the Lord will deliver Cicera into the
hands of a woman. So Deborah went with Barack to Kadesh.
She let's jump to verse seventeen. Cisera meanwhile fled on
foot to the tent of Jail, the wife of Hebrew
the kid Night, because there was an alliance between Jabe
and King of Hazar and the family of Hebar the
kidknighte Jayl went out to meet Ciser and said to him, come,
(05:39):
my lord, come right in. Don't be afraid. So he
entered her tent, and she covered him with the blanket.
I'm thirsty, he said, Please give me some water. She
opened up a skin of milk and gave them a drink.
And covered him up. Stand in the doorway of the tent.
He told her, if someone comes by and ask you
is anyone there, say no but jail. Hebrew's wife picked
(06:02):
up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly
to him. While he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove
the peg through his temple into the crowd, and he died.
I bet he did. Just then Barak came by in
(06:25):
pursuit of Cicera, and Jayl went out to meet him. Come,
she said, I will show you the man you're looking for.
So he went in with her, and there lay Cicera
with the tent peg through his temple dead. I bet
he was. That is in your Bible. I want to
(06:48):
preach today, not long, probably about three and a half hours,
using this as a title. Hear me today, this is
a word from God. The weapon are in the house.
The weapons are in that I don't know what you
are facing. I don't know what opposition is coming against
(07:10):
you today, but God told me to tell somebody at
Elevation Church that the weapons who are in the house.
Look at your neighbor one last time to say I
know this is for you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Father, speak
to us today. Half your way, amen, the weapons are
(07:33):
in the house. I don't want to assume anything today.
How many you say, by showing your hands that you
have never heard me preach before? Can I see your
hand if you've never heard me preach before? Oh lord,
that's quite a few, y'all. I've been coming here a
long time. Way y'all been. I'm playing no to those
of you who liftened up your hands and you never
(07:54):
heard me preach before. You should know that. Most often
when I begin a sermon, almost ninety nine point nine
percent of the time, when I begin a sermon, I
always start with a story. I start with the story
that's usually personal. I start with the story that is funny,
that is engaging, filled with levity. And the reason I
(08:14):
do that is because embedded within that story is a
principle or a thesis that I'm ultimately going to connect
to a biblical passage that I'm expounding on. That's my flow.
I start with a story. But I dare say that's
not gonna happen today. Today's going to be a little
bit different, because when you are preaching a text about
(08:35):
a woman, a housewife, a undercover assassin who takes a
tent peg and drives it through the cranium of the
commander of the Canaanite Army. There's really no cute story
you can tell to connect to that passage. Matter of fact,
I want to praise God. I don't have a personal
(08:57):
story to connect to this text. By the way, Taylor,
I love you. That's my wife. So the text like this,
you just gotta get straight to the point, but intended.
I I only have one point in this message today.
I don't have three points. I just have one point.
(09:17):
It's gonna bless you. No takers, You're gonna be blessed.
You can write it down now. Only have one point
in this message today, and this is my one point.
You don't get to choose who God will use, because
God will use whoever he wants. You don't get to
choose who God will use because God will use whoever
(09:42):
he wants. Ooh, that's not just a good point. I
think that would be a good t shirt. I think
that would be a good bumper sticker. If you're thinking
about getting a face tattoo, I have a suggestion you
should just put that right on your forehead. You don't
get to choose who God will use, because God will
use whoever he wants to use. What a wonderful thought
(10:02):
to consider that whenever God wants to do something in
the earth, whenever he has a purpose or a plan
that he wants to accomplish, he does not take a poll.
He does not galvanize the committee, he does not take
a vote, because God will use whoever he wants to use,
and you don't get to choose it. You don't get
to pick it. I'm thankful that God doesn't look at
(10:23):
your TikTok following or how many blue checks you got,
and he doesn't look at how much money you have
in the bank. Whenever he wants to use you. You
don't get to choose who God will use, because God
will use whoever he wants who. There's an old school
song that some of y'all too young to remember it,
and some of y'all are just old enough to think
(10:43):
that Britney Spears started this song, and that some of
y'all are old enough to know that when't Britney that
started the song. It was Bobby Brown that started the song.
And I love this song because it has like a
twenty dollars sat word in it. And the song that
God can sing and the lyrics go, it's my parative.
I can do what I want to do. God could
(11:04):
sing that song. It's my prerogative. I can use who
I want to use. That means that God is sovereign,
He has authority without any accountability. That God reserves the
right to use whoever he wants to use, and he
will do it whether you like it or not. God
will use whoever he wants. You don't get to choose
(11:26):
who God will use, because God will use whoever he wants.
If he wants to use somebody young, he'll use somebody young.
If he wants to use somebody old, he will use
somebody old. If he wants to use an introvert, he
will use an introvert. If he wants to use an extrovert,
he will use an extrovert. If he wants to use
somebody that matriculated from the upper extralon the most prestigious
theological seminary and consistently each charcuterie, he will use them.
(11:50):
If he wants to use somebody from the streets that
doesn't even got a ged, don't know nothing about your coutery,
but knows a lot about Koolaid and Lunchable. He will
use them to If God wants to use somebody black,
He'll use somebody black. If God wants to use somebody white,
he will use somebody white. If God wants to use
somebody Asian, He'll use somebody Asian. If God wants to
use somebody Latino Vuenos Deans, he will use somebody Latino.
(12:15):
You don't get to choose who God will use because
God will use whoever, who whoever he wants. He is sovereign,
He rules, and he raigns. You don't get to choose
who God will use because He'll use whoever he wants.
I'm gonna stay right here oo. God reserves the right
(12:36):
to use people you don't like. I'm talking about the
person you can't stand. You know, God can use them
if he wants to. God, hear me, doesn't even have
to use a whole treat to one on that. He
doesn't even have to use who because all of creation
(12:57):
is incarcerated to the command call of God. He can
use wind, he can use waves. He'll use a whale,
ass Jonah, he will use frogs. As Pharaoh, he will
use anything he needs to accomplish his purpose. In the earth.
Hear me. I am so honored I get to preach
(13:18):
here today. I love that I get to preach the gospel.
That's why I wake up with passion and energy to
do it. But I am fully cognizant and aware of
the fact that God don't need me to preach. Oh no, no,
he can put a donkey up here, and a donkey
will preach the gospel. Matter of fact, let me help
some of you today. You know that God doesn't even
need you to praise him. He wants praise, but He
don't need you to praise him. And all your God
(13:39):
does not have an inferiority complex. If all of us
chose to zip our lips and fold our arms, the
rocks would try out and start giving God pray. Oh
I'm glad she came to elevation, but please don't think
you did God a favor today. The rocks would start
praising him if we refuse to praise him. Because God
can he use whoever he wants, however, he wants to
(14:06):
do whatever he wants in the earth. If he wants
to use a man to kill an enemy, he'll use
a man. But if he wants to use a woman,
to defeat an enemy, he will use a woman who
which brings me to my text today this underpreach seldom
forgotten story of JL. It intrigues me, y'all. I have
(14:29):
been in church my whole life. I am a proud
Sunday School alumnus. Y'all went to vacation Bible school. I mean,
come on, went to youth camp. And I cannot count
on one finger how many sermons I heard about sister
girl JL, who put a tenth pack through the head
of an enemy. Why are we not preaching more about JL.
(14:50):
This is a big moment in the Bible, and nobody
talks about it. Well, I think I know why because
if you notice, especially in church, how we typecast and
relegates certain passages of Scripture to heroic deeds and bravery.
It's like we type caster legs. Well, anytime you think
of valor or bravery, you already have a biblical image
in your mind of King David with the sling shot. Yeah,
(15:14):
or you have Moses saying, let my people go, or
Sampson with the jawbone of a donkey, talking about with
the jawbone and a donkey, I killed a thousand men
with a jawbone, a donkey. I made donkeys of them.
You know, he was dropping bars and fighting at the
same time. We have all these images of people, men,
especially her, doing brave things. But today it is my
(15:36):
goal to change that image in your mind and add
Jail the tent, peg and a hammer talking about where
he at sister girl who was not an Israelite, sister
girl who was not trained in battle, She wasn't even
a part of the army, and yet God still used
(15:59):
her in the world. Would he use her? Because you
don't get to choose. God will use. God will use
whoever he wants. So let me put jl in context.
Her story is found in Judges. Judges, y'all, is one
of the most depressing books in the Bible. No, I'm serious.
(16:20):
If you knew the faith, un don't go to Judges,
just to go to John Start sayre, because Judges will
depress you. Because all you see in Judges is the
sick cycle of sin over and over again, the sick
cycle of sin that the children of Israel got themselves into.
(16:40):
If you don't need to read the Book of Judges,
here's the Book of Judges. All of a sudden, the
Israelites would do evil in the eyes of the Lord.
After they would do evil in the eyes of the Lord,
God would then allow them to be taken captive by
an enemy. They would get in captivity and then they
would open up their mouth and say, God, We're sorry,
we ain't gonna do it no more. South may I
ain't never going to do that again. And once they
(17:02):
would cry out to God, then God would raise up
a deliverer and that he would bring them out. That
is the story of judges. Over and over again. They
would do evil in the eyes of the Lord. God
would use an enemy to get their attention. He would
allow them to be in captivity. And when I started
looking at that, I say, God, that's messed up. Why
in the world would you allow them to be taken
(17:24):
captive by their enemies to bring repentance out of them. God,
you shouldn't use an enemy to get your children's attention.
That's bad parenting. Don't use an enemy to get their attention.
Then he reminded me of my point. You don't get
to choose who God will use, because God will use
whoever he wants. He will use an enemy to get
(17:46):
your attention. Some of you don't even know right now
that your enemy is doing more for your walk with
God than your friends are. Oh yeah, your enemy is
making you pray. Your enemy is making you fast. Your
haters are making you seek God. Oh, it's something about
a person that betrays you that will produce forgiveness, something
inside of you. Your enemy is provoking more out of
(18:07):
you than a friend ever could. You don't even know.
God is using them to bring christ like character out
of your life. He used their enemies to get their attention,
and they would cry out to God for a deliverer,
and God would raise up a deliverer, and then they
would go right back into the same cycle. In our
(18:29):
text today, the deliverer that God chooses to raise up
is Deborah. Twelve judges he will raise up. Only one
of them is a woman. Her name is Deborah. God
raised up Deborah as a leader. I don't know, bad fan,
I don't know if there should be a female leader.
I don't know if I like that. Now, you should
(18:49):
have made them my own men, judges. You don't get
to choose. God was use because God washes wherever he wants.
Raised up. Sister girl Deborah. Ooh, she deserves a sermon
all by herself. Deborah is the only person in the
Bible explicitly called a prophet and a judge. She is
(19:12):
a prophet and a judge. She is a prophet, which
means she declares what the Lord is saying and speaks truth.
But she's also a judge, so she administers justice. That's
why bless me when I found out that her name
means be b, yes, B, because that's what a B
will do. A B will sting you with the truth,
(19:32):
and a bee will produce honey. That is sweet. And
I thought about her office that she sat in, that
she would speak the truth and sting you when she
needed to because she's a prophet, but she would administer justice,
and justice is sweet to the people that receive it.
Look at her being all she could be. I like Deborah,
matter of fact, I want you to look at your
neighbor real quick and say, neighbor, B who God called
(19:55):
you to be? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah, somebody needs to
take that word right there. You can't really seize the
moment like JL did until you get comfortable and being
who God created you to be. God, stop trying to
be somebody else and be who God created you to be.
You know why I'm relaxing up here today because i
know I'm not a Pastor Seavan. I know I'm not
(20:16):
a Don Charie. I know I'm not a Charles Metcalsh.
I know I'm not a Mike Tie. I'm the best
Robert Madou you have ever seen in your life. I've
got to be me, and somebody needs to be literated today.
You have got to be you. Stop comparing yourself to
other people and step into the fullness of your call
and be who God created you to be. Shout out, Debrah,
(20:41):
hair done, Nail's done. Everything did prophet and judge, and
look at what Debra does. Sister b goes to Brother
Barack and sins to him, has not the Lord gone
before us? Let us go up and fight. Translation, Bruh,
(21:04):
what are you waiting for. Let's go defeat this army.
Understand Cicera and King Jabon and the Canaanites had been
oppressing them for twenty years. Twenty years of oppression, twenty
years of subjugation. They had been under this. And she
goes up to Barack and says, Barack, get the troops.
Let's go fight, and Barack says something and get some
(21:27):
of my last nerves. Oh, I'm telling them, get a
drink of water. Barack says to her, if you go
with me, I'll go. But if you don't go, I
don't want to go. When I read that, I was living,
(21:52):
I said, Barack, do some pushups, bruh, get some creatine,
get some protein. What you talking about? What you mean?
If she don't go with you, you're not gonna go?
You should be. I'm already ready to fight. Oh, I
was so mad at Baraq. Why are you waiting on her?
And then they're funny how you judge other people's battle
(22:13):
when you're not the one that has to fight it. Oh,
I'm telling you I I judged Barak on the surface
and still started doing my due diligence and looked at
who he was about to fight. Oh, do you understand
that he was fighting against King Jabin and Cicera. Some
scholars say that they had an army of three hundred
thousand men. The Israelites only had ten thousand men. Y'all.
(22:34):
They had iron chariots, nine hundred iron chariots they were
gonna have to face. So it's easy for me to
look at Barack and say, what's mine? With you. Why
are you scared go fight when he's the one that
was gonna have to face all of those chariots, Just
like it's easy for you to look at other people
that are going through a battle that you're not in
and say you should have had mar Fey, You should
pray more. Are you in my fight? You don't have
(22:55):
a clue what I'm facing. I actually want to shout
out Barack. He might have been reluctant to go, but
at least he went. At least he ended up going.
Matter of fact, he probably took Deborah because he knew
I need more than push up for this fight. I
need a prophet. I need somebody that's gonna declare what
thus saith the Lord in this battle? Or that's why
you ought to thank God that you have a church
(23:17):
and have a pastor that preaches the word of God
every single Sunday faithfully. How many have gotten something that's
helped you on Monday get back in the fight. Look
at this straight up, said Deborah, I want you to
go with me. Maybe he wasn't scared, or maybe in
(23:39):
spite of being scared, he still took a step of faith.
I'm glad that you can be faithful and still have
some fear that you can take a step and even
if the step is shaky, God will honor it. How
do you know God honored it because of Hebrews. Ain't
it interesting that Baraka is actually mentioned in the Hebrews
(24:02):
Hall of Faith? And so he's still even though he
needed Debor to go with him, even though he might
have been a little reluctant, still says, all right, let's go,
let's go fight. And they get ready, and they rally
of the troops. Can you see them? Can you see them?
They've got ten thousand soldiers. They're perhaps facing an army
(24:25):
with three hundred thousand men iron chariots. That's like going
into a knife fight and somebody's got a military tank.
They're outnumbered. These aren't warriors. These were like farmers. They
out there with pickets, no militaristic training, and they feel
like some of you right now, and are facing something
(24:47):
so much bigger than you, facing something that you're saying,
I don't have the experience for this, And God, why
am the world would you even put me in this position?
And your knees are knocking, and you're scary, and your
voice is shaken. Thank God, look at what they have
and look at what we have. And I love Deborah
because she reminded Barack of the one thing that he
(25:07):
had going for him. And I want to remind you
of the one thing you have going for you. Can
I show it to you? It's in Judges chapter four,
verse number fourteen. I love what Deborah says to him.
Let's look at it. Judges, chapter four, verse number fourteen.
Can you put that on the screen, she says to him.
Get ready, this is the day the Lord will give
you victory over Sara. For the Lord is marching ahead
(25:34):
of you. I wish you could catch that in your
spirit today. The only thing they had going for them
was that the Lord was marching ahead of them. Is
there anybody in here that is wise enough to know
that the only thing that you got going for you
is that the Lord is marching ahead of you. And
as long as he's marching ahead of me, I got
(25:55):
everything that I need. I might not have the training,
I might not have experience, I might not have the
credits God, but I want to take a price break
and thank God that as long as he's going before me,
I am gonna get the victory because God before me,
it's all that I need. If God before you, who
(26:16):
can stand against you? Who Are you so obsessed with
what you don't have that you've forgotten what you do have?
Are you so blinded by your own insecurities and inadequacies
that you're forgotten that the only thing you need is
that God has gone before you? Deborah says, come on, Barack,
(26:40):
I don't care about the little iron tanks. I don't
care how many people they got. As long as God
is going before us, we're gonna get this victory. And
so they start marching out. Oh look at him, haha,
iron chariots, perhaps three hundred thousand facing ten thousand. Can't
you see him? Going on? Lord, I hope you really
(27:01):
did go before us, because we need you right about now.
Have you studied the Bible? Here just blows my mind
about the Bible is that God's militaristic strategy never makes sense.
Have you noticed this? It is the most ridiculous militaristic strategy.
If you are studying the militaristic strategy of God, you
will be confused because it looks stupid. Oh, it looks stupid,
(27:22):
jo Bible. I mean, come on, he's downsizing armies before
the fight, talking about you got too many people? Get it?
It's like, Hi, you got too many people? What you're
talking about? God? Cut the army down, cut him down?
Why I don't like the way they drink water? Are
you serious? He doing stuff like send the worship team
(27:44):
out first? God, we ain't making an album. We fighting
a battle. What you here? My favorite walk around the
wall and then yell what It looks so crazy, It
looks like it makes no sense, but when it worked,
it just proves that God whit before you. And I'm
trying to help somebody that's in a season right now. Well,
(28:06):
you look so crazy. It doesn't make sense. But you
didn't know that God has gone before you. And when
you get the victory, he's the only one that can
get the credit. And you can say it was not
my mind, it was not my power. It's by his
spirit that I won. So they go out and they're
starting the mountain ten of Tabors and they go down
(28:28):
into the valley of Kishan, and I need you to
see something, Oh that's powerful that happens in the valley
while they're fighting. They're facing iron chariots, they're in the
valley fighting, and something happens in the valley that you
don't even get unless you read Judge chapter five and
you hear Deborah song. And I need everybody at every
location to help me, help you experience what happened while
(28:53):
they're fighting in the valley. They're fighting in the valley
ten thousand for several hundred thousand, They're like, God, what
we gonna do? They got iron chariots. But all of
a sudden, in the middle of the fight, something happens,
And I want to show you. Can you help me
across every location? Now I need anticipation in this moment
right now, this is critical. I want everybody hold up
(29:15):
this finger, just one finger like this. Yeah, every location
and hold up his hands like this in the valley
fighting and watch what happens. I want you to do that.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Yeah, a little bit harder, Yeah, across every location.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
I see you come a little bit harder. All of
a sudden, has the fighting. It starts to rain. Come on,
follow me, and that's the fighting. It starts raining harder
(29:57):
and harder. You know, if I don't talk it before
you know it, it is a torrential downpour. What good
is an iron chariot when it's stuck in the mud,
because you serve a God that knows how to make
your rain. And so when the rain came down, it
(30:20):
proved that their God couldn't use anything. I need somebody
to give God some praise, like you know, he's the
only one that knows how to make it take it
rain boom, God, how are you gonna use rain in
the battle, because you don't get to choose for God.
(30:45):
Of use God for user whatever he wants. How them
iron chariots working in that rain the mud got them stuck.
They had to get out in hand to hand come back,
and they defeat every last one of them because of
a God that went before them. Now I understand why
(31:05):
the Bible says some trust in cheriots, some trust in horses,
but we trust in the name who of the Lord.
I don't know what you trusted in, but I'm gonna
trust in the name that is the Alpha and the Omega,
the first and the last, the beginning and the Inn.
I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will
(31:30):
never fail. What's is because God made it rain, the
chariots get stuck in the mind and they defeat every
last one of them except but Cicera, the commander. He
saw all his homeboys dead, and he says, okay, you
(31:50):
got no one to hold him in the fold in
my mountain, and he runs away, and he runs towards
the tent of Jl. You know Jl is married. Her
husband's name is Hebre. Yeah, Hebre, Hebrew is an interesting character,
(32:12):
very interesting matter of fact. I just want to say this,
and not a sermon about dating and relationships, but if
you're dating somebody and their name is Hebre, run because uh, Hebre,
his name means ally companion, and that's exactly what he was.
(32:34):
He was a companion to the Canaanites and a companion
to the Israelites. Hebra represents the person that is friends
with the world and friends with Christ. Hebre represents the
person that wants to profess Christ on Sunday, but live
however they want on Monday through Saturday, one foot then
(32:57):
one foot out. So he makes an allean's with the
enemy because he is comfortable with the enemy. Run away
from people that are comfortable with sin and comfortable with
the enemy, and so no wonder. Siserah, the commander of
the army, felt comfortable running to the tent of Hebert
(33:21):
because it's all Hebrew's my boy, He's on my side.
But here's what made me shout. Hebrew wasn't home, Jail was.
And here comes Cicarah, who has been oppressing the people
of God for twenty years. He's on the run. He
gets to Jail's tent, and Jail watch how she gets.
(33:43):
She says, hello, my lord, my lord, come on in.
Don't be afraid. Do you see how cunning and brilliant
Jail is. She's not calling him lord as savior, She's
calling them lord because she understands the way to speak
(34:03):
to a man is to respect. Again, I'm not in
the relationship series, but men don't respond well to disrespect.
That's why Ephesians fives. Paul admonishes men to love their
wives and women to respect their husbands. Men love them
like Christ love the church, because that's hard for us
(34:23):
to do. Women respect your husbands because that's hard for
us to do, especially when they act in the fool.
But hell, she's smart. She says, my lord, my lord.
She respects him. She does not come out of the
ten saying ha ha, you about to die today, our sister,
Or where you're at now? Where your little cherry is
(34:44):
now where your army? Now I'm about to kill you.
Well know what? Sis? The girl is smart, she says. Uh,
She says, my lord, don't be afraid. Calms him. Come
on in the tent. Look at your neighbor, say the
weapons are in the house. Yeah, y'all can play. She
(35:07):
gets them in the tent, and I want you to
see what she does. Play real soft, make it sound respirtual.
I can see her once she gets him safe enough
in the room. I don't know if she has any kids,
but I feel like she went to her diaper bag.
Look at your neighbors, say, work with in your bag.
(35:30):
See your weapons are always at your disposal. You're trying
to look outside of you, but God will always put
what you need within your reach. Work your bag. She
gets them in and she says, come on in, Come
on in. Can you see this big dude walking in?
Probably built like she killed on Neil. She says, come
(35:53):
on in, And the first thing she does is she
covers him. She covers him, gets some real comfortable, he said,
you bit, you tired fighting to love you get some
real comfortable. And then once you get some comfortable, he says,
oh could I get some water, real thirsty. She does
(36:15):
not bring water. I am convinced she had water. You
just drink it all. She said, Oh you want some water.
Oh I bit you tired from fighting? Oh I got
let me, let me, let me help you real quick.
(36:37):
I know you asked for water, but I'm not gonna
give you what you asked for because I have a plan.
She brings him milk. You do know milk has a
property in amino acid that actually makes you. She's strategic
and what she's about to do. This is your season
(36:58):
to be strategic, and what's been fighting. You cannot play
with the enemy. She she says, Yo, dear, you go this.
There's some milk, baby Huie and gives him. Gives him
some milk, and once he is fast asleep, she realizes,
(37:19):
this is my moment. This is my moment. I have
no of the opportunity than now. I gotta use what's
in my bag. Can you see this woman got him
in her tent. He is a warrior, fast asleep, and
(37:44):
she doesn't have time to go to military school. She
don't have time to go on a seven day fast.
She'll have time to read the book of Leviticus. She
just knows that he has been oppressing people at hurting
people for years, and this is my only opportunity to
take him out. I don't know who this is, but
please don't let the comedy mitigate what God is trying
to speak to you. There are things in your life
(38:06):
that God has a signed you to kill. He's assigned
you to destroy that addiction in your family. He's designed
you to break those generational curses in your family. It's
on you. This is your moment. She say, I am
tired of the enemy, oh breasting me. I am tired
of the enemy beat me down with depression. I'm tired
of the anxiety. It's time for me to take you out.
(38:31):
Can you see her? Can you see her moving with
stealth and with strength? Can you see her walking towards him?
You understand this is a moment that she has to seize.
If she misses and he wakes up, it's over. She's
(38:53):
only God this one opportunity. Can you see her? Palms
are sweating, weak, arms are Heavy's vomit on a sweater already,
mom spaghetti. She's nervous, but on the surface she looks
calm and ready to drop bombs. But she keeps on
forgetting when she wrote that, no, no, myself reels are
offended by that. Don't get offended because you don't get
(39:15):
to choose who God will use. God it use whoever
he wants. And he goes up to her, goes up
to him, ass he's sleeping. And I started thinking to.
Speaker 3 (39:29):
Myself, where in the world did she get such accuracy
of aim, Where in the world did she get the
calmness and the steadiness of hand to hit it in
one shot. If she misses this shot and is all over,
where did she get this from?
Speaker 1 (39:49):
And then I found something out about jl who. I
found out that she is a Kennite, and Kennite were
nomadic in nature who they didn't have houses. They had
tents that they would set up and tear down, set
up and tear down, set up and tear down, set
up and tear down every single week and month, setting up,
(40:12):
tearing down, setting up. And guess whose responsibility it was
to set up the ten and tear down the ten.
It was the responsibility of the women to set up
the ten and tear down the tent. Chay Out didn't
know all those years are setting up that tent and
tearing it down. What's practice for this one shot to
(40:32):
take the enemy out? Oh? Who am I preaching to you?
Don't even realize the season you're in right now. It's
just practice for you to take out the enemy. That
thing that looks like it's medium, that doesn't matter. God
is using it to give you practice to take out
the enemy in a one shot. Oohmids standing. Everybody that
(40:58):
can stand to your seat. Every single day, every single moment,
she set up that tent and tore it down. It
was practice for her shot. What am I saying to you?
There are things you're doing right now. You don't even realize.
It's practice for the moment that God is gonna call
(41:22):
you to step in too and take out the enemy
with one shot. It's practice. Every moment of power is
preceded by countless hours of practice. She put the tent
peg through his head, killed him dead, just like some
(41:46):
of you are called to kill things in your family.
Sister is a picture of sin. Sin cannot be played with.
You have to destroy it. She took the enemy out.
Then Barak came back, thought he was gonna get the victory.
She comes out because you know you crazy. God can
(42:07):
use Gracey and you kill somebody and then come out
calmly and say, come real quick, let me show you
who you're looking for. He's dead. Look at JL. What
does she really point to? Why is this story in
the Bible. It's in the Bible because God's letting us
(42:30):
know that he can use anybody, he can use you.
It's also in the Bible because JAYL, it's just the
foreshadowing of our savior. Think about it. She had to
kind of lie and say, oh, come on in and
make him feel safe. She had to kind of use it.
(42:52):
The seat still got the job done. She tricked him
to get in kill him. Here's what I love about
our perfect Savior. He was the perfect spotless lamb with
no deceit and allowed nails to go through his body
to defeat Sin. Forever. He is a much better jail.
(43:14):
Defeated Sin on the cross and rose from the grave
at all power, and then came back and said, look
look at the nail prints in my hands. I did
this for you. How could you not respond to this wonderful,
beautiful savior who died not just to save you, but
also wants to use you. Are you disqualifying yourself? Not
(43:38):
knowing that He's already gone before you. You don't get
to choose who God will use. God will use whoever
he wants. And I love it because every weapon that
she used was already in the house. You didn't know
all that was back there, but it was there the
whole time, because the weapons are always in the house.
(44:01):
Can I tell you over this house, the weapons are
already in this house. God wants the user to do
things that eyes have not seen and ears have not heard.
Neither had that entered into the heart and mend the
things God would do in this city and around the
world if he could just get vessels that are available
and open. I'm gonna ask every head to be bowed,
(44:23):
ours to be closed. Father, Thank you for your word. Father,
Thank you that you defeated the enemy. God. When those
nails went through your hands and through your feet, you
put a tin peg through the head of Fadan. You
destroyed him. You defeated sin and death. So we don't
(44:44):
have to be afraid anymore. We can put our faith
in you. Thank you for being a much better jail God.
I thank you that you can use every single person. God.
I pray for the person who's disqualifying themselves God, you
can use whoever you want, whenever you want, however you
(45:05):
want to use them. Heads about ours are closed today.
If you've never surrendered your life to Jesus, I would
love to give you that opportunity today. You don't have
to get your record together and get your record clean,
because it's not about what you do. It is about
what has already been done through Jesus. So it heads
(45:25):
about in ours closed today. Across every location Epham. You say, hey,
Pastor Robert, I need to put my faith in this
savior who can use anybody, including me, but I need
to surrender my life to him. That's you. Would you
just lift up your hand high enough and long enough
to where I can see it. Yeah, thank you, thank you,
Yeah yeah yeah, thank you, Lord, Thank you Lord. I'm
(45:48):
just going to lead you in this prayer. I'm going
to give you the words of what you say it
from your heart. Would you say this, say, Jesus, I
need you. I cannot do life without you. Jesus. I
believe that you are the son of God. Jesus. I
believe that you live.
Speaker 4 (46:07):
The life that I was supposed to live, and you
died the death that I was supposed to die took
my place, so.
Speaker 1 (46:18):
I'm responding to that. Forgive me of my sin, make
me brand new, And from this moment forward, I'm walking
with you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen, Amen, somebody give
God some praise today. Oh, come on, you can do
better than that. Give God from praise. If you know
(46:39):
the weapons are in the house. No, bless your elevation.
Speaker 2 (46:46):
Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of
you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of
you that this ministry is possible. You can click the
link in the description to give now or visit Elevation
Church dot org slash podcast for more information and if
you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1 (47:04):
You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (47:06):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (47:11):
Thanks again for listening.
Speaker 2 (47:12):
God bless you.
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
in your life.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Enjoy the message. Good morning Elevation Church. If you're new
to Elevation, you're going man. Pastor Stephen look different. I
am not pastor to Stephen. My name is Robert Madou,
and I bring your greetings from the great country of Texas.
(00:36):
Lived there in Dallas with my amazing wife Taylor and
our three kids, and pastor Church Social dallast And the
reason there was no introduction, I just came up because
I'm a part of the Elevation family. I hope you
know that that's the level that we all. You know,
those people that come up your houses going to fridge
and get something without asking, that's the level that we're on.
And I've had the privilege come to this church for
(00:56):
years now, and I never take for granted the opportunity
than I have to preach the word here. This house
has blessed me and my family and our church immensely.
And so for me, today is not just about preaching
the word of God, but to me, it's also an
opportunity to give honor to your pastors. Twenty years of
(01:18):
faithful leadership, twenty years of preaching the word of God,
twenty years of standing at the gateway of Hell and
redirecting traffic to heaven. Ooh, twenty years. And I want
you to feel that twenty years because often when you
do things with excellence consistently, people take it for granted.
(01:40):
You just come in, You're like, oh, yeah, we passed
Stephen in another great way. At all time, don't ever
take for granted the gift that God has given you.
So I want us to pause right now and thank
God for Pastor Stephen, for Pastor Holly. Come on, y'all
can do better than that. Across every location in say
we love you, thank you for your faithfulness. You get
(02:01):
a blessing to my life. Where will we be without
this church? And so I'm honored to preach the word
of God to you today. And it's special today because
I came with my baby girl. I have three kids,
but my youngest Remy to the lane, who's seven years old,
said Dad. I've never gone with you on a trip
to ministry, and I want to go by myself, and
I want to go to elevation. So I said, ain't
(02:24):
say less. So shout out to my Rimming, to the
Lane who's here with me and my sisters here today,
So we're gonna have fun. Y'all ready for the words.
If y'all feel like hearing this like I feel like
preaching it, it's gonna be good. Go with me to
Judges chapter four today. Judges Chapter four, I want to
look at verses one through nine. I also want to
(02:44):
look at verses seventeen through twenty two. Judges Chapter four.
Start the verse number one, go to verse nine, and
then verses seventeen through twenty two. Once you found the
Book of Judges, say yeah, if you need some time
to find it, say Holy, I heard that. I ain't
(03:07):
gonna judge you give you some time. Judges chapter number four,
starting at verse number one, and it says again the
Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord now
that Ehud was dead. So the Lord sold them into
the hands of Jabin, King of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor,
(03:30):
cicer of the commander of his army was based in
Hareship Hagoyim. Because he had nine hundred chariots fitted with iron,
and he had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years,
they cried out to the Lord for help. Now Deborah,
a prophet the wife of a Lapidith, was leading Israel
at that time, and she held court under the Palm
(03:52):
of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel and the hill country
of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to
have their disputes decided. She sent for Barack, son of
a Benowim from Kadition Nastalai, and said to him, the
Lord God of Israel commands you. Go you he's already good.
(04:14):
I love when the first commandment from God is go,
because so often we get stuck in situations and stuck
in cycles, and oftentimes in the body of Christs. On
your mark gets it gets set. Some of y'all been
getting set for thirty years. So God often has to
(04:35):
come here and say what you're waiting for? Go? You know,
God will tell you to go. Two thirds of his
Name's go. Go. Take with you ten thousand men of
Nathdalai and Zebulin and lead them up to Mountain Tabor.
I will lead cicer of the commander of Jabin's army,
(04:55):
with his chariots and his truths, to the Kishan river,
and give him into your hands. Barak said to her,
if you go with me, I will go, and if
you don't go with me, I won't go. That's how
he sounds in my head. She said. In verse number nine,
certainly I will go with you, said Deborah, But because
of the course you are taking, the honor will not
(05:18):
be yours. For the Lord will deliver Cicera into the
hands of a woman. So Deborah went with Barack to Kadesh.
She let's jump to verse seventeen. Cisera meanwhile fled on
foot to the tent of Jail, the wife of Hebrew
the kid Night, because there was an alliance between Jabe
and King of Hazar and the family of Hebar the
kidknighte Jayl went out to meet Ciser and said to him, come,
(05:39):
my lord, come right in. Don't be afraid. So he
entered her tent, and she covered him with the blanket.
I'm thirsty, he said, Please give me some water. She
opened up a skin of milk and gave them a drink.
And covered him up. Stand in the doorway of the tent.
He told her, if someone comes by and ask you
is anyone there, say no but jail. Hebrew's wife picked
(06:02):
up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly
to him. While he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove
the peg through his temple into the crowd, and he died.
I bet he did. Just then Barak came by in
(06:25):
pursuit of Cicera, and Jayl went out to meet him. Come,
she said, I will show you the man you're looking for.
So he went in with her, and there lay Cicera
with the tent peg through his temple dead. I bet
he was. That is in your Bible. I want to
(06:48):
preach today, not long, probably about three and a half hours,
using this as a title. Hear me today, this is
a word from God. The weapon are in the house.
The weapons are in that I don't know what you
are facing. I don't know what opposition is coming against
(07:10):
you today, but God told me to tell somebody at
Elevation Church that the weapons who are in the house.
Look at your neighbor one last time to say I
know this is for you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Father, speak
to us today. Half your way, amen, the weapons are
(07:33):
in the house. I don't want to assume anything today.
How many you say, by showing your hands that you
have never heard me preach before? Can I see your
hand if you've never heard me preach before? Oh lord,
that's quite a few, y'all. I've been coming here a
long time. Way y'all been. I'm playing no to those
of you who liftened up your hands and you never
(07:54):
heard me preach before. You should know that. Most often
when I begin a sermon, almost ninety nine point nine
percent of the time, when I begin a sermon, I
always start with a story. I start with the story
that's usually personal. I start with the story that is funny,
that is engaging, filled with levity. And the reason I
(08:14):
do that is because embedded within that story is a
principle or a thesis that I'm ultimately going to connect
to a biblical passage that I'm expounding on. That's my flow.
I start with a story. But I dare say that's
not gonna happen today. Today's going to be a little
bit different, because when you are preaching a text about
(08:35):
a woman, a housewife, a undercover assassin who takes a
tent peg and drives it through the cranium of the
commander of the Canaanite Army. There's really no cute story
you can tell to connect to that passage. Matter of fact,
I want to praise God. I don't have a personal
(08:57):
story to connect to this text. By the way, Taylor,
I love you. That's my wife. So the text like this,
you just gotta get straight to the point, but intended.
I I only have one point in this message today.
I don't have three points. I just have one point.
(09:17):
It's gonna bless you. No takers, You're gonna be blessed.
You can write it down now. Only have one point
in this message today, and this is my one point.
You don't get to choose who God will use, because
God will use whoever he wants. You don't get to
choose who God will use because God will use whoever
(09:42):
he wants. Ooh, that's not just a good point. I
think that would be a good t shirt. I think
that would be a good bumper sticker. If you're thinking
about getting a face tattoo, I have a suggestion you
should just put that right on your forehead. You don't
get to choose who God will use, because God will
use whoever he wants to use. What a wonderful thought
(10:02):
to consider that whenever God wants to do something in
the earth, whenever he has a purpose or a plan
that he wants to accomplish, he does not take a poll.
He does not galvanize the committee, he does not take
a vote, because God will use whoever he wants to use,
and you don't get to choose it. You don't get
to pick it. I'm thankful that God doesn't look at
(10:23):
your TikTok following or how many blue checks you got,
and he doesn't look at how much money you have
in the bank. Whenever he wants to use you. You
don't get to choose who God will use, because God
will use whoever he wants who. There's an old school
song that some of y'all too young to remember it,
and some of y'all are just old enough to think
(10:43):
that Britney Spears started this song, and that some of
y'all are old enough to know that when't Britney that
started the song. It was Bobby Brown that started the song.
And I love this song because it has like a
twenty dollars sat word in it. And the song that
God can sing and the lyrics go, it's my parative.
I can do what I want to do. God could
(11:04):
sing that song. It's my prerogative. I can use who
I want to use. That means that God is sovereign,
He has authority without any accountability. That God reserves the
right to use whoever he wants to use, and he
will do it whether you like it or not. God
will use whoever he wants. You don't get to choose
(11:26):
who God will use, because God will use whoever he wants.
If he wants to use somebody young, he'll use somebody young.
If he wants to use somebody old, he will use
somebody old. If he wants to use an introvert, he
will use an introvert. If he wants to use an extrovert,
he will use an extrovert. If he wants to use
somebody that matriculated from the upper extralon the most prestigious
theological seminary and consistently each charcuterie, he will use them.
(11:50):
If he wants to use somebody from the streets that
doesn't even got a ged, don't know nothing about your coutery,
but knows a lot about Koolaid and Lunchable. He will
use them to If God wants to use somebody black,
He'll use somebody black. If God wants to use somebody white,
he will use somebody white. If God wants to use
somebody Asian, He'll use somebody Asian. If God wants to
use somebody Latino Vuenos Deans, he will use somebody Latino.
(12:15):
You don't get to choose who God will use because
God will use whoever, who whoever he wants. He is sovereign,
He rules, and he raigns. You don't get to choose
who God will use because He'll use whoever he wants.
I'm gonna stay right here oo. God reserves the right
(12:36):
to use people you don't like. I'm talking about the
person you can't stand. You know, God can use them
if he wants to. God, hear me, doesn't even have
to use a whole treat to one on that. He
doesn't even have to use who because all of creation
(12:57):
is incarcerated to the command call of God. He can
use wind, he can use waves. He'll use a whale,
ass Jonah, he will use frogs. As Pharaoh, he will
use anything he needs to accomplish his purpose. In the earth.
Hear me. I am so honored I get to preach
(13:18):
here today. I love that I get to preach the gospel.
That's why I wake up with passion and energy to
do it. But I am fully cognizant and aware of
the fact that God don't need me to preach. Oh no, no,
he can put a donkey up here, and a donkey
will preach the gospel. Matter of fact, let me help
some of you today. You know that God doesn't even
need you to praise him. He wants praise, but He
don't need you to praise him. And all your God
(13:39):
does not have an inferiority complex. If all of us
chose to zip our lips and fold our arms, the
rocks would try out and start giving God pray. Oh
I'm glad she came to elevation, but please don't think
you did God a favor today. The rocks would start
praising him if we refuse to praise him. Because God
can he use whoever he wants, however, he wants to
(14:06):
do whatever he wants in the earth. If he wants
to use a man to kill an enemy, he'll use
a man. But if he wants to use a woman,
to defeat an enemy, he will use a woman who
which brings me to my text today this underpreach seldom
forgotten story of JL. It intrigues me, y'all. I have
(14:29):
been in church my whole life. I am a proud
Sunday School alumnus. Y'all went to vacation Bible school. I mean,
come on, went to youth camp. And I cannot count
on one finger how many sermons I heard about sister
girl JL, who put a tenth pack through the head
of an enemy. Why are we not preaching more about JL.
(14:50):
This is a big moment in the Bible, and nobody
talks about it. Well, I think I know why because
if you notice, especially in church, how we typecast and
relegates certain passages of Scripture to heroic deeds and bravery.
It's like we type caster legs. Well, anytime you think
of valor or bravery, you already have a biblical image
in your mind of King David with the sling shot. Yeah,
(15:14):
or you have Moses saying, let my people go, or
Sampson with the jawbone of a donkey, talking about with
the jawbone and a donkey, I killed a thousand men
with a jawbone, a donkey. I made donkeys of them.
You know, he was dropping bars and fighting at the
same time. We have all these images of people, men,
especially her, doing brave things. But today it is my
(15:36):
goal to change that image in your mind and add
Jail the tent, peg and a hammer talking about where
he at sister girl who was not an Israelite, sister
girl who was not trained in battle, She wasn't even
a part of the army, and yet God still used
(15:59):
her in the world. Would he use her? Because you
don't get to choose. God will use. God will use
whoever he wants. So let me put jl in context.
Her story is found in Judges. Judges, y'all, is one
of the most depressing books in the Bible. No, I'm serious.
(16:20):
If you knew the faith, un don't go to Judges,
just to go to John Start sayre, because Judges will
depress you. Because all you see in Judges is the
sick cycle of sin over and over again, the sick
cycle of sin that the children of Israel got themselves into.
(16:40):
If you don't need to read the Book of Judges,
here's the Book of Judges. All of a sudden, the
Israelites would do evil in the eyes of the Lord.
After they would do evil in the eyes of the Lord,
God would then allow them to be taken captive by
an enemy. They would get in captivity and then they
would open up their mouth and say, God, We're sorry,
we ain't gonna do it no more. South may I
ain't never going to do that again. And once they
(17:02):
would cry out to God, then God would raise up
a deliverer and that he would bring them out. That
is the story of judges. Over and over again. They
would do evil in the eyes of the Lord. God
would use an enemy to get their attention. He would
allow them to be in captivity. And when I started
looking at that, I say, God, that's messed up. Why
in the world would you allow them to be taken
(17:24):
captive by their enemies to bring repentance out of them. God,
you shouldn't use an enemy to get your children's attention.
That's bad parenting. Don't use an enemy to get their attention.
Then he reminded me of my point. You don't get
to choose who God will use, because God will use
whoever he wants. He will use an enemy to get
(17:46):
your attention. Some of you don't even know right now
that your enemy is doing more for your walk with
God than your friends are. Oh yeah, your enemy is
making you pray. Your enemy is making you fast. Your
haters are making you seek God. Oh, it's something about
a person that betrays you that will produce forgiveness, something
inside of you. Your enemy is provoking more out of
(18:07):
you than a friend ever could. You don't even know.
God is using them to bring christ like character out
of your life. He used their enemies to get their attention,
and they would cry out to God for a deliverer,
and God would raise up a deliverer, and then they
would go right back into the same cycle. In our
(18:29):
text today, the deliverer that God chooses to raise up
is Deborah. Twelve judges he will raise up. Only one
of them is a woman. Her name is Deborah. God
raised up Deborah as a leader. I don't know, bad fan,
I don't know if there should be a female leader.
I don't know if I like that. Now, you should
(18:49):
have made them my own men, judges. You don't get
to choose. God was use because God washes wherever he wants.
Raised up. Sister girl Deborah. Ooh, she deserves a sermon
all by herself. Deborah is the only person in the
Bible explicitly called a prophet and a judge. She is
(19:12):
a prophet and a judge. She is a prophet, which
means she declares what the Lord is saying and speaks truth.
But she's also a judge, so she administers justice. That's
why bless me when I found out that her name
means be b, yes, B, because that's what a B
will do. A B will sting you with the truth,
(19:32):
and a bee will produce honey. That is sweet. And
I thought about her office that she sat in, that
she would speak the truth and sting you when she
needed to because she's a prophet, but she would administer justice,
and justice is sweet to the people that receive it.
Look at her being all she could be. I like Deborah,
matter of fact, I want you to look at your
neighbor real quick and say, neighbor, B who God called
(19:55):
you to be? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah, somebody needs to
take that word right there. You can't really seize the
moment like JL did until you get comfortable and being
who God created you to be. God, stop trying to
be somebody else and be who God created you to be.
You know why I'm relaxing up here today because i
know I'm not a Pastor Seavan. I know I'm not
(20:16):
a Don Charie. I know I'm not a Charles Metcalsh.
I know I'm not a Mike Tie. I'm the best
Robert Madou you have ever seen in your life. I've
got to be me, and somebody needs to be literated today.
You have got to be you. Stop comparing yourself to
other people and step into the fullness of your call
and be who God created you to be. Shout out, Debrah,
(20:41):
hair done, Nail's done. Everything did prophet and judge, and
look at what Debra does. Sister b goes to Brother
Barack and sins to him, has not the Lord gone
before us? Let us go up and fight. Translation, Bruh,
(21:04):
what are you waiting for. Let's go defeat this army.
Understand Cicera and King Jabon and the Canaanites had been
oppressing them for twenty years. Twenty years of oppression, twenty
years of subjugation. They had been under this. And she
goes up to Barack and says, Barack, get the troops.
Let's go fight, and Barack says something and get some
(21:27):
of my last nerves. Oh, I'm telling them, get a
drink of water. Barack says to her, if you go
with me, I'll go. But if you don't go, I
don't want to go. When I read that, I was living,
(21:52):
I said, Barack, do some pushups, bruh, get some creatine,
get some protein. What you talking about? What you mean?
If she don't go with you, you're not gonna go?
You should be. I'm already ready to fight. Oh, I
was so mad at Baraq. Why are you waiting on her?
And then they're funny how you judge other people's battle
(22:13):
when you're not the one that has to fight it. Oh,
I'm telling you I I judged Barak on the surface
and still started doing my due diligence and looked at
who he was about to fight. Oh, do you understand
that he was fighting against King Jabin and Cicera. Some
scholars say that they had an army of three hundred
thousand men. The Israelites only had ten thousand men. Y'all.
(22:34):
They had iron chariots, nine hundred iron chariots they were
gonna have to face. So it's easy for me to
look at Barack and say, what's mine? With you. Why
are you scared go fight when he's the one that
was gonna have to face all of those chariots, Just
like it's easy for you to look at other people
that are going through a battle that you're not in
and say you should have had mar Fey, You should
pray more. Are you in my fight? You don't have
(22:55):
a clue what I'm facing. I actually want to shout
out Barack. He might have been reluctant to go, but
at least he went. At least he ended up going.
Matter of fact, he probably took Deborah because he knew
I need more than push up for this fight. I
need a prophet. I need somebody that's gonna declare what
thus saith the Lord in this battle? Or that's why
you ought to thank God that you have a church
(23:17):
and have a pastor that preaches the word of God
every single Sunday faithfully. How many have gotten something that's
helped you on Monday get back in the fight. Look
at this straight up, said Deborah, I want you to
go with me. Maybe he wasn't scared, or maybe in
(23:39):
spite of being scared, he still took a step of faith.
I'm glad that you can be faithful and still have
some fear that you can take a step and even
if the step is shaky, God will honor it. How
do you know God honored it because of Hebrews. Ain't
it interesting that Baraka is actually mentioned in the Hebrews
(24:02):
Hall of Faith? And so he's still even though he
needed Debor to go with him, even though he might
have been a little reluctant, still says, all right, let's go,
let's go fight. And they get ready, and they rally
of the troops. Can you see them? Can you see them?
They've got ten thousand soldiers. They're perhaps facing an army
(24:25):
with three hundred thousand men iron chariots. That's like going
into a knife fight and somebody's got a military tank.
They're outnumbered. These aren't warriors. These were like farmers. They
out there with pickets, no militaristic training, and they feel
like some of you right now, and are facing something
(24:47):
so much bigger than you, facing something that you're saying,
I don't have the experience for this, And God, why
am the world would you even put me in this position?
And your knees are knocking, and you're scary, and your
voice is shaken. Thank God, look at what they have
and look at what we have. And I love Deborah
because she reminded Barack of the one thing that he
(25:07):
had going for him. And I want to remind you
of the one thing you have going for you. Can
I show it to you? It's in Judges chapter four,
verse number fourteen. I love what Deborah says to him.
Let's look at it. Judges, chapter four, verse number fourteen.
Can you put that on the screen, she says to him.
Get ready, this is the day the Lord will give
you victory over Sara. For the Lord is marching ahead
(25:34):
of you. I wish you could catch that in your
spirit today. The only thing they had going for them
was that the Lord was marching ahead of them. Is
there anybody in here that is wise enough to know
that the only thing that you got going for you
is that the Lord is marching ahead of you. And
as long as he's marching ahead of me, I got
(25:55):
everything that I need. I might not have the training,
I might not have experience, I might not have the
credits God, but I want to take a price break
and thank God that as long as he's going before me,
I am gonna get the victory because God before me,
it's all that I need. If God before you, who
(26:16):
can stand against you? Who Are you so obsessed with
what you don't have that you've forgotten what you do have?
Are you so blinded by your own insecurities and inadequacies
that you're forgotten that the only thing you need is
that God has gone before you? Deborah says, come on, Barack,
(26:40):
I don't care about the little iron tanks. I don't
care how many people they got. As long as God
is going before us, we're gonna get this victory. And
so they start marching out. Oh look at him, haha,
iron chariots, perhaps three hundred thousand facing ten thousand. Can't
you see him? Going on? Lord, I hope you really
(27:01):
did go before us, because we need you right about now.
Have you studied the Bible? Here just blows my mind
about the Bible is that God's militaristic strategy never makes sense.
Have you noticed this? It is the most ridiculous militaristic strategy.
If you are studying the militaristic strategy of God, you
will be confused because it looks stupid. Oh, it looks stupid,
(27:22):
jo Bible. I mean, come on, he's downsizing armies before
the fight, talking about you got too many people? Get it?
It's like, Hi, you got too many people? What you're
talking about? God? Cut the army down, cut him down?
Why I don't like the way they drink water? Are
you serious? He doing stuff like send the worship team
(27:44):
out first? God, we ain't making an album. We fighting
a battle. What you here? My favorite walk around the
wall and then yell what It looks so crazy, It
looks like it makes no sense, but when it worked,
it just proves that God whit before you. And I'm
trying to help somebody that's in a season right now. Well,
(28:06):
you look so crazy. It doesn't make sense. But you
didn't know that God has gone before you. And when
you get the victory, he's the only one that can
get the credit. And you can say it was not
my mind, it was not my power. It's by his
spirit that I won. So they go out and they're
starting the mountain ten of Tabors and they go down
(28:28):
into the valley of Kishan, and I need you to
see something, Oh that's powerful that happens in the valley
while they're fighting. They're facing iron chariots, they're in the
valley fighting, and something happens in the valley that you
don't even get unless you read Judge chapter five and
you hear Deborah song. And I need everybody at every
location to help me, help you experience what happened while
(28:53):
they're fighting in the valley. They're fighting in the valley
ten thousand for several hundred thousand, They're like, God, what
we gonna do? They got iron chariots. But all of
a sudden, in the middle of the fight, something happens,
And I want to show you. Can you help me
across every location? Now I need anticipation in this moment
right now, this is critical. I want everybody hold up
(29:15):
this finger, just one finger like this. Yeah, every location
and hold up his hands like this in the valley
fighting and watch what happens. I want you to do that.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Yeah, a little bit harder, Yeah, across every location.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
I see you come a little bit harder. All of
a sudden, has the fighting. It starts to rain. Come on,
follow me, and that's the fighting. It starts raining harder
(29:57):
and harder. You know, if I don't talk it before
you know it, it is a torrential downpour. What good
is an iron chariot when it's stuck in the mud,
because you serve a God that knows how to make
your rain. And so when the rain came down, it
(30:20):
proved that their God couldn't use anything. I need somebody
to give God some praise, like you know, he's the
only one that knows how to make it take it
rain boom, God, how are you gonna use rain in
the battle, because you don't get to choose for God.
(30:45):
Of use God for user whatever he wants. How them
iron chariots working in that rain the mud got them stuck.
They had to get out in hand to hand come back,
and they defeat every last one of them because of
a God that went before them. Now I understand why
(31:05):
the Bible says some trust in cheriots, some trust in horses,
but we trust in the name who of the Lord.
I don't know what you trusted in, but I'm gonna
trust in the name that is the Alpha and the Omega,
the first and the last, the beginning and the Inn.
I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will
(31:30):
never fail. What's is because God made it rain, the
chariots get stuck in the mind and they defeat every
last one of them except but Cicera, the commander. He
saw all his homeboys dead, and he says, okay, you
(31:50):
got no one to hold him in the fold in
my mountain, and he runs away, and he runs towards
the tent of Jl. You know Jl is married. Her
husband's name is Hebre. Yeah, Hebre, Hebrew is an interesting character,
(32:12):
very interesting matter of fact. I just want to say this,
and not a sermon about dating and relationships, but if
you're dating somebody and their name is Hebre, run because uh, Hebre,
his name means ally companion, and that's exactly what he was.
(32:34):
He was a companion to the Canaanites and a companion
to the Israelites. Hebra represents the person that is friends
with the world and friends with Christ. Hebre represents the
person that wants to profess Christ on Sunday, but live
however they want on Monday through Saturday, one foot then
(32:57):
one foot out. So he makes an allean's with the
enemy because he is comfortable with the enemy. Run away
from people that are comfortable with sin and comfortable with
the enemy, and so no wonder. Siserah, the commander of
the army, felt comfortable running to the tent of Hebert
(33:21):
because it's all Hebrew's my boy, He's on my side.
But here's what made me shout. Hebrew wasn't home, Jail was.
And here comes Cicarah, who has been oppressing the people
of God for twenty years. He's on the run. He
gets to Jail's tent, and Jail watch how she gets.
(33:43):
She says, hello, my lord, my lord, come on in.
Don't be afraid. Do you see how cunning and brilliant
Jail is. She's not calling him lord as savior, She's
calling them lord because she understands the way to speak
(34:03):
to a man is to respect. Again, I'm not in
the relationship series, but men don't respond well to disrespect.
That's why Ephesians fives. Paul admonishes men to love their
wives and women to respect their husbands. Men love them
like Christ love the church, because that's hard for us
(34:23):
to do. Women respect your husbands because that's hard for
us to do, especially when they act in the fool.
But hell, she's smart. She says, my lord, my lord.
She respects him. She does not come out of the
ten saying ha ha, you about to die today, our sister,
Or where you're at now? Where your little cherry is
(34:44):
now where your army? Now I'm about to kill you.
Well know what? Sis? The girl is smart, she says. Uh,
She says, my lord, don't be afraid. Calms him. Come
on in the tent. Look at your neighbor, say the
weapons are in the house. Yeah, y'all can play. She
(35:07):
gets them in the tent, and I want you to
see what she does. Play real soft, make it sound respirtual.
I can see her once she gets him safe enough
in the room. I don't know if she has any kids,
but I feel like she went to her diaper bag.
Look at your neighbors, say, work with in your bag.
(35:30):
See your weapons are always at your disposal. You're trying
to look outside of you, but God will always put
what you need within your reach. Work your bag. She
gets them in and she says, come on in, Come
on in. Can you see this big dude walking in?
Probably built like she killed on Neil. She says, come
(35:53):
on in, And the first thing she does is she
covers him. She covers him, gets some real comfortable, he said,
you bit, you tired fighting to love you get some
real comfortable. And then once you get some comfortable, he says,
oh could I get some water, real thirsty. She does
(36:15):
not bring water. I am convinced she had water. You
just drink it all. She said, Oh you want some water.
Oh I bit you tired from fighting? Oh I got
let me, let me, let me help you real quick.
(36:37):
I know you asked for water, but I'm not gonna
give you what you asked for because I have a plan.
She brings him milk. You do know milk has a
property in amino acid that actually makes you. She's strategic
and what she's about to do. This is your season
(36:58):
to be strategic, and what's been fighting. You cannot play
with the enemy. She she says, Yo, dear, you go this.
There's some milk, baby Huie and gives him. Gives him
some milk, and once he is fast asleep, she realizes,
(37:19):
this is my moment. This is my moment. I have
no of the opportunity than now. I gotta use what's
in my bag. Can you see this woman got him
in her tent. He is a warrior, fast asleep, and
(37:44):
she doesn't have time to go to military school. She
don't have time to go on a seven day fast.
She'll have time to read the book of Leviticus. She
just knows that he has been oppressing people at hurting
people for years, and this is my only opportunity to
take him out. I don't know who this is, but
please don't let the comedy mitigate what God is trying
to speak to you. There are things in your life
(38:06):
that God has a signed you to kill. He's assigned
you to destroy that addiction in your family. He's designed
you to break those generational curses in your family. It's
on you. This is your moment. She say, I am
tired of the enemy, oh breasting me. I am tired
of the enemy beat me down with depression. I'm tired
of the anxiety. It's time for me to take you out.
(38:31):
Can you see her? Can you see her moving with
stealth and with strength? Can you see her walking towards him?
You understand this is a moment that she has to seize.
If she misses and he wakes up, it's over. She's
(38:53):
only God this one opportunity. Can you see her? Palms
are sweating, weak, arms are Heavy's vomit on a sweater already,
mom spaghetti. She's nervous, but on the surface she looks
calm and ready to drop bombs. But she keeps on
forgetting when she wrote that, no, no, myself reels are
offended by that. Don't get offended because you don't get
(39:15):
to choose who God will use. God it use whoever
he wants. And he goes up to her, goes up
to him, ass he's sleeping. And I started thinking to.
Speaker 3 (39:29):
Myself, where in the world did she get such accuracy
of aim, Where in the world did she get the
calmness and the steadiness of hand to hit it in
one shot. If she misses this shot and is all over,
where did she get this from?
Speaker 1 (39:49):
And then I found something out about jl who. I
found out that she is a Kennite, and Kennite were
nomadic in nature who they didn't have houses. They had
tents that they would set up and tear down, set
up and tear down, set up and tear down, set
up and tear down every single week and month, setting up,
(40:12):
tearing down, setting up. And guess whose responsibility it was
to set up the ten and tear down the ten.
It was the responsibility of the women to set up
the ten and tear down the tent. Chay Out didn't
know all those years are setting up that tent and
tearing it down. What's practice for this one shot to
(40:32):
take the enemy out? Oh? Who am I preaching to you?
Don't even realize the season you're in right now. It's
just practice for you to take out the enemy. That
thing that looks like it's medium, that doesn't matter. God
is using it to give you practice to take out
the enemy in a one shot. Oohmids standing. Everybody that
(40:58):
can stand to your seat. Every single day, every single moment,
she set up that tent and tore it down. It
was practice for her shot. What am I saying to you?
There are things you're doing right now. You don't even realize.
It's practice for the moment that God is gonna call
(41:22):
you to step in too and take out the enemy
with one shot. It's practice. Every moment of power is
preceded by countless hours of practice. She put the tent
peg through his head, killed him dead, just like some
(41:46):
of you are called to kill things in your family.
Sister is a picture of sin. Sin cannot be played with.
You have to destroy it. She took the enemy out.
Then Barak came back, thought he was gonna get the victory.
She comes out because you know you crazy. God can
(42:07):
use Gracey and you kill somebody and then come out
calmly and say, come real quick, let me show you
who you're looking for. He's dead. Look at JL. What
does she really point to? Why is this story in
the Bible. It's in the Bible because God's letting us
(42:30):
know that he can use anybody, he can use you.
It's also in the Bible because JAYL, it's just the
foreshadowing of our savior. Think about it. She had to
kind of lie and say, oh, come on in and
make him feel safe. She had to kind of use it.
(42:52):
The seat still got the job done. She tricked him
to get in kill him. Here's what I love about
our perfect Savior. He was the perfect spotless lamb with
no deceit and allowed nails to go through his body
to defeat Sin. Forever. He is a much better jail.
(43:14):
Defeated Sin on the cross and rose from the grave
at all power, and then came back and said, look
look at the nail prints in my hands. I did
this for you. How could you not respond to this wonderful,
beautiful savior who died not just to save you, but
also wants to use you. Are you disqualifying yourself? Not
(43:38):
knowing that He's already gone before you. You don't get
to choose who God will use. God will use whoever
he wants. And I love it because every weapon that
she used was already in the house. You didn't know
all that was back there, but it was there the
whole time, because the weapons are always in the house.
(44:01):
Can I tell you over this house, the weapons are
already in this house. God wants the user to do
things that eyes have not seen and ears have not heard.
Neither had that entered into the heart and mend the
things God would do in this city and around the
world if he could just get vessels that are available
and open. I'm gonna ask every head to be bowed,
(44:23):
ours to be closed. Father, Thank you for your word. Father,
Thank you that you defeated the enemy. God. When those
nails went through your hands and through your feet, you
put a tin peg through the head of Fadan. You
destroyed him. You defeated sin and death. So we don't
(44:44):
have to be afraid anymore. We can put our faith
in you. Thank you for being a much better jail God.
I thank you that you can use every single person. God.
I pray for the person who's disqualifying themselves God, you
can use whoever you want, whenever you want, however you
(45:05):
want to use them. Heads about ours are closed today.
If you've never surrendered your life to Jesus, I would
love to give you that opportunity today. You don't have
to get your record together and get your record clean,
because it's not about what you do. It is about
what has already been done through Jesus. So it heads
(45:25):
about in ours closed today. Across every location Epham. You say, hey,
Pastor Robert, I need to put my faith in this
savior who can use anybody, including me, but I need
to surrender my life to him. That's you. Would you
just lift up your hand high enough and long enough
to where I can see it. Yeah, thank you, thank you,
Yeah yeah yeah, thank you, Lord, Thank you Lord. I'm
(45:48):
just going to lead you in this prayer. I'm going
to give you the words of what you say it
from your heart. Would you say this, say, Jesus, I
need you. I cannot do life without you. Jesus. I
believe that you are the son of God. Jesus. I
believe that you live.
Speaker 4 (46:07):
The life that I was supposed to live, and you
died the death that I was supposed to die took
my place, so.
Speaker 1 (46:18):
I'm responding to that. Forgive me of my sin, make
me brand new, And from this moment forward, I'm walking
with you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen, Amen, somebody give
God some praise today. Oh, come on, you can do
better than that. Give God from praise. If you know
(46:39):
the weapons are in the house. No, bless your elevation.
Speaker 2 (46:46):
Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of
you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of
you that this ministry is possible. You can click the
link in the description to give now or visit Elevation
Church dot org slash podcast for more information and if
you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1 (47:04):
You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (47:06):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (47:11):
Thanks again for listening.
Speaker 2 (47:12):
God bless you.
Host
Steven Furtick
Popular Podcasts
Cold Case Files: Miami
Joyce Sapp, 76; Bryan Herrera, 16; and Laurance Webb, 32—three Miami residents whose lives were stolen in brutal, unsolved homicides.  Cold Case Files: Miami follows award‑winning radio host and City of Miami Police reserve officer  Enrique Santos as he partners with the department’s Cold Case Homicide Unit, determined family members, and the advocates who spend their lives fighting for justice for the victims who can no longer fight for themselves.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.